Freddie Hubard

One of the great jazz trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard formed his sound out of the Clifford Brown/Lee Morgan tradition, and by the early '70s was immediately distinctive and the pacesetter in jazz.

Released to coincide with what would have been Freddie Mercury's 70th birthday, the excellent 2016 double-disc anthology Messenger of the Gods: The Singles brings together all of the legendary Queen vocalist's solo A-side and B-side singles. Originating from a variety of projects, including Mercury's one and only proper solo album, 1985's Mr. Bad, these are all the songs released under Mercury's name and not as Queen singles. Nonetheless, there was some cross-pollination and several of these songs were later reworked as Queen tracks. While Queen were primarily known for their muscular, guitar-oriented rock, they were also innovators who experimented with funk and dance grooves. Mercury himself was always an eclectic artist whose tastes ranged from early rock & roll to disco to classical music.

Similar to his first Shelter outing (Getting Ready), but with more of a rock feel. That's due as much to the material as the production. Besides covering tunes by Jimmy Rogers, Howlin' Wolf, and Elmore James, King tackles compositions by Leon Russell and, more unexpectedly, Bill Withers, Isaac Hayes-David Porter, and John Fogerty (whose "Lodi" is reworked into "Lowdown in Lodi"). King's own pen remained virtually in retirement, as he wrote only one of the album's tracks.

It was the producer's idea that Freddie Hubbard play all of the nine standards on this CD with a mute in his trumpet. Hubbard was not happy with the restriction, but does his best on the quartet/quintet session with pianist Benny Green, bassist Rufus Reid, drummer Carl Allen and, on three numbers, altoist Kenny Garrett. While it is interesting to hear Freddie Hubbard tackle such material as "Topsy," "As Time Goes By," "Cherokee" and "Love Me or Leave Me," the music is often more mellow than one might hope, even when uptempo.

Although it's only a teaser for a forthcoming ten-CD set, the three-CD Solo box is a pretty comprehensive look at Freddie Mercury's less rock-oriented solo career. Mercury's two albums from the '80s, 1985's Mr. Bad Guy and 1988's Barcelona, are repackaged in their entirety as separate discs; there's also a third disc of rarities, including Mercury's pre-Queen solo single "I Can Hear Music" (recorded as Larry Lurex), his movie soundtrack contribution "Love Kills," and his non-LP U.K. hit cover of "The Great Pretender." In addition, the set has been remastered and comes with a 28-page booklet.

The mid-to-late Sixties was a strange and difficult time for many Blues men - most were without contracts, forgotten and under-appreciated. Then the Blues boom happened (particularly in the UK) and many had their careers kick-started all over again. Freddie King was no exception. His last album had been for Federal in 1964, but with a new lease of life on the mighty Atlantic label, he produced two much revered LPs in rapid succession. The first was "Freddie King Is A Blues Master" released in 1969 on SD 9004 - and then this peach - "My Feeling For The Blues" on Cotillion SD 9016 released in early 1970.

King's Shelter years were covered in toto on the 1995 double-CD King of the Blues, which had everything from all three of his Shelter albums and then some. Although all of the 18 songs on this single-disc anthology were on King of the Blues, this is a more manageable survey of the same era. Not an era, it should be said, that was King's best, with more ordinary material and less canny production than was used on his best earlier work. It does, however, have some of the better cuts from his 1970s recordings, such as "Going Down," "Lowdown in Lodi," the string-drenched Leon Russell tune "Help Me Through the Day," the brassy instrumental "Guitar Boogie," and covers of chestnuts like "Reconsider Baby," "I'd Rather Be Blind," and "Please Send Me Someone to Love."