After Lip Injury, Trumpet Virtuoso Navigates Return to Performing

In the 1960s, Freddie Hubbard had the jazz world by the tail and was swinging it hard. The trumpet and flugelhorn master, who received "best new star" accolades in the Downbeat critics' poll of 1961, was in heavy demand, performing and recording with the likes of Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Art Blakey.

Hubbard compositions such as Little Sunflower and Up Jumped Spring became jazz standards, and many of the recordings on which he played, from Oliver Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth to Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage to his own Blue Note gems, are considered classics. Influenced by Miles Davis' fusion experiments, Hubbard earned his greatest commercial success in the 1970s with a series of funky, lushly produced crossover recordings for the CTI label.

Then, about a decade ago, the hardbop and fusion trailblazer so prized for his virtuosity and versatility injured his lip. The sore wouldn't heal, and Hubbard never quite returned to form.

"Awww, man, I was playing too much," he says by phone from his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. "I was working so much, man, flying all over the world, trying to make all the records, make all the gigs, and I split my lip. It's been funny ever since."

Full article: After Lip Injury, Trumpet Virtuoso Navigates Return to Performing