Acclaimed percussionist / vibraphonist / composer Nathan Hubbard is a busy man. A three-time winner of the “Best Jazz Album” category at the San Diego Music Awards (2014, 2017, 2020), Hubbard is prolific to a fault. Currently in the midst of a one-man musical renaissance, you can hear him around town with any number of projects, including theatre productions, with his next show set to be a tribute to exotica icon Arthur Lyman on February 07 at Dizzy’s. Joined by his group, The Green Mansions, featuring John Opferkuch (piano, glockenspiel,) Laurel Grinnell (drums, percussion) and Brooks Salloum (bass), Hubbard will recreate Lyman’s 1959 album, Bwana A, in its entirety.
Meanwhile Hubbard is releasing a lot of new music. “Since June 2015 I have been releasing an album a month, working towards twelve releases, building up to my 50th birthday in May,” he said. What inspired this massive project? “An overflowing archive and dreams of legacy,” Hubbard said good naturedly. The albums are being released under different artists names. “Most of these recordings are archive recordings that were never released, and several of them document enormous projects that cover important aspects of my catalog.” Hubbard’s birthday in May will cap a particularly hectic time in his life. Does he plan to take a break from releasing new music for a bit? “I definitely need to,” he said.
While all of the albums are available as digital media, two of them, Circular Arcs – Conventicle and a self-titled release by Nathan Hubbard / Territory Games, also have physical media. “The last few releases have been large documents and honestly they wouldn’t fit on any format,” Hubbard noted. “The Circular Arcs album seemed the perfect chance to do cassettes, while Territory Games was originally supposed to be a double live CD turned into a studio recording that fit perfectly on a single CD.”
So far feedback on the new albums has been positive. “It’s been going well, the response is hard to tell, but each release has gotten different interest,” Hubbard said, “Clearly the larger/longer albums have more information and require more time from listeners, but I hope the listener can dig in, there are a lot of magical moments.”
What’s his favorite thing about this series of albums? “I usually take a long time to make decisions and spend too long on issues that don’t matter, this series is forcing me to push beyond that,” Hubbard said.
https://nathanhubbard.bandcamp.com
Nathan Hubbard Describes The First Six Releases:
- Translation Has Failed – No Duality
“Improv collective is joined by berimbau master Jason Finkelberg and Taco Shop Poet Adrian Arancibia.”
- Nathan Hubbard – inscribe:absorb:destroy
“10 original films with music created for each, different ensembles covering many facets of the San Diego scene in the mid-00s.”
- Circular Arcs – Conventicle
“Guitar+Bass+Drum trio blasts thru the border area between doom metal, no wave, free jazz and post rock.”
- Skeleton Key Percussion Ensemble – Below The Orange Curtain
“Far reaching percussion ensemble perform three extended pieces. Some of Hubbards most important large scale works.”
- Nathan Hubbard / Vinny Golia – this way for now
“Electro-acoustic duets featuring woodwind legend Vinny Golia, two complete concerts from 2017.”
- Nathan Hubbard /Territory Games – s/t
“All-star cross border “jazz” quintet perform a set of unheard Hubbard originals, featuring vocalist Lauren Leigh and poet Adrian Arancibia.”
