One of my favorite flutists who has provided memorable, beautiful sounds for my ear through jazz and hip hop music, Hubert Laws. It is not just the signature sound of his flute performance, but a fusion of different influences of other music genres, good production, writing, and the collaborations with fine musicians to combine for a deep listening experience that stands out from many jazz releases I listen to from the 70's.

As a musician, Hubert Laws is a great storyteller providing compositions to draw you into different spaces of thought and emotion through jazz improvisation and structured songwriting. I appreciate the distinct variation of moods I get when going from album to album, from the themes presented with each album (Family, Romeo & Juliet, San Francisco Concert, The Rite of Spring, Crying Song) a testament to Hubert's craft as an artist in providing this great music that tells a story. During the jazz-fusion era of the 70's, I feel like his music and collaborations with artists such as Bob James, Wade Marcus, Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard gave us a level of depth and creativity in songwriting to be treasured for years to come, one reason why the work of these artists is still covered and sampled extensively.



Here is one of my favorites of the Hubert Laws catalog, 1976's Romeo & Juliet, this one to me is like his dreamy, summertime, feel good album and brings together many of the great sounds I love about this period of jazz music . The music plays like a scene you saw from a movie where a person was enjoying the feelings and moods from that season of the year:


Hubert Laws & Hip Hop


Nas & Large Professor - One + One Large Professor was no fool at utilizing a Fender Rhodes piano in hip hop, neither was Hubert Laws in his music. This dream-like instrument from Laws' The Rite of Spring album is used to provide the backdrop for the delivery of two Queens MCs.

M.O.P. - Downtown Swinga '96 Premier channels the dark side of Mr. Laws for a hardcore street classic.


Large Professor - Spacey an example of the varied emotion you could find in Hubert Laws music, this one sounds like scientifical madness to me.

Pete Rock & Deda - Too Close beautiful Rhodes sample combined with the hard drums for a classic in a way only Pete could do it.

Onyx - Shout these guys used jazz in a way that was pretty unassuming, flipping different parts toward a darker feel which represented their persona. This one off their second album is one of my favorites.

Bushwackas - Caught Up In The Game (instrumental) produced by Buckwild. My favorite direct use of Hubert's flute in a hip hop production, the sound of it at the start sets the mood off nicely. This song got me through my senior years of high school.