Gary Husband is a multi-instrumentalist, playing mainly keyboards and drums. As a keyboard player, he is an in-demand session musician, and has been a long-term member of John McLaughlin’s band The Fourth Dimension, who have just released their latest album.
Keys Review’s Andy Hughes caught up with Gary as the Covid restrictions are finally eased, to talk about his choices for keyboards, and some valuable advice for players at every level.
Did you start as a piano player Gary?
I did, because the piano was the only instrument in the house when I was a small child. I couldn’t reach it, but I was still interested in it, and as soon as I could reach the keyboard, I started figuring out how it worked, how to get pleasing sounds out of it, and figuring out what a chord was. I was really taken with the possibilities, and how complete an instrument the piano is. I don’t think any other instrument has the entire spectrum and range that a piano has, that’s why most orchestral and soundtrack composers choose to work on a piano for their ideas.
What were your first lessons like?
My father was a professional musician, and he insisted that I have classical training on the piano, and as painful as that was, I have had ample reason to be extremely grateful for it in my own career as a musician.
When I was growing up, music teachers, piano teachers especially, really put you through it, and there was physical effort and pain involved. But those physical advantages that the lessons gave me have stood me in good stead, and I have been really grateful to have the technique and the physical backup that I gained from those lessons.
You are known mainly as a piano player, are you at all seduced by the lure of the organ, or synthesisers?
I am indeed – half an hour before us chatting together, I was listening to an album on which I played on two tracks, and one of those was a Hammond B3 section that I played.
The electric organ is a very different beast to the piano, and even different to synthesiser keyboards. I have always enjoyed listening to as many varieties of music as I can, and that includes listening to Hammond players in all sorts of formats – rock, jazz, be-bop, classical, anything at all. And that listening experience gives you a feeling for the instrument itself. Not I would say, a feeling that made me want to explore it really deeply and take specialist lessons in playing, but I think that any experience of playing any instrument stays with you, and that overall experience does feed into your playing, once again, on any instrument you choose.
Do you play a lot of organ and synthesiser?
Because of the restrictions of Covid, like everyone else I have been working from home, and it’s difficult to record acoustic piano for a session, because the sound can vary, unlike electric keyboards.
Having played so much with Billy Cobham, and being the pianist with John McLaughlin’s band for fifteen years, I am fortunate enough to have built up a profile sufficient to keep me working. That has included some Hammond and synthesiser playing, I am fortunate that I have all my favourite instruments here with me.
Do you have a favourite synthesiser?
I have just got a Nord Lead A1 synthesiser which is just fabulous. I recently had the Nord Lead 2X, but the A1 uses USB for storage instead of Midi technology, which was really complex as a way of maintaining a library of stored sounds. Now I can simply take a laptop and download all my sounds, and I can have the ‘First Generation’ sounds loaded in as well, so it’s great. I am finding it is inspiring me to play differently, I do believe that different sounds lead to different applications and that is always a good advantage for musicians and composers.
You’ve just finished working on the new John McLaughlin album, how has that been, working with Covid limitations?
It was great to work on the album. There were three or four different drummers, of which I was one, and a number of different keyboard players, again I was involved there as well, so the band was mixed from track to track, depending on the individual styles John chose to make each piece work as he wanted. Because we couldn’t gather together in a studio to record as normal, that meant file-sharing.
The great thing about the file-sharing that we did, is that we managed to make it sound as though it actually was a bunch of musicians in the same studio at the same time, even though it was of course the exact opposite of that. It is a lot easier said than done, but that’s where experience comes in.
Because we have worked together for so long, we have instinctive reactions to each other’s’ playing. You can work out the reactions of players to each other without actually hearing them in the studio. Ranjit Barot will jump in early on my keyboard playing and get a great busy line going, because that is how he plays, and I can imagine that when I am putting my parts down ready to send them over for him to add his drums on. When you know other musicians’ ways of playing like that, you can leave proper spaces for solos and improvisations, we are all good at second-guessing which makes recording that way work. The real pleasure is that some people who have heard the album, have thought that we did make it all together, in the usual way, and that’s what we wanted, so it’s great to know that we made it work.
If you were shopping for a piano, what would you be thinking about?
Clearly, piano sounds vary considerably from company to company, and that’s why it’s always advisable to try as many different ones as you are able to, before coming to a final decision. Pianos are not cheap, and you are going to have your choice for a long time, so it makes sense not to rush into anything. Try some different makes and models and see which feels and sounds right for you.
Some A4 – that’s ‘baby grand’ size pianos sound a bit boxy because of the limitations of a smaller frame, but others have a nice expansive resonance at the bottom end, so again it pays to try out different makes and models and find the one that you like, because if you like it, you will enjoy playing it.
Roland make a great RD Series for the classical player, they have the right sort of action for that style of playing. You need to work out the sort of music you are going to be playing the most, because that will directly influence the type of action you want your keyboard to have, so again, have a good think about that. Research is everything when buying any instrument, you have to do your research first to make the correct choices.
What are your views on structured lessons as opposed to self-teaching, because clearly there are good and bad aspects to both.
This is an age-old question, and some people are a little high-brow about people who have taught themselves. But honestly, when you hear the level of technique and skill that a lot of self-taught players bring to the table, it’s hard to provide an argument that only structured teaching gets you to the right standard.
As I mentioned, I had lessons, so I can only speak from that point of view, I don’t know how I would have been if I had taught myself. But simply on a physical level, I know that the muscle build-up and strength that my formal classical teaching gave me is something I have been grateful for continually in my career as a professional musician.
Do you like to compose outside your technical limits, or maybe set the bar higher and work up to playing what you have written?
I think composing and improvising are similar, even though one is instant and the other is considered. What I am after in both, which is there the similarity is for me, is adventure, to capture the audience’s attention with imaginative playing, working with what is to be achieved.
If it’s my own composition then it’s open season, obviously I can ditch ideas and come back to them, depending on what I am looking for. Some people take ages to finish anything, some people can have a complete piece down in a day and a half, it’s different for different people.
Following on from that, do you think it’s better to master as many different disciplines and techniques as you can, or concentrate on maybe one or two and aim to excel with those?
This may sound contradictory, but I think you can become really good at one specific technique or genre, through having learned the techniques of a variety of others.
If you play a concert grand piano, and compare that with a Fender Rhodes, or a Hammond B3, the difference in approach and technique needed to play each of them individually is very very different. But the skills you learn from playing each of them is always going to feed into the technique you use on the others, if you want to go down that road, and it has certainly worked for me personally.
How much do you practice?
I must admit this, and I’m neither proud of saying it, nor do I mind admitting it – I don’t put in hours of practice. But I play a lot, my mind is gravitating towards playing all the time, and all my playing is about being as fluent as possible, and keeping all the channels open in my mind. So I don’t do structured practising, unless I am learning a specific piece for a recording or a concert, but I do play as much as I can.
Do you take steps to look after your hands? Obviously you avoid chopping down trees, but are you careful?
Well, I don’t crack my knuckles or pull my fingers until they pop. Years ago, people thought that gave you suppleness and helped your flexibility, whereas now we know it’s just storing up a dose of arthritis in later life.
Good common sense is what’s needed, just take good care of your body generally. Although, having said that, as a drummer, I seem constantly to be heaving heavy drum cases in and out of the backs of estate cars!
Do you have a keyboard hero?
I honestly can’t have just one, because the people I admire are so diverse in terms of how and where they work. I can’t make a choice between the classical heroes I always had growing up, and someone who plays Hammond back-up in a blues band, because it’s too different, so I don’t have just one hero.
Are you looking forward to playing live again?
I absolutely can’t wait! By the time this goes out, I will have played the two gigs I have lined up, although I have two lots of paperwork to get past first, Covid and EU, because a lot of my live work is in Europe.
Live playing is addictive, I have missed it so much, and hopefully when I do get out there, it will be like I’ve never been away.
ANDY HUGHES.
