Jazz Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard Dies

Influential jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, who played on hundreds of recordings during a career spanning 50 years, died in a Los Angeles hospital on Monday, his manager said. He was 70.

The Grammy Award-winning musician had been a patient at Sherman Oaks Hospital since suffering a heart attack a month ago, manager David Weiss said.

Famed for his fiery style, Hubbard played with such jazz icons as Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.

Two years after moving to New York from his native Indianapolis in 1958, Hubbard recorded his first album, "Open Sesame," and enjoyed a meteoric rise in jazz circles.

By August 1961, he was onto his fourth album, "Ready for Freddie," a collaboration with Wayne Shorter considered by many to be his masterpiece.

Throughout the decade, he played both at the helm of his own small group and with bands led by others. He was also featured on such iconic albums as Coltrane's "Ascension" and Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz."

Hubbard won his sole Grammy in 1972 with "First Light," one of a series of crossover albums that brought him mainstream recognition. He later returned to his hard-bop roots, thrilling audiences with his dazzling speed and impassioned blues lines.