Gary Husband A Meeting Of Spirits

I'd held back from buying this CD even though the concept is one I very much like and bought it almost on a whim along with other items. My major reason is that I prefer Husband's piano-playing to his drumming and I'm aware of his love of the original music, first with Force Majeure and then with his direct involvement with McLaughlin on 4th Dimension.

On listening I was very pleasantly surprised indeed. The interpretations weren't mere copies of the originals (that would be impossible) nor just restatements of the themes, but a very personal interpretation that hints strongly enough at the originals while taking it to an original destination.

jfderry's review is actually excellent, including many things I don't have the vocabulary to describe. Much to my own surprise I'm glad to recommend this album very highly.

A Meeting Of Spirits: Interpretations of the Music of John McLaughlin

Gary Husband

1. Spirits Opening (J. McLaughlin)

2. A Meeting Of Spirits (G. Husband)

3. It's Funny (J. McLaughlin)

4. Lotus Feet Reflections (G. Husband)

5. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters (J.McLaughlin)

6. Lotus Feet (Reprise) (J. McLaughlin)

7. Earth Bound Hearts (J. McLaughlin)

8. Development and Closing (G. Husband)

9. Jazz Jungle (Excerpt) (J. McLaughlin)

10. Maya Prologue (G. Husband)

11. The Dance Of Maya (J. McLaughlin)

12. Alap (G. Husband)

13. Are You The One? (J. McLaughlin)

14 Vision Is A Naked Sword (J. McLaughlin)

15 Joyful (G. Husband)

16 Song For My Mother (J. McLaughlin)

Gary Husband: piano

Gary Husband has a great affection for John McLaughlin, the man and his music; he must thus be a very happy bunny playing keyboards in McLaughlin's newest tour band, the Fourth Dimension. The seeds were planted early, McLaughlin already knew of Husband, "a musician whom I have known and admired for many years", certainly from Allan Holdsworth gigs. Then, about 5 years ago, along came an opportunity to spend some time together, "we've been hanging out with John quite a lot recently, and have become good friends ... recently celebrated his 60th. here in London ... I'm hoping there might be some playing at some point with him of course - specially having missed about 3 times an opportunity in the past, (one of them being the 'Django' track on The Promise that Jeff Beck also played on)."

Patience, Gary ... Patience ...

By then word was also getting around that there's a lot more to Husband than just the world class drummer that we've mostly heard. In a few outings he's been crossing over to piano, in the middle of gigs ("Force Majeure"), for whole gigs (with Billy Cobham), and in the studio (for Jason Smith's "Think Like This"), and even releasing other albums of solo keyboard (the indications of his brilliance captured on the sketchy "Diary of a Plastic Box") and acoustic piano ("The Things I See: Interpretations of the Music of Allan Holdsworth") which McLaughlin heard and liked, a lot. It was so beautiful that it made Holdsworth cry! "When I heard Gary was going to make a recording of some of my music, I was, of course extremely flattered. But upon hearing it, I was moved to tears."

Now, to elicit that sort of response from an artist you probably need to have a deep appreciation of their work. Indeed, McLaughlin thinks it's because of Husband's drumming insight, "the marvellous combination of Gary's immense musical talent as a pianist, and his knowledge of Allan's strange and beautiful music from the point of view as a drummer who knows so well the rhythmic intricacies of his compositions that make this recording so appealing to me. Thanks Gary!" It's his insight that also lends a masterly confidence to his interpretations (although the man is incredibly modest and sensitive), allowing a freedom of expression disconnected from artificial obligation to the original material. Sometimes we are given no more than a merest taste of a familiar theme before being transported into a very complex musical world. Even McLaughlin didn't recognise some of his own compositions!

Borrowing musical ideas from people is nothing new of course, almost de rigeur in jazz - look down, it's inevitable that you'll be standing on the shoulders of some giant. McLaughlin's modestly makes him the first to acknowledge the role of external influences. It formed the spirit of the philosophy behind his "Thieves and Poets", "[y]ou learn from everybody and you adopt the attitudes and techniques and make them your own ... we're all thieves. I'm the biggest thief of all, I've been stealing all my life. We call it being influenced, but it's basic appropriation. You can try to do it other people's way, but in the end, you can only do it your way. Every now and then you can say something of value. It doesn't happen every day, but it's the life's work, isn't it?"

In that respect, standing on the shoulders of a giant may be the only reason that this album is not an instant classic in its own right, but it is nothing less than a modern day masterpiece. Foremost, what I love about these acoustic versions of Mahavishnu music in particular is the re-emphasis on the music without all the energy. It's the difference between taste and texture, when all you have is the bare bones without the muscle. Mixed metaphores aside, it's the likes of Leo Kottke, Dave Marshall & Howard Wright, Antonio Forcione, The Groningen Guitar Duo, The California Guitar Trio and The Wild Strings Quartet who have to work extra hard to convey this music without resorting to electronic effects. The only effects available are provided by the imagination, and Man, Gary Husband certainly has a fertile imagination! Before, on "The Things I See", he gave us some quite extraordinary percussion using the piano body. Here again we are treated to what he calls "in-piano percussion" (on a fantastically groovy and breathtaking "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters" and mixed with voices on "Are You The One?"). A joyful noise indeed.