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RiffsColleagues Pay MusicalRespects to Freddie HubbardCAROLLE ULITHOVENMississippi–Chicago Connection:Guitarist Eddie C. Campbell (left),Chicago Blues Festival CoordinatorBarry Dolins and guitarist Eddy “TheChief” Clearwater check out the historicalmarker that the Mississippi BluesCommission presented to Chicago onJune 11 (during the city’s annual bluesfestival). The commission has unveiledmore than 120 markers to designateimportant sites in the music’s development.Details: msbluestrail.orgLincoln Center Auditions: Jazz atLincoln Center and the U.S. Departmentof State are now accepting applicationsfor bands that would like to take part inThe Rhythm Road: American MusicAbroad Program. This initiative bringsjazz, hip-hop and gospel groups to countriesthat seldom encounter U.S. musicians.Applications are due Aug. 10.Details: jalc.org/TheRoadLaVette Online: Bettye LaVette hasreleased A Change Is Gonna ComeSessions, a six-song EP consisting mostlyof jazz standards in a digital-only formatthrough iTunes. Along with reinterpretingSam Cooke’s title track, LaVettealso covers “Lush Life” and “God BlessThe Child.” Details: bettyelavette.comMaxJazz @ 10: The MaxJazz label willcelebrate its 10th anniversary inSeptember with pianist MulgrewMiller’s four nights at Jazz at the Bistroin St. Louis Sept. 23–26. The company isalso planning other events for later inthe year. Details: maxjazz.comRIP, Sam Butera: Saxophonist SamButera died of pneumonia in Las Vegason June 3. He was 81. Butera was bestknown for the energetic wails he blastedin response to the singing team of LouisPrima and Keely Smith during the ’50s.Howard Johnson (left),Jimmy Owens andJames SpauldingOn May 4 at New York’s Cathedral Church ofSt. John the Divine, below one of the largestfreestanding domes in the world supported bymassive granite columns, Freddie Hubbard wasmajestically memorialized by a full cast of jazzluminaries and a nearly full house of thousandsof mourners.The almost three-hour event, long on musicand short on remarks, featured many ofHubbard’s best-known compositions, beginningwith the sober “Lament For Booker” (written forBooker Little when he died in 1961 and playedby four trumpeters—event co-organizer andHubbard champion David Weiss, EddieHenderson, Nabate Isles and Brian Chahley—with Howard Johnson supplying the bass lineson tuba). The evening concluded with the rousing“Birdlike” (buoyed by Joe Lovano on tenorsax and Randy Brecker on trumpet).Even though the sonics of the cavernoushouse of worship were largely atrocious (eventhe high-peeling trumpets sounded muted), thespirit prevailed with the steady flow of musicianswho came on the makeshift platform stage to payhomage to Hubbard, who died on Dec. 29 at theage of 70. While a hastily organized tribute tookplace at the Abyssinian Baptist Church inHarlem not long after his death (on Jan. 10), thememorial at St. John the Divine in MorningsideHeights was a fully developed event that broughttogether former band mates who paid theirrespects with their notes (including, on an ebullienttake of “Up Jumped Spring,” pianist CedarWalton, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, flutistJames Spaulding and drummer Al Foster).Hubbard’s wife of 30 years, Brigitte Hubbard, satin the front row for the performances.Speakers included Killer Ray Anderson,Hubbard’s boyhood friend from Indianapolis,who told stories of the young trumpeter and concluded,“Freddie’s here in spirit. He’s just goneto get himself some rest.”Other attendees included journalist StanleyCrouch, who spoke there nearly 35 years earlierat Duke Ellington’s funeral. Wendy Oxenhornof the Jazz Foundation of America, which ministeredto Hubbard’s medical and housing needsfor several years, co-organized the memorial.Guitarist Russell Malone, who played on oneof the memorial’s highlight tunes, “LittleSunflower,” said that he had mixed feelingsabout the evening.“I’m certainly happy to be here among somany of Freddie’s friends,” Malone said. “Butit’s so sad that he’s no longer here and that we’llnever hear his sound again, except on records.”Wallace Roney, who led the trumpet chargeon the vibrant “Straight Life,” commented backstagethat it was great to see so many people—musicians and audience members—honoring“one of the greatest trumpeters of all time. A lotof people talk about Freddie’s antics, but he wasso genuine and he loved to have fun. This manenjoyed his life.”“This is a celebration, but at the same timeit’s a heavy loss for the community,” Lovanosaid before his appearance, “especially if youplayed with him. It’s moving how so many peoplefrom this community have come togethertonight.”Trumpeter Steven Bernstein attended withouthis instrument.“I’m not playing,” Bernstein said. “I’m justhere to pay tribute to a great trumpet player.”He remembered the summer between sixth andseventh grade in Berkeley, Calif., when a friendand young bandleader, Peter Apfelbaum, gavehim a copy of Straight Life. “Peter wanted meto listen to it and work on playing it. I’m stillworking on it.”—Dan OuelletteJACK VARTOOGIAN/FRONTROWPHOTOS14 DOWNBEAT August 2009