In this current state of affairs, where most musicians seem to be trying to recreate something, it is refreshing to hear musicians from an era where music and styles were actually being created. Both trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and pianist McCoy Tyner are part of modern jazz’s Mount Rushmore, with Hubbard the master Hard Bopper and Tyner the majesty of modal piano. The two are supported by Tyner’s working team of bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Louis Hayes for this NDR concert in Hamburg, Germany in June, 1986 and both at still at the top of their respective games.
For the 100 minute concert on this heat seeking missile of a concert, there is one trio piece, Tyner’s own “Latino Suite” that has the team digging in a deep groove with fervent muscle, and everyone getting a chance to solo. And Tyner, elsewhere but particularly here, is not so much as playing the piano but delivering 88 ivories of thunder and avalanche. That’s the stage set for the whole evening , as the shortest tune is a ‘concise’ ten minutes of “What Is This Thing Called Love” in what sounds like triple time, and the longest a twenty five minute opus of Hubbard’s “Neo-Terra” that has the trumpeter leaping over long distance hurdles and searing through the rhythmic thunder like a lightening bolt. Hubbard and Tyner recorded together back in the old vintage Blue Note days, and here the maturity of both gents makes for an evening of majesty, authority and magnificence.
Hayes is bold with the sticks as he introduces the assertive “Inner Glimpse” and Hubbard hits the ground running with wild arpeggios and weavings into side streets. Tyner takes the team up and down in dynamics after Hubbard’s bold cadenza on the theme of “Stardust” that turns into a bravura’d “Body And Soul”, while delving into dark shadows with Sharpe on a haunting “Round Midnight” . The rhythm section goes Caribbean on the avalanche of “Island Birdie” and they swing like there’s no tomorrow with Tyner’s left hand needing to be soaked in Epsom Salts after “Blues For Basie”. These gents show that you don’t have to plug in in order to be electric