The first big solo goes to Joe Henderson (tenor sax): a true 4-minute monster that will erase any doubt on whether he belongs among the all-time greats. As soon as you hear Freddie's trade-offs with Jack DeJohnette that open "Straight Life", you will know you're about to hear something special. Straight Life gives us two long jams with an all-star group, and one classic ballad performed as a trio. Yet as ground-breaking as the Red Clay album is, it's Straight Life that remains the far more awe-inspiring session of the two, even with its slightly shorter running time. There are those of us who believe this comparison is unfair, despite the two very different albums being recorded only 10 months apart. Let's address the elephant in the room right away: Freddie Hubbard's Straight Life album will always live in the shadow of its predecessor, Red Clay. I found it in a used record shop and I seriously doubt this will ever be re-issued. As mentioned earlier, this album has almost disappeared from known discogs. Julian and Yusef do not appear on this one as Nat dominates with a bright sunshine muted trumpet solo. The album closes with Zawinul’s “Seventh Son”, which sounds like another one of Joe’s somewhat commercial soul jazz tracks. Side two opens with another energy track, but then switches gears for the more abstract and mysterious “Syn-Anthesia” which has the group working like a small orchestra. Over the years Joe will not play this way much again, so its interesting hear him in this style on here.
#AUDREY ASSAD FIREFLY RAR FULL#
The Adderly Brothers show their bop roots, but also branch out into some odd sounds and effects while Zawinul is in full hard bop mode as he channels Bud Powell. Hearing his oboe may remind some of how influential Yusef was on Les McCann’s mystical, “Invitation to Openness”. Yusef goes Coltrane-beast on the first track, but then breaks out the oboe for some Eastern flavored runs on “Brother John”.
The two lengthy tracks on side are both up tempo modal hard bop. Louis Hayes’ drumming in particular reflects today’s style in that he swings, but he does not confine himself to the ride cymbal, instead he is all over the set, much like today’s drummers. The songs are very forward looking and in many ways sound a lot like the jazz you hear today in the second decade of the new century. Yusef wrote the four live tracks, and the music reflects his semi avant-garde post bop with some Eastern modal leanings. Technically this is Julian’s (Cannonball) album, but it seems more like a Yusef Lateef album. It certainly does not sound like a comp until you get to “Seventh Son”, which is quite different from the other tracks. The first four tracks feature the same band and all in live settings. The cover says that these songs have been released before, but doing a short casual search I could only find two of the tracks on Cannonball's Sextet in New York live album. “Planet Earth” is an excellent album, yet few seem to know it even exists.
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