GARY HUSBAND first solo tour of Japan in support of A MEETING OF SPIRITS

Gary Husband is frequenting lately very often the MoonJune Universe. The extraordinarily talented British drummer / pianist / keyboardist / composer is celebrated for his high level association with world class jazz, fusion and rock icons and legends such as Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Jack Bruce, Gary Moore, Robin Trower, Billy Cobham, and he is lately recording and performing with MoonJune Records recording artists such as Beledo, Dewa Budjana, Dusan Jevtovic, Mark Wingfield, Asaf Sirkis and Jason Smith. Gary Husband will appear for these second time in Japan as a very special guest with the British progressive jazz-rock institution Soft Machine, on July 28th and 29th in Tokyo and on July 31st in Osaka, with John Etheridge on guitar, Theo Travis on sax/flute, Roy Babbington on bass and John Marshall on drums. During the same visit to Japan, maestro Gary Husband will perform there solo concerts; in Yokohama on July 26th, in Osaka on July 30th and in Nagoya on August 1st.

“A Meeting Of Spirits In Japan Tour” is not only the promotion of Gary’s latest album on the English record label Edition, but also celebration of the music of John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth and his own music.

I am encouraging You to hear this truly amazing album, and buying on BandCamp You are supporting directly both the artist and his independent record label.
“A Meting Of Spirits” is available in CD and Download format on:
www.garyhusbandmusic.bandcamp.com
CDs are £9.99 +shipping (shipped from UK)
Instant download is £8.20 (FLAC/WAV/ALAC, MP3-320 formats)
“A Meting Of Spirits” is released on Edition Records, UK:
www.editionrecords.com

“Gary Husband is a musician of many talents – his instruments are piano, in-piano percussion, voice and bell – and has been at the forefront of the international jazz scene for many years. He is that rare breed: a musician equally fluent in expression, and internationally lauded, on two instruments, in this case, drums and keyboard. Even more singular is his ability to bring together the fruits of a career that have included classical training, improvisational versatility and long experience on the pop, rock, funk and blues circuits into a distinctive and influential musical personality.” – Grady Harp, Amazon

“A Meeting Of Spirits succeeds as an interpretational and at times, impressionistic representation of the music of McLaughlin, the undeniable maestro of jazz. It also serves as a timely reminder of the massive contribution that McLaughlin has made to music, whilst all the while Husband effortlessly exudes a prodigious talent of his own. – Roger Farbey, All About Jazz

“What’s most remarkable is how Husband’s own pieces mesh with McLaughlin’s, creating a common ground that reflects of a deeper understanding of McLaughlin’s vast vernacular, along with Husband’s own evolving language and virtuosic pianism. McLaughlin has never sounded so dark, so abstract or so contextually unfettered. But equally, Husband finds the line that threads through McLaughlin’s stylistically diverse career, making A Meeting of Spirits an innovative tribute that’s reverential but always speaks with its own voice.” – John Kelman, All About Jazz

Gary Husband has been at the forefront of the international jazz scene for many years. He is that rare breed: a musician equally fluent in expression, and internationally lauded, on two instruments, in this case, drums and keyboard. Even more singular is his ability to bring together the fruits of a career that have included classical training, improvisational versatility and long experience on the pop, rock, funk and blues circuits into a distinctive and influential musical personality.

Gary’s latest album, and his first for Edition, A Meeting of Spirits is an innovative re-interpretation of the music of legendary guitarist, bandleader and composer John McLaughlin that in many ways demonstrates the totality of Husband’s multifaceted talent. In “…dissecting, reforming and freshly presenting…” the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Husband – a long time collaborator with McLaughlin – pays personal and intimate homage to the iconic guitarist while showcasing his own highly distinctive creativity and personal expression.

And McLaughlin returns the compliment, summing up this beautiful work: “Gary Husband the pianist has long been overshadowed by Gary Husband the drummer. I can personally testify to it. However, here we have a recording which will probably achieve the reverse of what I just wrote. In addition, he has chosen to base this recording primarily on my own compositions. I am honoured. This is a recording that is full of surprises; and the fact that I have difficulty in recognizing one or two of my own compositions is only one of them! But Gary is no ordinary musician: full of invention and surprises, modulations and inversions of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic content abound.”

While the album is a tribute to McLaughlin’s music, it’s no slavish copy. As arranger and composer Michael Gibbs suggests: “I’m not sure that the word interpretations is the right one for these performances – they go so much further – not even close to what the industry calls covers – so individual are they.”

Gary’s now thirteen-year-long involvement with John McLaughlin (and the band The 4th Dimension) has sat alongside tenures with Billy Cobham (most recently in Cobham’s Spectrum 40 band), regular projects with Hamburg’s NDR Big Band, further touring or recording commitments with artists such as Lenny White, Didier Lockwood, Joachim Kuhn and Enrico Rava, in addition to activity in the legendary ground-breaking over three-decades-long association he shared with the late Allan Holdsworth. But despite these fruitful encounters, it’s with this personal and rewarding project that we are placed directly in touch with just how significantly – as an arranger, composer and multi-instrumentalist – Gary Husband has evolved. Of this – the second of his two “Interpretations Of” piano albums – he says “I’m proudest, to date, of this album … actually of both these works.”

GARY HUSBAND performing with SOFT MACHINE in 2018

JULY 28 – Tokyo, Japan (Billboard Live) – 2 show (piano/keyboards)
JULY 29 – Tokyo, Japan (Billboard Live) – 2 show (piano/keyboards)
JULY 31 – Osaka, Japan (Billboard Live) – 2 show (piano/keyboards)
OCTOBER 16, Tue – Toronto, ON (Mod Club) – (drums)
OCTOBER 17, Wed – Buffalo, NY (The Tralf) – (drums)
OCTOBER 18, Thu – Cleveland, OH (Beachland Music Hall) – (drums)
OCTOBER 19, Fri – Indianapolis, IN (Irving Theater) – (drums)
OCTOBER 21, Sun – Chicago (Reggie’s, Progtober Fest) – (drums)
OCTOBER 22, Mon – Milwaukee, WI (Shank Hall) – (drums)
OCTOBER 23, Tue – St. Paul, MN (The Turf) – (drums)

THE MEETING OF THE SPIRITS TOUR

john-mclaughlin
Nov-Dec 2017

GUITARIST JOHN MCLAUGHLIN REVISITS THE LEGACY OF HIS LEGENDARY MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA ON UPCOMING AMERICAN TOUR WITH CO-HEADLINER VIRTUOSO GUITARIST JIMMY HERRING.

In a career that spans more than five decades, John McLaughlin has honed a personal vision that transcends all boundaries, becoming one of improvised music’s most influential guitarists, composers, and bandleaders. McLaughlin will be joined by the remarkable Jimmy Herring, who has been in the creative forefront of the thriving American rock-jam band movement for 25 years, for what has been dubbed The Meeting of the Spirits tour. Highlighting this musical adventure, will be John McLaughlin revisiting the pioneering music he introduced with his deeply influential, genre-defying Mahavishnu Orchestra. McLaughlin will be backed by his current band, the 4th Dimension – Ranjit Barot (drums), Gary Husband (keyboards, drums), and Etienne M’Bappé (bass) – each an established composer and recording artist in his own right.

Jimmy Herring, best known for his inspired contributions to the Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Allman Brothers, Widespread Panic, The Dead, and others, will be co-headlining each show with his own band. “Herring possesses the heart and soul of a rocker, the chops and harmonic awareness of a jazz artist, and the simpatico personality of a jam-band player,” according to Guitar Player magazine. 2017 also marks the return of Jimmy Herring as a bandleader since touring after his widely acclaimed “Lifeboat” (2008) and “Subject to Change without Notice” (2012).

On The Meeting of the Spirits tour, separate sets by Herring and McLaughlin will be followed by the two joining forces for an expansive closing jam based on classic Mahavishnu Orchestra material. The tour will feature the first extended collaborations between two of world’s foremost improvising guitarists. Expect special surprise guests to be added when available.

“The music of Mahavishnu is part of my personal and musical history, and as such it is inseparable from me,” McLaughlin reflects. “To return to these pieces with the experience I’ve had for the past 45 years, since the majority of those pieces were played all those years ago, is very exciting.”

Herring adds, “John’s influence on me is far-reaching. When first hearing him, I was struck by the raw emotion and technical prowess he has. If you listen to John long enough, the layers of all the things that make him unique will reveal themselves…Inner Mounting Flame changed my life and the way I heard music. By the time I heard it in 1980, John had long since moved on and recreated himself, as he has done many times throughout his career. It is an honor and a privilege to do this tour with John and the 4th Dimension.”

McLaughlin’s first extensive U.S. tour in seven years, The Meeting of the Spirits also marks his first extended exploration of the Mahavishnu Orchestra material from seminal albums such as Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, Between Nothingness and Eternity, Visions of the Emerald Beyond and more since the band’s original heyday in the 1970s.
“To play the music of Mahavishnu is not for the faint-hearted,” says McLaughlin, who celebrates his 75th birthday in 2017. “In fact, among the only people I know who have succeeded in interpreting Mahavishnu music are my two all-time favorite guitarists: Jimmy Herring and Jeff Beck. Jimmy is simply a great guitar player, and since we see so eye to eye in music, I know we will have some extraordinary musical experiences touring together.”
McLaughlin strongly feels that this will be his last American performances. He is hoping that all of his friends who have supported him over the years can come out to celebrate this tour with him. After all, it was in America that he met Miles Davis and Tony Williams and played on such trailblazing albums as In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. America was the true birthplace of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Booking/Management
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