This two-fer features two of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's best recordings for the Impulse! label: 1962's The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard and 1963's The Body and the Soul. Similar to his outstanding Blue Note work of this time, including Ready for Freddie and Hub-Tones, these albums feature Hubbard in his prime. In his mid-twenties at the time of recording, he was considered one of the hottest musicians on the scene and his frenetic, soulful, and gymnastic post-bop trumpet style was already beginning to have a heavy influence on others. For The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard, he was joined by trombonist Curtis Fuller along with a stellar rhythm section of pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Art Davis, and drummer Louis Hayes. Tackling such standards as "Caravan" as well as few Hubbard originals, the album plays like a straight-ahead jam session with the young players pushing the modern jazz tenets of blues, swing, and bop to the edge. Paired with his onetime Jazz Messengers bandmate saxophonist/arranger Wayne Shorter, as well as Eric Dolphy and others, Hubbard employed a septet as well as a 16-piece big band and orchestra on The Body and the Soul to push his playing into new and uncharted territory. The plan worked and resulted in one of Hubbard's most beautiful and aurally complex albums of his career.