Paul Morton talks to emerging jazz keyboardist Higgs Boson…
Named after an imaginary sub-atomic particle associated with the beginning of time (phew! – Ed), Higgs Boson has exploded onto the European jazz scene with a critically acclaimed debut album. Higgs Boson features a plethora of respected musicians from the UK jazz circuit, as well as nine original compositions which are strikingly fresh and inventive. So how would this unusual composer and keyboard virtuoso describe his music?
Paul Morton:
Well, I’ve been told to call it “adult contemporary jazz”, but I personally don’t think that’s a very good description of it…
Higgs Boson:
“I always just look at it as my music. It just happens to be jazz influenced, as much as anything else. There’s everything in there, from my early influences like Chopin, Debussy and Schubert, through Pink Floyd and Steely Dan, through to people like Steps Ahead and Dave Grusin.
I think it’s impossible to pigeonhole it, but I suppose most people might call it ‘crossover’ or something like that. The album has been accused of being new age, which I think is something that it isn’t.”
Paul Morton:
That’s interesting, because the first track on the album, Penumbra, isn’t even remotely new age.
Higgs Boson:
“Oh no, definitely not. I wanted to start with something that was going to smack you right in the face and that track does the trick.
I like albums that do that to you and then pull you to one side, make you think a bit, pull you to the other side and make you cry, then leave you with a nice feeling at the end of it.
GMTV used the first twenty seconds of Penumbra for some commercial. Someone called to say that my stuff was being played on the TV, but by the time I tripped over things trying to get to the television, it had gone!”
Paul Morton:
So things are beginning to happen now, but how did Higgs first get into playing the piano?
Higgs Boson:
“Well, I started when I was about eight. I asked for piano lessons and I was absolutely desperate to play.
My mother took me around to see this crotchety old woman who insisted on rapping me across the knuckles with a hammer if I played a bum note. So I learnt Chopsticks, she seemed impressed and my mother paid for the first wave of lessons.
By the time I had reached my teens I got turned onto people like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea and Steps Ahead.
On the other side I was getting into jazz piano players like Dudley Moore and Bill Evans.”
Paul Morton:
How did the debut album come about?
Higgs Boson:
“I got together with Gareth Young (producer) and a whole lot of talented musicians I’ve known over the years. They did it for practically nothing really; I wanted incredible results for an incredibly small amount of money, which is typical!”
(laughs)
“Luckily, they all wanted to be involved in the project.
I wanted to be in control of all of my own stuff because I feel that if you leave too much up to other people, nothing gets done.
So I was lucky to persuade some very good musicians to be involved.”
Paul Morton:
But why on earth would anybody want to call themselves Higgs Boson?
Higgs Boson:
“Well, I’m a bit of a space-head, I suppose.
The idea of something that briefly existed at the beginning of the universe has got to be pretty inspiring stuff.
This is what the album cover is all about—the little man in the livery suit represents society. It is inviting you to go through the arch and step out of your mind.
I seemed to have upset a few scientists, though.”
On a more terrestrial level, the album features a variety of rich soundscapes and some tasteful piano work.
Higgs Boson:
“I used some nice jazzy synth chord voicings with some very thick pads. That’s the Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays influence in me. I love that sort of thing, and it will always be there in my music.
The piano I used was actually a Bösendorfer sample in an Emulator III.
I have to be honest though and say that I’d prefer to use the real thing. For me, the acoustic piano is the most amazingly versatile instrument.
Sometimes I sit down to write with the piano and have so many ideas I’m on fire, but other times I’m bored with the whole thing and I think, twelve notes—is that the best they can do?
It isn’t very often I get genuinely inspired to write anything, actually.”
Paul Morton:
In addition to the manually played material, Higgs Boson also houses a fair number of sequenced passages.
Higgs Boson:
“I used Cubase on the tracks Neptune and Big Technology. There were a hell of a lot of samples on those tracks.
We ran out of tracks for Big Technology—I really needed a hundred-track studio for that one.
So yes, the album was a combination of played and sequenced material.”
Paul Morton:
Everyone has their own shortlist of favourite musicians and composers, so who are the most revered keyboard figures in the Boson household?
Higgs Boson:
“It’s got to be Lyle Mays, Bill Evans, Chick Corea and, of course, Dudley Moore.
When I was having jazz lessons a guy brought in some music. It was a funny little bossa nova by Dudley called Poova Nova.
It was such a cheeky, quirky little melody with some really nice voicings in it.
So I collected together some of his earlier projects.
I know everyone sees him as this short comedian, but he’s definitely a great composer and fine piano player too.
I actually think it was a real shame he went into acting because there was some wonderful stuff on those early albums.”
Paul Morton:
And how does the current music scene differ from the one that existed at the birth of the universe?
Higgs Boson:
“I think that the market has been opened up for non-musicians to create a lot of music.
In some ways this has been a good thing, but in many ways it has been really bad.
It just seems that technology has opened up the music business to people who can’t play a note, and they’re saturating the market with a load of crap.
The music industry is churning out fast music in the same way that McDonald’s are doing their fast food.
It may be a good product, but there’s just no way you could call it good art.”