Freddie Hubbard Suffers Heart Attack

An article published Monday in Washington, D.C.’s City Paper, claiming that trumpet great Freddie Hubbard was in a coma, was disputed yesterday by his colleague David Weiss of the New Jazz Composers Octet. The article, credited to Michael J. West, claimed that Hubbard had “suffered heart failure and collapsed last Sunday, December 1,” at his home in Sherman Oaks, and was lying in a coma in a hospital in that city. The piece also quoted Los Angeles jazz marketing executive Ricky Schultz as saying that Hubbard was in critical condition.

According to Weiss, “Freddie did not collapse. He was having trouble breathing and was taken by ambulance to Sherman Oaks Hospital on Wednesday, November 26. He did have a heart attack. He was unconscious for a couple of days, induced by his doctors, who thought the treatment they were giving him would cause him too much pain if he was conscious. He has been awake for around two weeks now. He is still hooked up to breathing apparatus but again is conscious and coherent. He is getting stronger every day but has a ways to go.”

Hubbard, who has experienced a number of health problems since the early ’90s, recently released On the Real Side, his first new album since 2001. He was featured on the cover of the October issue of JazzTimes.

Originally Published December 16, 2008