Thanks Jazzy,
Since this is my only web presence … bear with me while I tell a few stories relating to this clip.
I had the pleasure of playing with Allan Holdsworth on and off from about 1984 up until we lost him in 2017. Chad Wackerman and Gary Husband were the two main drummers I got to work with in that band. Both amazing and distinct voices on their instruments and a real pleasure to play with in any musical situation.
In ’89 Allan recorded the album “Secrets” with Vinnie Colaiuta playing kit on most tracks. The opening tune on that album was this one “City Nights” which was written by Gary Husband.
Fast forward to now; Gary has recently been making some great instructional videos, mostly meant for drummers, describing his approach to playing in different musical situations. They’re really very good and full of valuable info for any musician.
One of these recent videos he made was a breakdown of this song “City Nights”. This is where it gets deep because Gary is not only a great drummer and composer but he’s also an excellent keyboard player. He’s been covering the keys in John Mclaughlin’s band for the past several years.
So for his “City Nights” instructional video he built a track starting with clicks, then played the main keyboard part, then the synth bass part, then the synth melody and solo parts. Then he filmed himself playing the drums to that as an example of his approach to the piece.
I don’t need to tell you folks, his drumming style is WILD!! Since the very first time we played together I’ve always enjoyed it. I find it inspiring and downright entertaining the things he comes up with, but all still in support of the music. In the case of the Holdsworth band, that music was meant to be played right on the edge of catastrophe so that’s what we all tried to do. Ha!
As part of this instructional video he made a music-minus-drums version available so that people who bought the lesson could play along and even record themselves doing so. Then he had the great idea of extending that option to other instruments and offered versions with no lead and/or no bass so we could all play along.
Just for kicks he wrote and asked me if I felt like revisiting the tune and I jumped at the chance!
So to recap so far … Gary wrote this song, played the chords, played the melody and solo, then played this amazing drum track - which he likely did in one pass… So I am playing along with THREE Gary Husbands here. I told you the guy was deep!
And now some disclaimers. While Gary likely played his drum pass in one go, I did NOT do that. In fact I spent some time building this track to fit his great drums and keyboard playing. It’s the only way I was able to sneak in all the little moments where I match or react to the drums or the solo. I then transcribed what I did, shot two videos of myself playing along, and edited it all together with the audio.
One of the joys of “going last” is the opportunity to fit what you play exactly into everything else that has already happened in the music. And I have been doing this for years and years. I grew up with muitl-track recording and learned very early about punching-in and honing the bass part to make everything fit together.
OK, I'll stop now. Excuse the long post. Big nod to Gary for his extreme musical talent and for giving me the opportunity to revisit this great tune some 30 years after my first attempt. Good fun I tell you!
Jimmy J
