The Things I See - Interpretations of the Music of Allan Holdsworth
"The Things I See - Interpretations of the Music of Allan Holdsworth" is a solo album by Gary Husband. Originally released by Art Of Life Records in 2001:
http://www.artofliferecords.com/garyhusband.html
The album was subsequently reissued by Angel Air Records in 2004:
The album features piano interpretations of 10 Holdsworth compositions. The interpretations are very free, drastically changing the mood, tempo, phrasing, harmony. In some cases, they constitute new compositions based on the originals, such as the take of "Temporary Fault", which introduces many new melodic, harmonic and rhythmic ideas into the tune. The interpretations sometimes take on an avantgarde/contemporary music style. "Temporary Fault", for example, contains the use of the piano as a percussion instrument, with the body of the piano being used as a hand drum, as well as other untraditional techniques such as string plucking and scraping with the fingers. The album also features many examples of piano overdubs.
Allan Holdsworth himself contributed the following quote on the album on the Art Of Life website:
Gary Husband is a true friend and has been for over twenty years. Since we met, I have always thought of him as a musical and spiritual brother. Gary has always had the ability to interpret my music in a way that was, for want of a better phrase, like one. He is one of the most talented and original musicians I have ever had the pleasure of making music with. 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. I heard through the "grapevine", much to my dismay, there have been people who had gripes about these interpretations. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, THIS IS WHAT THIS RECORDING IS ALL ABOUT - INTERPRETATIONS!!!!!! This recording is beautiful, magic. Absolutely true to the spirit of the music (This is not some verbatim, clone ridden B.S.) Not only does he showcase the compositions in a very beautiful and classical way, but more so and without a doubt, showcases his truly amazing talent. Thank you Gary Husband so very, very much. I love you, always.
Allan Holdsworth - October 2001
Gary Husband, drumplayer.net, 2001
J.F. - How did you decide which songs to play on "The Things I See"? Were they your favorite songs with Alan, or were you trying to create a mood with the album?
GARY - Well, we can never underestimate the importance of instinct, inspiration and the necessary steps we should take to "listen in" to those things. It's a process I value, respect and rely on greatly. I wait for some kind of instruction ... and I deliberately put myself in the position where the doors are open for these kind of "mystical notions" to come flowing in. Therefore (!) all the compositions suggested themselves to me. So did a lot of the impulses and directions of form and adventure, so ... I just follow it, trust in it and let it take shape. A very spiritual way of approaching things I guess, but it suits me!
The thing is, these are very much interpretations - that means a completely new structure and form of development, rather than just "transcribe" Allan's music and play over it.
I have a big, big love of harmony, and the power of it - stemming back to my classical upbringing I guess to an extent. I'm also involved in improvising on a daily basis too, and striving to be as eloquent and poetic as I can through that. Form intrigues me, the "call and effect" of things ... and it's all evident in the work I've done for this album. It's a tribute to Allan, but very much in a way that I could totally represent this material and have each piece live again in a very new light. I really hope for it's success because I've never been happier with anything.
J.F. - Will we hear any of "The Things I See" tunes live?
GARY - Actually, I've already performed the first live presentation of this repertoire, at a small club in Stoke Newington. I'm really going to be wanting to do a lot more in the future though, particularly since the pieces are very conducive to being developed in all sorts of different ways through live performance. The album, I guess, is just the beginning of it's journey in a lot of ways!!
J.F. - Not many drummers are "true" percussionists with the ability to play piano. Do you draw upon any different motivation sitting at the piano versus the drum kit?
GARY - I guess you mean from the point of view that you class piano as primarily percussive, which I don't. I think of piano like any instrument, capable of the most infinite range of musical effects, not excluding rhythm, of course, but certainly not just obviously syncopation based to the exclusion of everything else. I generally love piano the most when it's understated and gentle, although you wouldn't believe it by my approach very often!
Regarding differences in terms of motivation, or attitude, or anything? No... no difference at all surprisingly. Not to me. It's my first instrument, chronologically speaking, but I do not feel any longer that one has precedence over the other. I guess I'm quite unusual in this way.
