THE HUB. The underground from Bedford Avenue
Jazz Special, Denmark, May 21, 2001

By Allan Sommer

In these postmodern times the supply is enormously and the expression are many.
The trio THE HUB are from Brooklyn and they are one of the answers to a high-energetic gathering of different genres melted together to one big organic whole. And especially the great gathering makes it difficult and a little absurd to talk about special movements in the music of today. As the bassist in THE HUB, Tim Dahl, says to the magazine Jazz Special, “ I’m the only movement that I can connect to THE HUB, the movement I see inevery genre today, the fact is that it is a movement based on communication and accessibility. It is a very easy approach to a wide variety of music, so everybody borrows from each other. This opportunity gives us a possibility of making many musical collages, again concerning all contemporary genres.”

THE HUB, who besides Tim Dahl, consists of the drummer Sean Noonan and the saxophonist Dan Magay, have their origin in the underground scene in Brooklyn. Dahl is originally from Chicago where the agenda especially is set by groups like Tortoise and Underground Duo. He thinks that the music especially there is really great, but that the underground in Brooklyn should be setting the fashion he finds a little more doubtful. “It’s only one of the scenes. There are great scenes in Manhattan, especially if you want a place where it is possible for you to practice. I have read somewhere that the biggest concentration of musicians exist in Brooklyn, in fact. Though there are great places to play in Brooklyn, the situation is still that most clubs where you can play are situated in Manhattan. There are also a lot of recording studios in Brooklyn, again because it is cheaper and there are a lot of musicians living in that area.” It’s is Brooklyn that so many outstanding producers like Bill Laswell and Martin Bisi have their studios. There’s no doubt that this area is an inspiring place to begin a musical career. THE HUB has their practice studio on Bedford Avenue, which is the longest street in Brooklyn. “Bedford Avenue has it all; everything from beautiful mansions to urban renewal projects. On top of all this all the ethnic minorities you can ever imagine are represented. I have seen everything from cars exploding to lots of beautiful women, so all in all I can say that it’s a very interesting place.”

Tim Dahl met Sean Noonan at the University of Massachusetts in the early 90’s. In 1995 THE HUB found their final member when they met Dan Magay. Dan had met Sean at the Berklee College of Music. Dan Magay has among others worked with Clark Terry and besides playing saxophone is also a perfect classical clarinetist. Sean Noonan has worked together with the educationalist and the tenor saxophonist George Garzone and John Lockwood. “I was so lucky not only to work with Dan and Sean, but also with Archie Shepp, Stanley Jorday and Yusef Lateef, who by the way still play with. Besides from this I play in the hardcore group Seige, who has a faithful group of cult fans, and I also work with the hip-hop group NYC plus 1. Finally I have a solid background on classical double bass.” Time Dahls says, who by the way has looks of a native Indian, but while giving a smile he swears to Jazz Special that he has Norwegian blood in him. There is no doubt that he is the most attractive guy in the band.

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