Freddie Hubbard Open Sesame

Open Sesame was the first album Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008) made as a leader. Before that LP, however, he had participated on many albums as a sideman beginning with his debut recording on The Montgomery Brothers and Five Others, taped in his home town of Indianapolis on December 30, 1957. Open Sesame was the trumpeter’s first project with pianist McCoy Tyner, who during the same month would perform his first gig ever with the John Coltrane Quartet (at the Jazz Gallery, in New York). It was also the first collaborative recording between Hubbard and saxophonist Tina Brooks, who would only record together on one other occasion, for Tina’s own album True Blue, recorded less than a week later on June 25, 1960. Even though many of his previous works as a sideman were important, Open Sesame marked the beginning of Hubbard’s career as his own man, and helped him to overcome his major influences and establish his own musical voice.