Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard: The Night of the Cookers

The New York Times has a nice article on a two-night stand that Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard had in Brooklyn on April 9-10, 1965. They were the hot young trumpet players on the scene and were friendly rivals. I love both of them, but Morgan was easily my favorite of the two. Alas, he was shot by his girlfriend in 1972 so I never heard him at (I missed a concert he played at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore). But I heard Freddie Hubbard a couple times, at jazz festivals and on his own gig in Troy. He seemed drunk when he walked on stage after the intermission, but he proceeded to blow thunderbolts, lightening, cherry blossoms and butterflies playing flugelhorn on "Here's the Rainy Day." An astonishing performance.

The article: Jeffery McMillan, Trumpeters. Friends. Rivals. 60 Years Ago, the Pair Made Jazz History. NYTimes, April 9, 2025.

The Night of the Cookers was a night of tension. Hubbard and Morgan, both born in 1938, were the hottest trumpet players in the business as they turned 27, though each was at his own crossroads. Hubbard, always ambitious, was securing his future as a bandleader; Morgan was struggling with addiction while watching the improbable rise of his hit record, “The Sidewinder,” on the pop charts.

An engineer named Orville O’Brien was rolling tape as the bandstand filled with heavyweights including James Spaulding on alto saxophone and flute, the pianist Harold Mabern Jr., the bassist Larry Ridley, the drummer Pete LaRoca and another special guest, Big Black, on congas. Well-dressed Brooklynites, including musicians like the trumpeter Kenny Dorham, filled the spot to capacity. A crowd of standees hovered near the bar.

“When anybody mentions Night of the Cookers, I can see it as if I was there again,” said the trumpeter Eddie Henderson, who sat in the front row both nights. “I was at their feet, looking up at Freddie and Lee, and I was screaming and yelling. When I hear that record, I can hear my voice.”

Later:

“Breaking Point” featured both trumpeters, but they really challenged each other on the Clare Fischer bossa nova tune “Pensativa.” Morgan, using a Harmon mute, was first to solo, followed by Hubbard on open horn. The two then exchanged 8-bar, 4-bar and 2-bar statements culminating in an overlapping interplay — or perhaps melee — until the ecstatic La Marchal audience just couldn’t take it anymore. It’s 22 minutes of fierce music.

“Compositionally, ‘Pensativa’ is one of the hardest songs for anyone to play,” the trumpeter Keyon Harrold said by phone, “but these guys make it sound so easy and so beautiful.” The trumpeter, educator and podcaster Nabaté Isles concurred: “That tune is so difficult. It goes through a lot of keys as it flows and you have to nail each change.”

The way the two trumpeters inspired and elevated each other during the extended battle remains an inspiration for Harrold. “That session was one of the reasons why I moved to New York City,” he said. “I wanted to feel what that energy could possibly be like. The best jazz musicians, you know, late night and just going at it.”