June 28–July 5, 2001

music picks|jazz

Freddie Hubbard & The New Jazz Composers Octet

The ’90s were not kind to Freddie Hubbard. Stomach ulcers, a split lip and a string of botched gigs left little question as to the state of the trumpeter’s once-illustrious career. But things have been looking a bit better lately. New Colors (Silva Screen), which features an almost all-Hubbard repertoire as interpreted by a sterling young octet, easily stands as the best album of the post-slump era. Hubbard’s role in the project is at once pervasive and peripheral; his flugelhorn invariably takes the melodic lead, but often yields solo space to the aggressive musicians in his stable. At a gig this spring in New York’s Iridium Club, the balance was even more disproportionate; looking stout but somewhat ashen, Hubbard commandeered a stool onstage, gesticulating vaguely while the band cooked behind him. His own terse solos paled in comparison to the expansive work of saxophonists Myron Walden and Craig Handy, or pianist Xavier Davis. Catch this gig to hear them, or to honor Hubbard — just don’t expect any miracles from the man of the hour.

—Nate Chinen

Fri., June 29 & Sat., June 30, 9 & 11 p.m., $25, Zanzibar Blue, Broad & Walnut Sts., 215-732-4500, www.zanzibarblue.com .