Carl Hupp Project – Hyper Statue
Review: / Dick van der HeijdeYear: / 2004
Label: / Long Point Records
Label (weblink):
Tracks: / Red Light Syndrome (2:00)
Hyper Statue (7:30)
Revenge Of The Chair People (5:31)
Skeleton Crew (7:04)
Five G (5:14)
Riff Raff (4:00)
Seven For Seven (6:51)
The Better Angels Of Our Nature (4:22)
Paper Or Plastic ? (7:48)
Air-Ride Suspensions (4:07)
Black Tie Affair (6:42)
Quadrant 4 (4:20)
Mind Sweeper Part II (5:15)
Tagged & Enveloped (5:31)
Artist or Band: / Carl Hupp: drums, percussion, Roto-toms, Udu-drum, slit-drum, handsaw, cymbal-tree, timbales, keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, rhythm guitar
Guests: / Jeff Avery: rhythm and lead guitar
Dave Bell: guitar
Angelo Cammarata: fretless bass guitar, bass guitar, acoustic bass, mandoline
Dave Capozzoli: bass guitar
Brad Chatterton: lead guitar, keyboards
Chuck Defontes: piano, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, guitar
Dave Fairall: tenor, alto and soprano saxophone
Kurt Froberg: keyboards
J.J. Gunning: trombone
Justin Hupp: wind chimes, percussion
Clyde Johnson: congas, bongos, timbales, percussion
Tony Levin: Chapman Stick
guitarMike Prior: bass guitar
Spike Settles: harmonica
Ben Sherman: rhythm and lead guitar
Ivan Smart: trumpet
Paul Soroka: tenor sax, Lyricon
John Tomakos: mini-timbales, muted snare-drum, Roto-tom, splash cymbal
Stanley Whitaker: lead and rhythm guitar
Charles Wright: guitar
Ron Zebron: rhythm and lead guitar
Info: / www.carlhupp.com
DVD-specification / Screen format: 4:3
Discography / Hyper Statue (2004)
Carl Hupp is an American drummer with a gigantic kit, which is equipped with three bass drums just as his source of inspiration Billy Cobham. In order to play such a colossus, a surplus of power and technique is required and Hupp doesn't really have that. He is a fairly good drummer indeed, especially in the creative sphere, but great? No, in my opinion this term is reserved for drummers such as Billy Cobham, Bill Bruford, Zoltan Csorz or Simon Philips.
A large number of the 22 guest musicians with whom Hupp has made this excellent album, however, have got the calibre 'great', because let's be fair, "Hyper Statue" offers outstanding jazz rock fusion. Especially the contributions of both the phenomenal bass player Angelo Cammarata, Happy The Man-guitarist Stanley Whitaker and the superbly playing percussionist John Tomakos, make these 76 minutes a true feast for listeners. The broadly-based parts of the wind section also give a special touch to the melodious jazz rock. No wonder Saxophone player Dave Fairall is mentioned as co-composer a number of times.
The music in general has a 'white swing'. Trombone, trumpet and saxophone make Revenge Of The Chair People the most swinging track. The gentlemen achieve this by rather thematic playing in which the parts are complementary as well as interconnecting. Hupp produces very good drum playing here though. At the end of the song, his inventiveness appears when the trombone is supported by cheerful salvos on the double bass drums.
Carl Hupp can be proud of the fact that none other than Tony Levin (among others Peter Gabriel and King Crimson) joins in on the Chapman Stick in one song. This is the title song, which is characterised by a mechanical rhythm, not often heard in jazz-rock, around which Levin builds his playing, elegantly as ever.
Two songs on “Hyper Statue” move into the direction of jazz blues: Paper Or Plastic? (which even includes a mouth organ) and the flashing Cobham cover Quadrant 4. These songs give the album its necessary variation. Moreover, they demonstrate an unchained Hupp, who, with nicely rolling breaks, seems to feel like a fish in the water.
Hupp is the composer or co-composer of most tracks on this album, but there are nevertheless two, very well performed covers. There is a great performance of Bruford's Five G with Angelo Cammarata's superb bass playing and Ben Sherman's splendid Holdsworth-like guitar playing, and there's an arrangement of the aforementioned Quadrant 4. A song notable for its beauty is the ballad The Better Angels Of Our Nature, which was written by Hupp's good friend, Chuck Defontes. Here, the brushes softly stroke the drumheads and the acoustic bass calmly zooms, while Stanley Whitaker draws blood-curdling melodies from his guitar. This is right on time, as all fourteen tracks are in perfect harmony. Air-Ride Suspension is light-footed and Solution-like, Black Tie Affair is rather wild, Mind Sweeper part II moves into the direction of world music and Tagged & Enveloped is genuine jazz rock. The clever thing about “Hyper Statue” is that - although all songs change their tune - they are alike (in the good sense of the word, of course).
A few years before this album saw the light, Hupp switched over and realised when he turned forty that he hadn’t achieved much, apart from having done hundreds of performances with countless local bands. From that moment on, he concentrated on this solo cd for two years. To record it, Hupp chose the Paradigm North Studio of Brad Chatterton, a sound engineer from one of his former bands. Neither trouble nor expense was spared, which can be heard - as well as seen.
The fact is, an equally entertaining dvd was added to the cd. Initially, the intention was to make a video clip of only a few minutes, but that grew out to a digital disk of 85 minutes. Apart from the clip of the strong Skeleton Crew with many images of musicians in action, the dvd contains an extremely nice item called ‘outtakes’. All musicians appear in front of the footlights for a few minutes and additional info is given by texts on the screen. This provides fine images, which definitely generate our sympathy for this project. It reminds me of “The Making Of V” of Spock’s Beard and thanks to the fixed set-up it can’t be compared to some common-or-garden dvd documentaries. An extensive photogallery can be viewed with many full-screen pictures. All sorts of things pass by, both old snapshots from Carl’s first drum kits and recent pictures from the “Hyper Statue” sessions, as well as some pictures from his former bands. It is one of the most excellent photogalleries ever, bravo!
With “Hyper Statue”, Carl Hupp aims for a large audience, by coming out not too adventurously. He is absolutely welcome to it, should he succeed in his mission. Fans of Bruford and Steps Ahead can enjoy this album to their heart’s content, but even the melodious rocker will be able to manage with it. “Hyper Statue” is as inspired, as it is serious, and yet it is just like a boys’ book. A boys’ book by a forty-two year old, that is.