The High Priest

The Jazz Messengers: Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Cedar Walton (piano), Reggie Workman (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). From the album Ugetsu (1963).

Hubbard achieved his greatest successes in the 1970s with the record company CTI Records. Although his first three albums were considered to be his best works, those that followed were criticized for being too commercial. In 1977 he was part of the V.S.O.P. group with former members of the Miles Davis Quintet of the mid-1960s.

In the 1980s, Hubbard formed his own groups again and participated in concerts and festivals throughout the United States and Europe playing hard bop and modal jazz. He also played with Benny Golson, Woody Shaw and again with Art Blakey. He worked for the Blue Note, Pablo and Atlantic labels, but in the late 1980s he began to have health problems and started to retire from music. He died in 2008 at 70 years of age.

In the introduction the drums accompany the saxophone and trumpet, and then the double bass. The main melogy of the theme is composed of well marked and separate notes, and the bridge is a normal phrase. The first one to appear is Fuller with a solo jumpy and fun, but very well built. Next comes Shorter with consistent, but sometimes strange phrases. Hubbard follows him fast as lightning without having time to breathe. Then Walton also enters at high speed incorporating chords from time to time. Finally, the group re-exposes the unusual theme fading out.