Steve Hubback
Steve Hubback | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Barry, Wales |
| Genre | Free improvisation |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments | Percussion |
| Years active | Late 1970s–present |
| Website | stevehubback |
Steve Hubback is a Welsh percussionist, instrument maker and sound sculptor associated with free improvisation. His performances and recordings incorporate gongs, cymbals and other metal instruments that he makes.[1][2]
Career
[edit]Hubback began his musical career in the late 1970s.[2] At a jazz school in Barry he was mentored by drummer Tony Oxley. In August 1982, at the Treforest festival in South Wales, Hubback performed with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. A recording of the performance was released by FMR Records as Treforest 82 in 2026.[3]
During the 1980s, Hubback toured and recorded as a jazz and rock percussionist. His first record contract was with the Berlin-based label Dossier Records.[4] Dossier released his album Be Alright When I'm Dead in 1986.[5] In May 2004, Brian Morton profiled Hubback in the British music magazine The Wire.[1]
Instrument making and sound sculpture
[edit]Hubback began making gongs and cymbals in Scandinavia in 1990. His subsequent work has included gong and cymbal sculptures, site-specific pieces and wearable metal instruments.[4] Instruments made by Hubback have been used by percussionists including Paolo Vinaccia, Marilyn Mazur and Audun Kleive.[2]
In 2001, Michael Bettine and Trevor Taylor included Hubback in their book Percussion Profiles, a collection devoted to 25 percussionists.[6] In May 2002, he appeared on the Dutch music programme Vrije Geluiden, where he discussed making instruments and improvised with Bertus Fridael.[7]
In 2007, MusicRadar reported on an exhibition in Eindhoven of Hubback's gongs and percussion sculptures made from an alloy supplied by the Swiss cymbal manufacturer Paiste.[8]
From 14 to 21 November 2023, Hubback was an artist in residence at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, where he exhibited and demonstrated instruments.[4] During the residency he recorded the solo album The Last Free City, which was released by FMR Records in 2024 and mixed and mastered by Elliott Sharp.[2] From 4 June to 4 July 2024, the ERRATUM gallery in Milan presented Metalkymist: Forged from Dreams, an exhibition of his sound sculptures curated by Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo.[9]
Critical reception
[edit]Reviewing Cipher's album Elemental Forces (2006), John Kelman of All About Jazz wrote that Hubback's self-made percussion provided unconventional rhythmic foundations and textures.[10] In a review of Hubback's 2010 duo album with saxophonist Ad Peijnenburg, Arrows, Stef Gijssels of The Free Jazz Collective contrasted Hubback's interest in the sound of bells, drums and gongs with Peijnenburg's more repetitive approach.[11]
Reviewing Metal Moves' Metalkymist (2020) for The Squid's Ear, Jeph Jerman described an album centred on the sounds of Hubback's forged instruments and compared some of its passages to gamelan, the cimbalom and the work of Z'EV.[12] In Salt Peanuts, Eyal Hareuveni characterised The Last Free City as alternating between resonant, rhythmic and more spacious sections, and discussed Hubback's use of a mobile aluminium sound sculpture.[2]
Selected discography
[edit]As leader or co-leader
[edit]- 1986: Be Alright When I'm Dead (Dossier Records)[5]
- 2000: Demystify, with Frode Gjerstad (FMR Records)[5]
- 2010: Arrows, with Ad Peijnenburg (FMR Records)[11]
- 2020: Metalkymist, as Metal Moves (FMR Records)[12]
- 2024: The Last Free City (FMR Records)[2]
- 2025: As We Move Forward (Ictus Records)[5]
- 2026: Treforest 82, with Peter Brötzmann (FMR Records; recorded in 1982)[3]
As a contributing musician
[edit]- 2006: Cipher, Elemental Forces (Burning Shed)[10]
- 2024: Andrea Centazzo, Ictus@45 – Out Off Nights (Fundacja Słuchaj; recorded in 2022)[13]
Publication
[edit]- Hubback, Steve (2004). Fire and Steel: Sound Sculptures, Mobiles, Symbols and Atmospherics. Chelmsford: Soundworld. ISBN 978-1-902440-07-1.[14]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Morton, Brian (May 2004). "Steve Hubback". The Wire. No. 243. p. 14. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hareuveni, Eyal (6 July 2024). "Steve Hubback: The Last Free City". Salt Peanuts. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- 1 2 Hareuveni, Eyal (17 January 2026). "Peter Brötzmann / Steve Hubback: Treforest 82". Salt Peanuts. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Steve Hubback: Artist-in-Residence, 11/14–11/21". Massachusetts College of Art and Design. 21 November 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "Discography". Steve Hubback (Official website). Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- ↑ Bettine, Michael; Taylor, Trevor (2001). Percussion Profiles: Interviews, Articles and Discographies of 25 of the World's Most Creative Percussionists. Chelmsford: Soundworld. ISBN 978-1-902440-04-0.
- ↑ "Claron McFadden, Steve Hubback, Cristina Branco". De Schatkamer (in Dutch). Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. 5 May 2002. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- ↑ Hughes, Amy (12 October 2007). "Percussion-playing Artist's Piping Hot Exhibition!". MusicRadar. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- ↑ "Steve Hubback: Metalkymist: Forged from Dreams". ERRATUM. 4 June 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- 1 2 Kelman, John (1 December 2006). "Cipher: Elemental Forces". All About Jazz. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- 1 2 Gijssels, Stef (6 July 2010). "Steve Hubback & Ad Peijnenburg – Arrows (FMR, 2010)". The Free Jazz Collective. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- 1 2 Jerman, Jeph (4 January 2021). "Review: Metal Moves (Steve Hubback) – Metalkymist (FMR)". The Squid's Ear. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- ↑ "Ictus@45 – Out Off Nights". Fundacja Słuchaj. 25 December 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- ↑ "Soundworld Books and DVDs". FMR Records. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
Further reading
[edit]- Morton, Brian (May 2004). "Steve Hubback". The Wire. No. 243. p. 14.