This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

McCoy Tyner, and drummer Elvin Jones. The date also marked the first collaboration between Hubbard and Wayne Shorter, a startlingly original saxophonist and Hubbard’s soon-to-be bandmate in The Jazz Messengers when the trumpeter replaced Lee Morgan in Art Blakey’s flagship band later that year on seminal Blue Note albums
including Mosaic and Buhaina’s Delight. Rounding out the unique sextet on Ready for Freddie is Bernard McKinney on euphonium, a mellow-toned brass instrument that enhanced the ensemble’s tonal palette. The album opens with Hubbard’s sprightly tune “Arietis,” a nod to his astrological sign Aries, before down-shifting into the sublime ballad “Weaver of Dreams,” a stunning performance by Hubbard where both his brilliant tone and awe-inspiring technical command of his horn are on full display. Following Shorter’s jaunty tune “Marie Antoinette,” the band pays homage to Charlie Parker with Hubbard’s fleet-footed tune “Birdlike.” The album comes to a close with the expansive and explosive “Crisis,” a Hubbard original that sought to capture some of the simmering tensions of the early-1960s. 

A1:  Arietis
A2:  Weaver Of Dreams
A3:  Marie Antoinette

B1:  Birdlike
B2:  Crisis