Red Clay

Red Clay was recorded January 27–29, 1970 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. Released May 1970 as CTI 6001, this was Freddie Hubbard's first album for Creed Taylor's newly independent CTI label and a decisive turn toward the soul-jazz fusion sound that would define much of his 1970s output. The quintet is Hubbard on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor sax and flute, Herbie Hancock on Fender Rhodes and organ, Ron Carter on electric and acoustic bass, and Lenny White on drums. The title track has since become a jazz standard and a frequently sampled source in golden-era hip-hop. Note: some streaming-service album descriptions list Stanley Turrentine as a performer on this album – that credit doesn't appear in Wikipedia, the original LP credits, or collector discographies consulted here, and looks like a mix-up with a different CTI-era session, so it's been left out of this guide.

This is a landmark early-fusion recording from Van Gelder's studio, with a mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation that rewards a clean, well-separated pressing – muddy copies tend to smear Hancock's electric piano into the rhythm section. Collectors report real variation in quality even among pressings sharing the same catalog number. One packaging quirk worth knowing: original CTI 6001 gatefolds shipped with at least three different interior cover-art color treatments (a red-clay-colored photo, a gold-toned version, and a white version with different photography) – all legitimate CTI 6001 pressings, not a printing error unique to any one copy.

Best early pressing for audiophiles: CTI 6001 – 1970 original pressing, Terre Haute plant, orange Epic-era CTI labels.

Best modern pressing for audiophiles: ORG Music ORGM-2000 (2014) – mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog tapes, pressed at Pallas in Germany, 45rpm.

Best-value modern: ORG Music ORGM-1085 – single-LP 33⅓ reissue, also mastered AAA by Bernie Grundman.