Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist, keyboard player and bandleader. What many don't know is that he is also a composer, arranger, producer and educator. Throughout his life he played with many acts. Husband was a member for 16 years of John McLaughlin's group The 4th Dimension. He has recently been working with Bill Evans All-Star Vans Band, Robben Ford Dragon Tales band, and his duet with guitarist Nguyên Lê. He has been a member of many of Billy Cobham's bands, worked alongside guitarist Allan Holdsworth for over three decades, the British pop/funk band Level 42, various line ups led by Jack Bruce and two line ups of guitarist Gary Moore's groups. As a session musician, Husband has also performed, recorded or toured with Chick Corea, Jeff Beck, Robin Trower, Jan Gunnar Hoff, Per Mathisen, Lenny White, Randy Brecker, Soft Machine Legacy, Foley, Al Jarreau, Hessischer Rundfunk Big Band, George Martin, Quincy Jones, Andy Summers, UK, Mike Stern, Dewa Budjana, Jack DeJohnette, Tony Levin, Lincoln Goines, Jimmy Haslip, Antoine Fafard, John Patitucci, Dave Weckl, Robben Ford and works regularly with Germany's Norddeutscher Rundfunk Big Band. An impressive track record to be proud of. And now it is finally time for himself to step into the spotlight. He does this with the double album Postcards From The Past. Gary Husband released an Archival 2CD set with Postcards From The Past, containing previously unreleased tracks from 1978 to 2021, in collaboration with MoonJune Records. This double CD is beautifully designed in a three-panel digipak complete with a 28-page booklet. Filled with many pictures and Husband's comments on each track. Almost two hours of music. On the 23 tracks you get a musical pallet of different musical styles. Going from progressive rock to jazz. Going from fusion to jazz rock. Many musical styles which are sometimes difficult to describe. But Gary did it all. He is like a musical chameleon. Adjusting to the musical styles he is asked to play or which he prefers to play. Playing on several instruments himself. Like the drums or keyboards. But also he can handle the guitar on the compositions which he wrote most of them himself. On this release the diverse compositions particularly express his passion for jazz, jazz rock and improvisation. I will not go through all of the compositions separately. Because 23 tracks are too many to describe. Of course the songs related to progressive rock are the most interesting for our readers. Songs which are most of all influenced by jazz rock and fusion related styles. But also the songs which have Allan Holdsworth on guitar. My favourite songs are Reykjavik Dream (short keyboard instrumental), Water On The Brain (nice jazz rock tune with Holdsworth and Paul Williams on vocals), Bridge (another short keyboard instrumental), 500 Miles High (another jazzy keyboard instrumental written by Chick Corea), City Nights 1993 (nice instrumental jazz rock tune), Companion (For Steve Topping) (nice acoustic guitar instrumental), The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun)(another strong jazz rock instrumental), A Filmic Rhapsody (classical movie soundtrack tune), Ternities & Bandons (emotional piece of music with strong acoustic guitar and keyboard parts all done by Gary), Guardians (another strong jazz rock instrumental), The Train (nice fusion experimental track), Song For My Father (emotional jazzy piano ballad), The Fashion Police (jazz rock which might be the the highlight on this release) and Song For My Mother (another strong guitar piece of music with strong synth flute parts). On Postcards From The Past, Gary Husband demonstrates he's more than just the little boy from Leeds who could bang the drums brilliantly. On this musical journey into the past, he clearly demonstrates he has much more to offer, and therefore has been asked by many artists and bands to play with him. I highly recommend everyone to take this musical journey into the past and enjoy it. Most of all if you are into a mix of progressive rock, fusion, jazz, jazz rock and like a lot of improvisation. Gary deserves all the praise and attention for this wonderful musical document. Well done, Gary! ***+ Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
