JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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On Freddie Hubbard’s previous date, Red Clay, he played a little bait and switch on the listeners. The first and last tunes were funk, but everything in between was advanced post bop, kind of like getting a dog to eat a pill by inserting it into a piece of steak. On Straight Life, Hubbard abandoned this approach. Except for a short, straight ahead rendition of the standard Here’s That Rainy Day, the other two tunes are extended R&B jams.
The title tune consists of two major chords, a whole tone apart. The head is simple and jolly. Mr. Clean is even more rudimentary, with only one chord. The head is bluesy and briefly shifts into a half step above the tonic.
The point of Straight Life certainly isn’t the tunes themselves. It’s the interaction of the crack team Hubbard has assembled for the project: Herbie Hancock on keys, Ron Carter on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Joe Henderson on sax, and George Benson on guitar.
Even more than Hubbard, Hancock is the star here, whether you’re talking about his chunky, funky comps or his bewilderingly complex improvisations inside and outside of the tonal center of the tunes. He’s never sounded better.
Hubbard builds his solos carefully and logically. He seems to be more interested in coherence than in setting the speakers on fire with a blistering display of chops. For fans of smearing and sliding, check out Hubbard’s introduction to Straight Life. Not my thing, but impressive for what it is. On Here’s That Rainy Day, Hubbard shows off a sumptuous tone and immaculate phrasing.
Joe Henderson was at his most experimental on Straight Life. He honks, bleats, indulges in altissimo shrieks, plays outside and in general finds ways to keep himself interested throughout the endless grooves.
That George Benson doesn’t work better in the context of Straight Life is a bit of a surprise. He hadn’t yet developed the R&B chops that would make his own dates Body Talk and Bad Benson so memorable. He’s still in the straight ahead, scrappy organ trio mode that he started out with, so his style doesn’t really fit in with the slick R&B grooves the band is pushing. Where Benson excels is on the balladry of Here’s That Rainy Day. His tone is gorgeous and the way he frames the tune provides a perfect bed for Hubbard’s buttery flugelhorn.
But just as much as the individual contributions of these jazz giants on their solo spots, what intrigues about Straight Life is the way these tunes shift like a kaleidoscope. The soloists aren’t merely blowing, ignoring what’s going on underneath them. They respond to the ideas being expressed by the rhythm section and visa versa. The funk tunes on Straight Life are like living, breathing entities, so the lengthy playing times seem to go by in a flash. In spite of the length and the simplicity of the compositional structures, things never become tedious.
Even more importantly for some people, Straight Life works as low key funk. Even my girlfriend found herself dancing involuntarily to the grooves, and she hates this kind of music.
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