New - Hubbard, Freddie - Breaking Point (Tone Poet Series - LP

All-Analog 180g Vinyl LP of Freddie Hubbard's Breaking Point! Mastered from the Original Master Tapes by Kevin Gray & Pressed at RTI: Reference-Caliber Blue Note Reissue Helmed by Music Matters' Joe Harley

Despite having performed on several of the most revolutionary avant-garde jazz records of the 1960s, including Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz and John Coltrane's Ascension, Freddie Hubbard's own albums tended to hew closer to the mainstream. Perhaps no other single album captures the trumpeter's awe-inspiring breadth of ability and versatility than Breaking Point!, which was recorded in May 1964 shortly after Hubbard had departed Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in order to form his own band. On this 6-song set featuring 5 of Hubbard's original compositions, his new quintet – with James Spaulding on alto saxophone and flute, Ronnie Mathews on piano, Eddie Khan on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums – moves assuredly across vast stylistic terrain. On the stunning title track alone the band shifts from free-form exploration into a playful Calypso and back with ease. The rest of the program traverses modal jazz ("Far Away"), the blues ("Blue Frenzy"), and stunningly beautiful balladry (Chambers' "Mirrors") to create one of the more remarkable albums in Hubbard's formidable Blue Note oeuvre.

Blue Note Records' acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series continues in 2022. Launched in 2019 in honor of the label's 80th Anniversary, the Tone Poet series is produced by Joe Harley (from Music Matters) and features all-analog, 180g audiophile vinyl reissues that are mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio. Tone Poet vinyl is manufactured at RTI in Camarillo, CA, and packaged in deluxe Stoughton Printing "Old Style" gatefold Tip-On jackets. The titles were once again handpicked by Harley and cover the crème de la crème of the Blue Note catalog along with underrated classics, modern era standouts, and albums from other labels under the Blue Note umbrella including Pacific Jazz and United Artists Records. Every aspect of these Blue Note/Tone Poet releases is done to the highest-possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version.

"The LPs are mastered directly from the original analog master tapes by Kevin at his incredible facility called Cohearent Mastering. We go about it in the exact same way that we did for so many years for the Music Matters Blue Note reissues. We do not roll off the low end, boost the top or do any limiting of any kind. We allow the full glory of the original Blue Note masters to come though unimpeded! Short of having an actual time machine, this is as close as you can get to going back and being a fly on the wall for an original Blue Note recording session."
- Joe Harley

Musicians:
Freddie Hubbard, trumpet
James Spaulding, alto saxophone & flute
Ronnie Mathews, piano
Eddie Khan, bass
Joe Chambers, drums