Freddie Hubbard (April 7, 1938-December 29, 2008) RIP
“I feel very bad about his death. It’s such a great loss. I called him the day before his birthday and Art told me to bring him a gift. I said, ‘What do you want me to bring you?’ And he said (snarls like Art), ‘Well, you can bring me somethin’! Bring an old sock!’
I was proud to have been a part of his teaching, because I feel as though he was a prophet, and we were the messengers. He said, ‘You play this music and you respect it and you love it, because when you die the only thing you can leave is a reputation. The Creator gave you this gift and it’s up to you to carry it on.’ That’s what he instilled in me.
He had my idol in his group, Clifford Brown. When I heard him, I picked up the trumpet. And the band that we had with Art was one of the best groups in the world. Wayne Shorter was writing the hip shit, Art was leading the band; when we’d rehearse he’d say, ‘Go ahead, run it down,’ and he’d listen. Then when he sat down to play, he made the arrangement whole. With him not reading, it was all by instinct, it was being able to hear something, not like a guy studying music. It was the most creative experience in this music that I’ve ever had.
He helped me so much, not only in music but as a man. one time we had a disagreement, and he said, ‘You’re not the boss, you’re not even the straw boss.’ And he said, ‘Wayne.’ So I quit the band. Then he came to my hotel room and got down on his knees with tears in his eyes and begged me to come back. So I said okay. The next second he was up and he said, (growls) ‘Well then, get up and put your clothes on!’ And I said, this some different kind of man.
One time we were between Kansas City and St. Louis, and he had some woman with him. We had just left a restaurant, and the police stopped us and the Sheriff says, ‘What’s your name?’ And Art says ‘Abdullah Ibn Buhaina.’ His Muslim name. And the Sheriff says, ‘How do you spell that?’ I laughed so hard; now who would know how to spell Buhaina? So they let us go.
Buster Williams
When you play trumpet or saxophone you have to develop an embouchure to get a sound, to get your own sound. It’s kind of hard to comprehend developing an embouchure on the drums, but the sound Art Blakey got somehow sounded unique. He was a champion of setting a groove, and of dynamics. Some of the greatest moments I’ve had in my career were playing with Art. When he decided he wanted me in his band, he just called me one day and told me to come to the club and bring my bass. That was it! He was a real father figure, a mentor and a friend.
Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 -May 3, 2001) RIP
He had that breath of life that he could breathe into a person and into the music. His Muslim name was Abdullah, and Abdullah means slave servant to Allah, and so he already knew what he had to do: he was a Muslim in deed. He’s the one who got me to come to New York; he’s been like a spiritual father to me from the late ‘40’s till now. I feel a close association with him behind the drums, and what what he represented. Believe me, he’ll be missed. I know I miss him already. But that just means the drummers have got to play three times as much as they’re playing now.
Copyright ©️Karen Bennett, 1991, 2023
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