Gary Husband (born 14 June 1960)[1] is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist, keyboard player and bandleader. He is also a composer, arranger, producer and educator.
Born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England,[1] to dancer Patricia Husband and musician Peter Husband, Gary Husband trained as a classical pianist with Dame Fanny WatermanDBE and Bryan Layton. His distinct piano style has been noted to reveal jazz fusion and classical music influences. While being an internationally respected drummer, he is essentially self-taught, though he picked up casual lessons with various professional players at a young age and later spent a lengthier term with drum teacher Geoff Myers.
Having been a professional player on drums and piano from the age of 13 Gary Husband joined The Syd Lawrence Orchestra at 16 years old as their full-time drummer. In addition to this he picked up session or touring work with artists or acts such as Lulu and The Bachelors among many others. Husband also frequently played in his home town with visiting jazz soloists from London in pubs and music venues.
In 1998, Husband released his first (solo synth) album, Diary Of A Plastic Box[2] (later to be re-released as a double CD in 2008, entitled The Complete Diary Of A Plastic Box), From 1998 to 2001 he led his piano trio (The New Gary Husband Trio) featuring bassist Mick Hutton and drummer Gene Calderazzo. The trio's CD releases From The Heart and Aspire[3] (featuring guest appearances by Billy Cobham, vocalists Mark King (musician), Christine Tobin and Hamish Stuart), highlight the music of this group. Of his several solo piano album releases, The Things I See * Interpretations Of The Music Of Allan Holdsworth[4] is an imaginative reworking of the guitarist's music. Years later he released A Meeting Of Spirits,[5] presenting a further selection of similarly highly personalised works based on the music of John McLaughlin.
Gary Husband's Force Majeure, his group from 2004 to 2005, featured Mahavishnu Orchestra electric violinist Jerry Goodman, trumpeter Randy Brecker, trombonist Elliot Mason, keyboard player Jim Beard, bassist Matthew Garrison and percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan. In 2004 the group won funding from the Contemporary Music Network and BBC Radio 3's Jazz On 3 to tour the UK. The DVD release Gary Husband's Force Majeure - Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall, London[6] captured the band's London performance from their debut tour. His next jazz quartet project, Gary Husband's Drive featured saxophonist Julian Siegel, trumpeter Richard Turner and bassist Michael Janisch. Husband released their debut album Hotwired[7] in 2009 and the group disbanded in early 2010.
Husband produced a piano and electric guitar duet album with Alex Machacek in 2013 for Abstractlogix entitled NOW.
In July 2013, Gary Husband performed a solo piano concert at the Saint-Émilion Jazz Festival.
In May 2017, Husband took his first big band production ("Dreams In Blue") to the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Big Band. Consisting of mostly his own material Husband enlisted composer and arranger Dale Wilson to prepare and interpret the scores, while Tim Hagans was brought in to direct the band. The production featured Husband playing both piano and drums. Gary also integrated special guest (Hungarian violinist) Zoltán Lantos for the debut concert performance in Hamburg.
On May 19, 2019, Husband collaborated on piano with guitarist Mark Wingfield to make the album Mark Wingfield & Gary Husband - Tor & Vale, and on March 3, 2020, he combined with Markus Reuter in Tokyo to record Gary Husband & Markus Reuter - Music Of Our Times. Both albums were released on Moonjune Records.
Husband brought about The Trackers (which he leads in collaboration with Norwegian guitarist & composer Alf Terje Hana) in 2020. Their debut album Vaudeville 8:45 was recorded in 2021 (at that point still without a resident bassist) so Husband enlisted a roster of seven special guest bassists to perform on the recording. Bassists Etienne MBappé, Guy Pratt, Jimmy Haslip, Jimmy Johnson, Øyvind Grong, Mark King (musician) and Kevin Scott all feature throughout the album.
In January 2023 Husband teamed with esteemed French and Vietnamese guitarist and composer Nguyên Lê to form Nguyên Lê & Gary Husband duo. Their debut performance was commissioned by and took place at Le Petit Duc, Aix-en-Provence in January 2023 and the pair have staged many jazz festival appearances throughout Europe ever since. In June 2023 the duet performed at Hammersmith Eventim Apollo in London as support act for the two final concerts ever to be given in the city by John McLaughlin & Shakti (band).
In August 2023 Husband played a two night run at Hollywood's legendary The Baked Potato as Gary Husband & Friends. On the first he featured guests guitarist Michael Landau and Jimmy Johnson, on the second guitarists Andy Timmons, Jimmy Johnson and Rocco Zifarelli.
In 2024 Husband completed recording both drums, keyboards and co-production for the album Morgan|Husband|Feraud - A Soul In Time with guitarist and composer James Morgan and bassist Hadrien Feraud. It was a project initialised by guitarist and composer Dean Brown.
Acknowledgements
Gary Husband's proficiency on both drums and keyboards has received praise from other musicians and critics. In 2017, Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree referred to him as "a great, amazingly talented musician! ... He's off the charts talented, this guy. I don't know anyone else in the world who can play piano at that level, and drums at that level".[9] Music critic John Fordham of The Guardian considers him one of the best British musicians in the contemporary post-bop scene, describing Husband's pianistic style as "an onrush of long-lined phrases and ambiguous harmonies boldly adapted from Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans."[10]
In 2011, when asked to recommend modern drummers to a drumming magazine, Bill Bruford of King Crimson mentioned Gary Husband, stating that "anything Gary plays on is great" and concluding that he is among the "players [who] are helping push the boundaries of how things should be."[11]Pat Mastelotto said that Husband is an "inspiration to every drummer."[12] Other drummers who have cited him as an influence or expressed admiration for his drumming work are Tomas Haake of Meshuggah.[13]Sean Reinert of Cynic,[14]Peter Wildoer of Darkane,[15] and Rick Colaluca of Watchtower.[16]
On July 4, 2023, Gary Husband won the “Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year” award at the (APPJAG) Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2023.
Selected discography
Solo album releases
(1998) Diary of a Plastic Box
(1998) Steve Topping, Gary Husband and Paul Carmichael - What It Is (Live in the studio circa 1980)
(1999) The New Gary Husband Trio: From the Heart
(2004) Gary Husband & Friends: Aspire
(2004) The Things I See - Interpretations of the Music of Allan Holdsworth
(2006) A Meeting of Spirits - Interpretations of the Music of John McLaughlin
(2008) The Complete Diary of a Plastic Box
(2009) Gary Husband's Drive - Hotwired
(2009) Tryptych. Shulgin's Songbook. Part II - Gary Husband Plays Alexander Shulgin
↑ Fordham, John (12 February 2004). "Gary Husband, Aspire". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
↑ Marc, Travis (18 October 2011). "Bill Bruford Interview". Ukdrummerold.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
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