Grammy winner Hubbard dead

NEW YORK: US jazz great Freddie Hubbard died from heart failure on December 29 in Los Angeles, CBS news reported.

The 70-year-old had been hospitalised since suffering a heart attack last month, his manager David Weiss was quoted as saying.

The Grammy-winning musician’s melodious style influenced a whole generation of jazz and bebop trumpeters. In his decades-long career, Hubbard worked with jazz legends such as John Coltrane, Art Blakely and Herbie Hancock. In 1972, his album First Light was awarded a Grammy.

Born in 1938 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Hubbard joined a band while still in school. His career took off in 1958 when he moved to New York. Two years later, his first album, Open Sesame, was out. Further successful albums in the early 1970s included Red Clay, Straight Life and Sky Dive.

He played on more than 300 recordings in the course of his career.