One of the finest jazz trumpeters of the post-Dizzy Gillespie generation is Freddie Hubbard, a giant of hard bop from the late 1950s on through the `80s. For health reasons, Hubbard has greatly cut back on his performing in recent years, which is all the more reason to celebrate ON THE REAL SIDE, a tribute disc to which the tributee himself happily contributes. The New Jazz Composers Octet consists of some great younger (than Freddie) musicians, including Jimmy Greene (saxophone) and Steve Davis (trombone), playing seven Hubbard originals (including the newly written title track). While SIDE doesn't feature much playing from Hubbard himself, the band and the album both evoke the fiery, durable style of Hubbard at his best.

Down Beat (p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Horn ensemble lines are full and the playing -- individual and collective -- is fiery....Hubbard sticks and moves, using short phrases -- musical haiku actually -- seldom for more than a chorus."

JazzTimes (p.64) - "Hubbard, playing flugelhorn only, is one of the soloists on six of the seven tracks, but the focus here is as much on the charts and the Octet, a fruitful mix of jazz elder and nascent jazz masters."