FunkFreak75 22-year old Chicago native, now sleeping on Donald Byrd's couch, is willingly pushed out of the nest to record his first album of original compositions as his own bandleader! What an honor!

A1. "Watermelon Man" (7:09) the iconic hit that made Herbie the hot ticket in clubs and radio (as well as a LOT of money from all of the covers people have done over the years). Definitely a song that appropriate to the "in-crowd" of the new Kennedy era. What I love about it is that I love Freddie Hubbard, and I love Dexter Gordon, and Billy Higgins is no slouch. Enjoyable and definitely an earworm. (13.75/15)

A2. "Three Bags Full" (5:27) a little more complex and sophisticated with rapid-rising quick key changes in the intro. Butch Warren's almost-simple bass keeps us down on Earth while Herbie and Billy seem to want to lift us up and make us blow with the wind. Freddie is light and Dexter is kind of heavy--like Lenny and Shorty. Herbie is very lyrical and verbose for such a youngin'--playing quite nice lilting keyboard runs and fusillades. I like it! (9/10)

A3. "Empty Pockets" (6:12) opens with quite a little "Take Five" energy before the call of Freddie and Dexter opposite to the response of Herbie's full two-handed chords take us onto a different (more "So What"-like) road. I like the shorter, more staccato soloing of Freddie and Dexter but also the two-way conversation Herbie has with himself in his own solo. The choruses still revert back to that opening "Take Five" energy, while the body of the verses veer back to the "So What" motif--more when Herbie is accompanying, less when he's the soloist. (9/10)

B1. "The Maze" (6:48) an okay jazz tune that has some amazing whole-band (minus Freddie) interplay while Dexter is soloing in the fourth and fifth minutes. (Dexter and Herbie are especially amazing!) And the finish is ultra-smooth. (13.5/15)

B2. "Driftin'" (6:59) more excellent whole-band on what feels and sounds like an attempt at another "hip" pop-jazz tune. Freddie gets to shine a little in the opening minute but then Dexter is handed the first solo in the second. Not my favorite D solo, it's still pretty smooth, but Freddie's follow-up is so cool, so smooth, so masterfully controlled. At 3:18 Herbie starts his turn: smooth runs, standard chords, until at 3:45 he starts to reach for the stars. At the end of the fourth minute he kind of starts over before his horn men join him as an accent bank while Herbie continues to flow. No big crescendo, just a lot of full-stop accents. (13.333/15)

B3. "Alone And I" (6:30) late night piano with brushes and spacious bass notes open this before Dexter enters to take the first solo with his plaintive tone. I love this guy! He phrases things with such sincerity, presence, and feeling. Freddie takes over at the end of the second minute. He does pretty well, stumbling a bit a couple of times, before fairly quickly passing off to Herbie. It's songs like these--with all of the space and deliberation--that you can really tell the mature, seasoned pros: and Dexter definitely has it over the others (15+ years over both Freddie and Herbie). On Freddie's second go round he's a bit more composed, while Herbie is very eloquent in his support. A beautiful little window into their souls. (9.125/10)

Total time: 38:05

This is all jazz, no elements of Jazz-Rock Fusion in it (that I can tell) but I wanted to review it see where the young prodigy was when it all started.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of accessible jazz. This would be an awesome introductory tool for one's self-education into the world of Jazz Music.