Description
TAS Recommended! Rated a ‘Best Audiophile Label Recording’ in the November 2009 issue of The Absolute Sound!
TAS Rated 4.5/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the January 2009 Issue of The Absolute Sound!
Remastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman from the Original Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note Master Tapes!
The Definitive issue of this classic Blue Note title!
Freddie Hubbard was one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time. Open Sesame was his first album as a leader and this 1960 set finds the 22-year old already sounding like he was a poll winner. Hubbard had emerged from Indianapolis just two years before and, despite a few brief high-profile gigs, including with Sonny Rollins, J.J. Johnson and the Quincy Jones Orchestra, he was at the beginning of it all when he recorded Open Sesame. No matter, he sounds like a seasoned pro, taking explosive solos on up-tempo pieces, showing warmth and maturity on ballads and displaying a beautiful tone and an adventurous style throughout. Imagine being 22 and playing so brilliantly while McCoy Tyner is accompanying your solos! Always a courageous and a dramatic soloist, Freddie Hubbard shows with his fearless and fiery playing that he was already ready to conquer the jazz world in 1960.
Features:
• Numbered & Limited Edition to 2500 copies
• 45rpm
• 180g Vinyl
• Double LP
• Pressed by RTI
2. But Beautiful
3. Gypsy Blue
2. One Mint Julep
3. Hub’s Nub
“The sound is lifelike, the horns are in the room with you. Our non-invasive mastering insures the true breath of life on these original Van Gelder session tapes is transferred to the virgin vinyl with absolute authenticity. It is like hearing these BLUE NOTE masterpieces for the first time and that is NO exaggeration. When we heard the first lacquer acetate playback from our first mastering session I thought Joe Harley was going to pee in his pants he was so excited. Actually we all were; after 50 years of many lackluster and some downright bad sounding versions of these albums, hearing the real deal is a humbling experience, even for us hardened music veterans. You will be able to listen to the music exactly like we did…” – Steve Hoffman