The (Not So) Secret Life of Husbands

We listen to a lot of music in our home. And in the car, the playroom, the office…wherever. The Fab Hub, Kidzilla, and I are all music lovers and enjoy all different styles and genres.

Just yesterday, Kidzilla listened to a CD of Clifford the Big Red Dog songs. Over and over and over. And over. A lot. She also enjoyed some classic Winnie the Pooh tunes.

Just about the time I think my head might explode from kid songs, she switches to something more grown-up like old Frank Sinatra or Rosemary Clooney tunes, or “Like a Train” and “Better to be Late than Never” by Inclined, an alternative pop group her Fab Dad likes, or Broadway show tunes, and anything that falls under the category of jazz.

The other day, she listened to Bob Marley’s “One Love” and is now singing it non-stop. (Way better than Clifford the Big Red Dog on repeat…) When I asked her what she liked about the Marley, she said “I like this…” and bopped her head from side to side in time with the music and her eyes closed. She gets it.

A few days ago, the Fab Hub popped something in the CD player while I was making dinner. I quite enjoyed it, so I asked him who it was. He said, “Me. It’s the final master for the new album.”

And so it was. Well, almost. He ended up doing one more fix on a particular piece, but as of yesterday, his fourth album release, Retrospective, is published! Have I mentioned here yet that the Fab Hub is an accomplished sax player as well as a talented composer? It’s true.

The song in question is right here – give him a listen! (Note to Windows 8 users: You may need to use the compatibility view in IE10 to listen to this file.) And while you’re listening, you can jump below for a couple of quick bits of info about the piece…

Broadcasting Secretsmap :: {skin:’black’, animate:true, width:’200′, volume:0.2, autoplay:false, loop:false, showVolumeLevel:true, showTime:true, showRew:true, downloadable:false, downloadablesecurity:false, id3: false}

For the music heads out there or those who think it’s interesting to know the history of a piece, here’s a little background…

“Broadcasting Secrets” was first recorded in an unreleased session in 1995. Some selections from that session were released in 2012 on Transition (his first album), but not this particular piece.

Hub says he seldomly played the piece in the years since it was first recorded (which is probably why I didn’t recognize it as his work) because of its distinctly pop structure – he was moving into more traditional jazz playing at the time. He decided to dust it off in 2012, touched up the harmonization and approach, and added a second tenor sax line.

The bass part is played by his longtime friend and musical collaborator, Andrew Korbel. The organ solo (sort of unbelievably to me) is also played by the Fab Hub and modeled after the keyboard solo from the original 1995 recording. (Trivia alert: The original keyboard soloist on the piece was Matt Doebler, who has since worked playing for the musical Wicked.)

Before he finished the final version, Hub posted a draft of the recording to Sound Cloud, garnering a “collab” offer from a Scottish percussionist (she goes by Galina) who added the auxiliary percussion parts and the percussion solo before the recap. That’s the part I find most fascinating – that someone in a completely remote location can take a tune, lay down their own track, and then have the finished product sound like they were all hanging out in the same studio together. The final version shows up on his newest album, Retrospective, available through CD Baby. (Just a note – the album was just approved, so the link to CD Baby may not be live for a day or two.)

If you like the Fab Hub’s piece, head over to Sound Cloud or his personal website and check him out. His material is also available on all of the major digital music outlets such as Amazon MP3, iTunes, Google Play Music, X-Box Music, etc. and various online streaming sites such as Spotify, Last.fm, etc.

So what’s the moral of the story? Who knows? Maybe it’s that when life throws you a job layoff, you take advantage of the time to pursue some other goals and dreams. Maybe it’s that when you have a ridiculous amount of talent, you should find a way to share it with the world. Maybe it’s just that I think my Fab Hub is amazingly talented.

And cute. Come on…married to a real live sax player? Please.

Thanks for listening!