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Gary Husband's Drive: Gary Husband's Drive: Hotwired
Gary Husband's Drive Hotwired
Abstract Logix
2009
Keeping one foot in the jazz tradition and the other on a path to where the music not just can go, but must go is a dicey challenge, even for the most forward-thinking. In many respects, it's the musicians who have spread themselves well beyond even the most distant fringes of jazz who are best prepared to find their way towards a new amalgam that's undeniably jazz but doesn't feel trapped in a glass showcase. Drummer/keyboardist Gary Husband has led a career that's included work in the fusion arena with two guitarists with an unmistakable eye on the future—
Allan Holdsworth
guitar, electric1948 - 2017
John McLaughlin
guitarb.1942
Husband's own releases—too few, and too far-between—have ranged from interpretive solo piano excursions dedicated to his two favorite guitarists—The Things I See: Interpretations of the Music of Allan Holdsworth (Angel Air, 2004) and A Meeting of the Spirits: Interpretations of the Music of John McLaughlin (Alternity, 2006)—to collaborative efforts with a larger cast of characters—Aspire (Jazzizit, 2004)—and on-the-road electronic experimentation—The Complete Diary of a Plastic Box (Angel Air, 2008).
Hotwired, with Husband's now nearly two year-old group Drive, represents a number of firsts for a musician who has transcended the reputation of being a drummer who doubles on keys, to a full-fledged quadruple-threat: drummer, keyboardist, composer and bandleader. Husband's encyclopedic view of music has never been better realized than with Drive, a group that combines the post-bop sensibilities of mid-'60s
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
While Drive is largely acoustic, and Husband's predilection for drums on this date makes it an often harmonically open-ended group that operates largely without a chordal foundation, this group of relative unknowns who should be better known—trumpeter Richard Turner, who also brings his own electronics to the table, saxophonist Julian Siegel, who is beginning to build a reputation of his own in the UK, where the group resides, and bassist Michael Janisch, whose powerful,
Charles Mingus
bass, acoustic1922 - 1979
"The Defender" is a powerful opener, where Husband proves himself a drummer as capable in acoustic post-bop territory as he always has been in fusion contexts; it's just a different kind of energy, and a looser, more free-wheeling approach to interplay. Janisch's visceral tone and hard-strummed chords that lay the song's foundation make it clear he's got more in common with
William Parker
bassb.1952
Dave Holland
bassb.1946
Tony Williams
drums1945 - 1997
Elvin Jones
drums1927 - 2004
Freddie Hubbard
trumpet1938 - 2008
Woody Shaw
trumpet1944 - 1989
Husband's involvement in the knotty work of Holdsworth and McLaughlin pays big dividends, but this time in the acoustic idiosyncrasies of "Josy," where once again Turner and Siegel hover and orbit together, at times coming together in stunning confluence, at other times seeming bent on divergent paths. The mood turns darker on "The Agony of Ambiguity," with Husband's mallets creating a more orchestral ambience over Janisch's pedal tone and a solo section that's a specific feature for Siegel, whose dark tone slowly fades the tune down to darkness.
Hotwired may lean more towards Husband the drummer, but on the relatively brief "One Prayer"—an impressionistic tune that begins as an empathic piano/sax duo before Turner and Janisch enter for its succinct, repetitive theme—Husband continues to prove that piano is no second instrument, despite his greater reputation as a drummer.
Husband has always been a busy player, moving from project to project as a guest. Not since his early days and The New Gary Husband Trio of 1999 has he worked with a regular group for such a lengthy period of time. Wisely waiting until the group had clocked some gigging time before recording Hotwired in July, 2008, Drive is the kind of group that shouldn't be a one-time affair. With its distinct combination of free-thinking post-bop and contemporary sonorities, Husband has truly hit the mark with Hotwired and a group that, if at all possible, needs to stay together and be heard live outside the United Kingdom.
Tracks: The Defender; Heaven in my Hands; 10/4; The Agony of Ambiguity; Deux Deux's Blues; Take the Coltrane Around; One Prayer; Angels Over City Square; Take 5.
Personnel: Gary Husband: drums, piano, synthesizer; Richard Turner: trumpet, electronics; Julian Siegel: tenor/soprano saxophones; Michael Janisch: bass. ">
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Title: Gary Husband's Drive: Hotwired | Year Released: 2009 | Record Label: Abstract Logix
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Gary Husband's Drive: Hotwired
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