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Steve Houghton
(September 2005 Issue)
Fascinatin' Rhythm Redux Many
Musicians Institute alumni know Steve Houghton as one of the most
passionate and challenging
instructors in P.I.T.'s history. But Steve
is also an accomplished player, earning performing and recording
credits with
Woody Herman, Billy Childs, Freddie Hubbard, Toshiko
Akiyoshi, Diana Krall, Scott Henderson, Gary Burton, and
Arturo
Sandoval. MD snagged Steve between teaching gigs at UCLA's
Mancini Institute, the University of Indiana
(where he is an associate
professor), and a two-week percussion camp in Taiwan to discuss a
recent project that is
especially near to his heart.
One reason Steve is so respected as a teacher is that he remains an insatiable
student
of drumming, always seeking new challenges and greater understanding of
the craft. An admirer of West Coast
jazz pioneer Shelly Manne, Houghton
searched for the arrangements on one of his favorite albums, Manne--That's
Gershwin! Penned by none other than John Williams, composer of themes to such movies as Star Wars and
E.T.,
the charts eluded Steve for over a year. But one day while Steve was
helping Flip Manne, Shelly's widow,
distribute a biography on her
husband to jazz schools, but not only presented the charts, she
endorsed his proposal to
re-record the album.
To navigate the
dense, highly textured arrangements, Houghton employed his own
top-flight quintet,
rounded out by the Two O'Clock Lab Band from his
alma mater, the University of North Texas. And with
characteristic
drive, he produced and recorded The Manne We Love: Gershwin Revisited in less than a year.
"It
was Shelly's versatility that really amazed me," Steve explains.
"He did studio work, played percussion, and composed; he
could play
small group and big band. I really liked his jazz playing, especially
his work with Bill Evans. It was so musical, and
it was always a bit
understated. Yet it had a cool humor."
Making a tribute album always poses the questions
What to copy and What to improvise. For Steve, Gershwin Revisited
was no exception. "Maybe this isn't a great
analogy," he observes, "but
if you were to play "Love For Sale" on a Buddy Rich tribute and you
didn't include those
classic two-bar breaks, you'd sound like an idiot.
There were certain things Shelly did in this material that were
so
perfect, I wanted to honor his interpretation. Some of the playfulness
isn't verbatim, but I tried to capture the character
of his playing."
Rich Watson
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