I RECEIVE AN AMAZING AMOUNT OF VERY WARM AND KIND GREETINGS, COMMENTS, MESSAGES IN ADDITION TO QUESTIONS AND ENQUIRIES THROUGH THIS PAGE, AND ALTHOUGH I AM PROFOUNDLY GRATEFUL FOR THEM ALL MY TIME AND WORK CONSTRAINTS AT THE MOMENT MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO RESPOND IN ANYTHING LIKE THE LEVEL OF REGULARITY I WOULD NORMALLY EXERCISE. PLEASE EXCEPT MY PLEA FOR UNDERSTANDING ON THIS... AND ALSO, NATURALLY, MY WARMEST THANKS, FOR THEY ALL MEAN A GREAT DEAL TO ME.
THANKS,
GARY HUSBAND
Throughout my life I have been affected and inspired by music from many realms and styles. Some of my earliest memories are of picking out on piano Beatles songs, show tunes or themes from Disney films, simply from having been profoundly enchanted by a little melody. I would expand on them, experimenting with various ways I could portray them and improvise on them in meaningful ways.
Through my early, intense classical piano studies I was exposed to the beautiful music of Eric Satie, Stravinsky, Robert Schumann and others along with working on the Bartok Microcosmos series. A lot stayed with me from those experiences. At the same time I was becoming aware of an overwhelming desire to get involved in playing drums. I did, and from that moment the two endeavours became merged in terms of dedication and equal priority.
Since this is the "Influences" section, let me expand a little on many of those.
Around the age of twelve I was also into big band music in a very big way - particularly much of Stan Kenton's output. The drama and exhilaration was what got me, and if you care to check out the reissue of 'Stan Kenton Today' (recorded live in London in 1972) you'll discover a most exhilerating performance by one of my all-time, hugest and original drum influences, 'The Baron' John Von Ohlen. In John you get colossal passion, power, subtlety and relentless swing all at the same time - kind of a tantalising brew of Mel Lewis with a sound the size and as powerful as John Bonham. He was completely lost, taken, insane (!) in the music. Glorious! From the swinging big band style I'd cast the great Mel Lewis as a biggie, but also a little known guy who played on Woody Herman's 'My Kind Of Broadway' album from around the mid 60's; Ronnie Zito. A master! (This album has recently been released on CD!) I'd also like to mention a newer discovery - the splendid John Hollenbeck - Bob Brookmeyer's drummer of choice - as another great big band guy on the current scene.
From here I'll move quickly to Miles Davis - the summation of so much inside of my own inner musical odyssey, and such a mammoth influence to me in general. I was staying up all night regularly totally absorbed in the 'Bitches Brew' album playing on the earphones at around fifteen years old. I now love all his periods. When I am an old man I will probably still vote the 'Jack Johnson' record as one of my ultimate 'desert island disks'. What a record. What a time. How much there is on that record... from everyone involved, right up to production genius of Teo Macero too. From him I'll go to 'Go Ahead John' Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. The man is likely to be an eternal inspiration and influence on me. Then, Bill Evans put me back into the classical space .. only he was improvising. Every note valued, nurtured. So special. So personal, and important. What a poet, and most obviously so in love with beauty. And to Tony Williams - another great poet, and to me one of the greatest and most important conceptualists in the realm of drums, in composition, in musical and general improvisational creativity. As Miles Davis said; 'You could stumble in the street .. and Tony'd play that'. What an artist, in the true, fullest sense of the word. ALL the periods from Tony for me. I was listening to the Tony Williams Lifetime on a first-generation portable mono cassette player while touring in Germany with a brass band from Yorkshire around fifteen years old thinking this was just normal everyday progressive modern electric music! My colleagues, they thought differently!! Discovering John Coltrane was another great turning point. Hearing Igor Stravinski's Mass for the first time. Also Durufle's Requiem. Sergej Rachmaninoff - the slow, passionate (famous) rhapsody from Concerto Number 2 'Variations On A Theme Of Paganini'. Some of the most tragic music I've ever heard. Still can't get through a snippet of it without being reduced to tears in seconds. The piece is featured in the movie 'Somewhere In Time'. I'm in tears with the movie too! While I think of him; Ronald Bruner Jr!! A wonderful, wholly inspired young jazz and fusion drummer (and initially from the Gospel realm) on the scene right now. He recently kicked me up the arse, right where I like it (with Kenny Garrett's group)... but check him on the recent Stanley Clarke album too! Ralph Peterson Jr! another one. Mr 'Tain' too, on the records with Branford Marsarlis. I don't hear anyone playing that kind of music any better right now. I saw Earth Wind & Fire live in 1974! That moved some physical and spiritual air inside me. One of my all-time keyboard inspirations, Jan Hammer. 'Prague meets New York'! A genius "comper" and such a deep, commanding soloist. Beautiful on piano especially too. Liam Noble from England reminds me a lot of him sometimes. Jack DeJohnette - a complete revolutionary on the drums. He has a vocabulary and expression all his own. Who can imitate him... even if you wanted to! So unique. Dave Liebman, Steve Grossman, and the little child voice in Wayne Shorter. Some more saxophone giants for me. Joe Zawinul - so special, unique and what a mighty and inspiring spirit. He's left a lot for all of us.
I'm particular with piano players. I'll enjoy some Keith Jarrett, but usually in small doses. Definitely earlier Herbie Hancock, Amhad Jamal, Brad Meldhau very occasionally (who, for me usually shines the brightest on other people's records). Some of the more modern keyboardists in the electric realm - Jim Beard, also Aydin Esen (both of whom I've had the pleasure of working with) and Squarepusher (who I haven't worked with but have a desire to in some way, shape or form). Allan Holdsworth. My brother. Hate all the people who try to copy what he does though - all those trying to closely capture his thing. Of course it's always so wrong anyway. They take just the sugar... just as all the impersonators did with Jaco Pastorius. Jaco and Allan, they've got a lot of grit, edge and guts to their voice also!! The impersonators invariably pretty much miss that! Anyway, Allan said it - "clones don't count". Talking of edge, give me 'the edge' on electric guitar anyday - Jeff Beck, Sonny Sharrock, the guitar player in the White Stripes also, John Scofield on the recent Trio Beyond album... I could go on! I loath the term "shred". Hate people who qualify in that description, and I loath what they do! Steve Topping, a very special guitar player and another close brother of mine who's beautiful and amazing compositions have always influenced and affected me. Check out the 'Late Flower' album by him and be enchanted too. Did I forget Larry Young? Yep, nearly did.
Also, I love understatement on piano - back into my classical realm I guess. I make that pretty clear on some of my records. I was improvising on piano as a youngster playing with very little, trying to capture a "lot" - sparse little triads, little hanging statements and things. Thomas Newman comes out with the 'American Beauty' soundtrack years later and steals all my shit!! Now there's a multitude of mini-Thomas Newman TV composers stealing all HIS shit! Devine justice I guess you call it! Ha ha! Narada Michael Walden on 'Visions Of The Emerald Beyond', .. and don't forget 'Inner Worlds'. Your profound and deep attack is still with me Naradal!
Singers affect me a great deal. Anyone who means it - the ones who 'lived' what they're singing about I guess. They will carry me and captivate me. I'll mention Shirley Horn, Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra, Jack Bruce, Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, John Lennon, Paul McCartney at least. I like Elton John occasionally, even Judy Garland. They mean it too. And they go right to that place!! Eric Clapton - idolised the world over as a guitarist but I love him for his singing. Bassists. Disparate styles again but here're a few. Mick Hutton from England - a lyrical giant on acoustic bass. He no longer plays. Colossal shame. Big admirer of Dave Holland. On electric, my friend and brother Jimmy Johnson. Jack Bruce.... he 'means' every note.... Alphonso Johnson, oh yes. Michael Henderson way back with Miles. Early Stanley Clarke. More of my drummer guys - Stewart Copeland, the great Elvin Jones, John Bonham, Billy Cobham, Gary Novak, JoJo Mayer. I've become a big appreciator recently of the very special Bill Stewart. There are favourite film composers - Leonard Bernstein (who's angular 'West Side Story'-type composition somehow definitely proved an influence on me) and the great Bernard Herrmann. I'm a harmony junkie, and therefore writers such as Bill Holman, Oliver Nelson, Gil Evans, Michael Gibbs, Mike Westbrook, Vince Mendoza and Steve Gray have all captivated me. Gabriel Faure, Michael Tippet. Songwriters Brian Wilson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Todd Rundgren, some of Paddy McAloon's work, Burt Bacharach, The Kinks, The Beatles, Scritti Politti, Bjork, some Human League. On violin, the great one and only Jerry Goodman - another brother of mine and beautiful person. I'm leaving out a good many people but I'll amend this little diatribe accordingly as and when more names and ideas occur to me .. and I'm anywhere near a computer.
Sounds Like
You can hear or buy the new CD "GARY HUSBAND'S DRIVE - HOTWIRED" by clicking on the above banner advert... and please come over and join the offical Gary Husband's Drive website too, by clicking on
THE OFFICIAL GARY HUSBAND'S DRIVE MYSPACE
For the downloadable version of the album please go to itunes.
Sounds like? Gary Husband, although I am also aware that many of my perennial heroes and musical influences over the many years linger in the mix too. And I'm very happy that they do!!
With others, I appear on the following new or recent album recordings: JACK BRUCE AND ROBIN TROWER - "SEVEN MOONS", JOHN McLAUGHLIN - "INDUSTRIAL ZEN", ASAF SIRKIS TRIO - "THE MONK", RAY RUSSELL - "GOODBYE SVENGALI", LEVEL 42 - "RETROGLIDE" and CHRISTOF LAUER TRIO - "BLUES IN MIND".
My synthesizer debut album "DIARY OF A PLASTIC BOX" has been recently re-released as a double album (with an entire extra CD of previously unreleased additional material) entitled "THE COMPLETE DIARY OF A PLASTIC BOX". That's on the Angel Air Label. Also on Angel Air is my interpetations of Allan Holdsworth's music album ("THE THINGS I SEE - INTERPRETATIONS OF THE MUSIC OF ALLAN HOLDSWORTH"). The more recent second interpretations album I recorded, based on the music of John McLaughlin ("A MEETING OF SPIRITS - INTERPRETATIONS OF THE MUSIC OF JOHN McLAUGHLIN") is on the Alternity Records label.
The three of these are available for download via itunes, and as a CD at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
CHECK BACK REGULARLY FOR NEW MUSIC AND NEW VIDEO CLIPS ON THIS PAGE.
For historic value and on a nostalgic note, there is an outtake from the ALLAN HOLDSWORTH "IOU" album ("Water On The Brain") circa 1980, featuring right now at the following URL. http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Gary_Husband.html
*PROMOTIONAL VIDEO*
Promotional video (with interview clip) from Alternity Records for the album GARY HUSBAND * A MEETING OF SPIRITS - INTERPRETATIONS OF THE MUSIC OF JOHN MCLAUGHLIN
Gary Husband is one of a rare breed of musicians in that his expression is divided equally in his capacity as a drummer and a keyboardist of international repute. His classical roots, his quest and development in the improvisational, jazz and jazz/fusion areas - not to mention his tenure in the pop, rock, funk and blues circuits - are all evident inside Gary's distinct and far-reaching musical personality. His solo album and DVD output over the last few years has also reinforced his status as a critically acclaimed writer and arranger in the contemporary music world.
In 1999 he formed GARY HUSBAND NEW TRIO www.newgaryhusbandtrio.com (with MICK HUTTON, bass, and drummer GENE CALDERAZZO) leading from the piano and keyboards. Material from this period was best represented on the (for the moment deleted) album "ASPIRE - GARY HUSBAND & FRIENDS". In the summer of 2003, Gary was awarded a highly coveted place on the Arts Council of England's CONTEMPORARY MUSIC NETWORK touring scheme to lead a hand-picked ensemble of world-class jazz musicians on a tour across the UK in March 2004. The project, entitled GARY HUSBAND'S FORCE MAJEURE, featured Grammy winning trumpeter RANDY BRECKER, bassist MATTHEW GARRISON, keyboardist JIM BEARD, trombonist and bass trumpeter ELLIOT MASON, Mahavishnu legend JERRY GOODMAN on electric violin, and the Armenian 'world' percussionist ARTO TUNCBOYACIYAN. The ensemble returned to the UK in March 2005 for a further series of concerts which included a wildly-received, sell-out week residency at London's Ronnie Scott's club.
Close in concept and approach to his highly acclaimed piano CD release of 2001, "THE THINGS I SEE - INTERPRETATIONS OF THE MUSIC OF ALLAN HOLDSWORTH" (Angel Air Records), Gary's (fifth solo CD release) "A MEETING OF SPIRITS - INTERPRETATIONS OF THE MUSIC OF JOHN McLAUGHLIN" was released by Alternity Records now. Both are available via their respective labels, Amazon, Abstractlogix and on itunes.
Gary continues to devote a portion of his time to other artists' projects, new collaborations and educational programmes. His typically diverse range of associations (either playing keyboards, drums, or both) include (or have included) spells with artists such as BILLY COBHAM, ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, JACK BRUCE, JEFF BECK, JONAS HELLBORG, JIM MULLEN, GARY MOORE, LEMON 'D', RON SEXSMITH, STEVE TOPPING, RANDY BRECKER/BOB BERG QUINTET, DANNY GOTTLIEB, JASON SMITH TRIO, GONGZILLA, ANDY SUMMERS, ALAN SKIDMORE, AYDIN ESEN, GEOFF KEEZER, CHRISTIAN McBRIDE, CHRIS SQUIRE, MARK KING's LEVEL 42, RAY RUSSELL, Hamburg's NDR BIG BAND, Frankfurt's HR BIG BAND, MIKE STERN GROUP, CHRISTOF LAUER TRIO (with MICHEL GODARD) and a three-piece project with ROBIN TROWER and JACK BRUCE - (Please check out the recent release "SEVEN MOONS" on V-12 Records)
Following his particpation ..boards and drums on JOHN McLAUGHLIN's celebrated "INDUSTRIAL ZEN" CD, Gary appeared (in July 2007) at the Chicago Eric Clapton Crossroads Festival with JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, MATT GARRISON & VINNIE COLAIUTA, and toured the U.S., Canada and Europe throughout 2008 as a member of JOHN MCLAUGHLIN & THE 4th DIMENSION. Gary also toured in Europe recently with AL JARREAU (and the NDR BIG BAND), has been working on new recordings with AYDIN ESEN and recently performed at a Zildjian Achievement Award concert for Ginger Baker in London along with SIMON PHILLIPS, RAY RUSSELL and TONY LEVIN. He also performed very recently with JACK BRUCE and the BBC BIG BAND in Birmingham, UK, and was featured artist at the 2008 Rome Jazz Festival with COLIN TOWNS and the HR BIG BAND.
Gary's propulsive new 4-piece contemporary jazz group DRIVE (featuring RICHARD TURNER - Trumpet, JULIAN SIEGEL - Saxophones, MICHEAL JANISCH playing bass) have released "HOTWIRED" on the Abstract Logix label.
ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, GARY HUSBAND, JIMMY JOHNSON - Gigant, Apeldoorn - March 18, European Tour 2009
GARY HUSBAND'S FORCE MAJEURE, London Queen Elizabeth Hall,
05/03/04. Featuring RANDY BRECKER, ELLIOT MASON, JERRY GOODMAN, JIM BEARD, MATTHEW GARRISON and ARTO TUNCBOYACIYAN.
Onstage at The Barbican, London 31/05/08, playing the composition "SULLEY" (also featured in the Audio songs on this page)
2008 Spring Tour - JOHN McLAUGHLIN & The 4th DIMENSION.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN BAND - "MAHARINA" (DVD - Eric Clapton's Chicago 2007 Crossroads) also featuring VINNIE COLAIUTA - Drums and MATT GARRISON - Bass)
Performing in the SEBASTIAAN CORNELISSEN TRIO in Europe
Hi Gary, Uploaded 3/4 6/8 BOOGIE tribute to the great Claude Bolling, done in Barrelhouse style where technical perfection is relative to the consumption of the Barrel contents, Peace, Neil
Hi Gary, just coming home from your "Kieler Woche" Gig with '42...great...I...truly...love your amazing drumming and the band your playing with tonight. I would simply like to say 'Thank you!' and would appreciate to meet you in real life, maybe jamming a few bars... All the best to you, Didi
I have to say man, I've read the article more than once. Thank you for your incredibly open hearted vibe. Btw I too have the elbow tendon thing, I really know what you mean. Mine's been getting better though after three years- Three damn years...
