If This Bass Could Only Talk

Freddie Hubbard's 1970 CTI track 'Red Clay' was written to order after a producer told him to 'write a hit.' Hubbard recalled that his fellow jazz musicians sneered at him for writing something so corny — yet the commissioned tune became the record he's best remembered for.

In the 1960s, Freddie Hubbard was constantly measured against fellow trumpeter Lee Morgan every time he took the stand. He later said that pressure, rather than wearing him down, was exactly what kept him pushing forward.