Jazz Archives

High Energy (1974): Freddie Hubbard left CTI Records in 1973, having become a much bigger star than most jazz players could ever hope to be, to sign a million-dollar contract with Columbia Records, long the home of Hubbard's hero and fellow trumpeter Miles Davis. In addition to the money, Hubbard sought more control of his music than CTI allowed him, and the opportunity to record with his own band rather than the all-star studio assemblages CTI forced upon him. For his first Columbia album, High Energy (1974), Hubbard did use his own band, a quintet that featured George Cables on piano and Junior Cook on tenor sax (both were also heard on Hubbard's final CTI album, Keep Your Soul Together), plus a collective sweetening of L.A. studio musicians, arranged with surprisingly minimal impact by Dale Oehler. There are two strong Hubbard originals here ("Baraka Sasa" and the album's single, "Crisis"), two excellent Cables originals (the Hubbard-like "Camel Rise," also arranged by Oehler for Bobby Hutcherson's 1975 album Montara, and the slightly well-known "Ebony Moonbeams," which Hubbard also covered on his Japanese-only live LP, Gleam, and Cables also performed on his 1975 solo debut as well as with Hutcherson on the vibist's 1979 album Un Poco Loco) and two Stevie Wonder tunes ("Too High" and the little-known "Black Maybe"). While the arrangements are more minimal than even those that Don Sebesky provided Hubbard at CTI, the electronics quotient is a little higher than usual here with Ian Underwood adding Headhunters-like synth effects (ala Patrick Gleeson), Hubbard employing echo effects and Cables on electric piano throughout. While Hubbard sounds especially strong here, very much in his element, the album never really rises above a genuinely engaging listening experience. But, in praise of the thing, it is a genuinely engaging listening experience.

:::Review by Douglas Payne:::

Freddie Hubbard - High Energy (1974)

A1. Camel Rise
Flute [Bass Flute] – Ernie Watts
Written-By – G. Cables 6:23
A2. Black Maybe
Drums – Harvey Mason
Written-By – S. Wonder 4:58
A3. Baraka Sasa
Written-By – F. Hubbard 10:29
B1. Crisis
Trombone – Dick Hyde
Drums – Harvey Mason
Written-By – F. Hubbard 5:44
B2. Ebony Moonbeams
Bass Clarinet – Pete Christleib
Soprano Saxophone – Ernie Watts
Written-By – G. Cables 6:55
B3. Too High
Tenor Saxophone – Junior Cook, Pete Christleib
Flute – Ernie Watts
Written-By – S. Wonder 6:37

Credits
Bass – Kent Brinkley
Clavinet, Organ – Joe Sample
Conductor, Arranged By – Dale Oehler
Congas – King Errisson
Drums – Ralph Penland
Electric Piano – George Cables
Flute, Tenor Saxophone – Junior Cook
Guitar – Dean Parks
Percussion – Victor Feldman
Synthesizer [Arp] – Ian Underwood
Timbales – Carmello Garcia
Trombone – Dick Hyde, George Bohanon
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Freddie Hubbard

Somehow, FRANK ZAPPA found a way on "Overnite Sensation" to package his oddball humor and complex arrangements into a commercially palatable package. It was the first ZAPPA album to go gold, and contained songs (like "Montana") that could actually be played on FM radio without frightening away listeners. For this reason, AMG rightly refers to this as a "watershed album." It marked a clear and conscious departure from the complex, often orchestral jazz rock of earlier efforts like "Hot Rats" and "The Grand Wazoo", succinctly summing up the traits that made ZAPPA so special: the brilliant guitar leads, luminous contributions from fellow artists (Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, Ruth Underwood), and the perverse sense of humor. Because folks who might not ordinarily buy this album did, some were shocked to hear lyrics about bestiality ("Dirty Love"), orgasms ("Dinah Moe Humm"), and a Mexican witch who just happens to be breeding a dwarf ("Camarillo Brillo"). However, longtime listeners were used to this sort of thing; after all, is anything on here less tasteful than "Magdalena" or "The Mud Shark?" If the material is a little off color, Frank delivers it in a good-humored growl more mischievous than menacing. What's most impressive about "Overnite Sensation" is that so much music finds its way into these six-minute tunes without bursting the confines of the standard lyric rock song. The band's ability to start a track like "Zomby Woof" in a relatively straightforward manner, veer off into extracurricular melodies and solos, and then bounce back to find the original structure still intact is amazing. Some might argue that Underwood, Duke and Ponty are given limited roles in these arrangements, but all the better to hear Frank's guitar burn up the place on "Dirty Love" and "I'm The Slime." "Overnite Sensation" is probably the most accessible entry point for adventurous rock fans to approach the work of FRANK ZAPPA. The guitarist himself was obviously pleased with his newfound ability to write in a more concise format, and continued in this idiom for the remainder of the decade, relegating his experimental side to his unreleased leviathan, Lather (which escaped in drips and drabs over the '70s and '80s).

:::Review by daveconn:::

Frank Zappa - Over-nite Sensation (1973)

1. Camarillo Brillo (3:59)
2. I'm The Slime (3:34)
3. Dirty Love (2:58)
4. Fifty-Fifty (6:09)
5. Zomby Woof (5:10)
6. Dinah-Moe Humm (6:01)
7. Montana (6:35)

Credits
- Frank Zappa / guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Tom Fowler /bass
- Bruce Fowler / trombone
- Ralph Humphrey / drums
- Sal Marquez / trumpet & vocals
- Ruth Underwood / percussion
- Ian Underwood / flute, clarinet, alto & tenor saxophone
- George Duke / keyboards, synthesizer
- Jean-Luc Ponty / violin & baritone violin