Just The Way It Is—

Hornsby’s New Album Is Right On The Note

By Shannon Hicks

For the first time in his brilliant 15-year career, Bruce Hornsby released a live album last month.  Here Come the Noisemakers is a true reproduction of what Hornsby’s concerts really sound like.

Mr Hornsby and those who play behind him have always had more fun taking a song’s skeleton and offering a different body each time the song is performed. This is what Hornsby’s audiences have been treated to for well over a decade. Therefore no one who has been to a Hornsby concert should be surprised at what they hear on the two-CD set Here Come the Noisemakers.

“I wanted this record to reflect as much as you could call a typical night of one of our gigs,” the multi-talented musician said this week.

Because Mr Hornsby and his band tend to expand a song’s life while performing live by jamming and just enjoying each night’s vibe, most songs done live tend to run well over seven or eight minutes each. For that reason alone, it would have been impossible to put out anything less than a double-length album.

“I thought it was necessary to tell the whole story” of a full concert, Mr Hornsby explained as his decision to make the live album also a double album.

“I couldn’t have been less nervous” about putting together a collection of live material, continued Mr Hornsby. “The fact of the matter is, it’s very standard of what we do on stage, of my approach to songs. We don’t like to play anything straight on. Anyone who has been to my shows will know this is what we truly sound like.”

A short tour to support Noisemakers kicked off November 2 in Seattle. “A Night with Bruce Hornsby” makes a stop at the ctnow.com Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford on November 15.

He called Monday afternoon from Boulder, Colorado, a few hours before his show at Macky Auditorium later that night. Less than 24 hours earlier, Mr Hornsby had performed at a rally for Vice President Al Gore in Michigan on November 6.

Mr Hornsby’s band is made up of John “J.T.” Thomas on keyboard, organ and vocals; Bobby Read, sax, bass clarinet and vocals; J.V. Collier on bass; Doug Derryberry, guitar, vocals and mandolin; and Michael Baker on drums and vocals. Mr Hornsby handles lead vocals, piano and accordion in addition to providing his own songwriting, which has been far from unnoticed since the beginning of his career.

Bruce Hornsby’s name will be inextricably linked to his breakthrough single “The Way It Is,” off the 1986 album of the same name. While the musician may have a good handful of radio hits, it is the work he continues to do outside the mainstream that keeps his fans happy. Mr Hornsby puts everything from hints of rock, bluegrass and fiddle to swing, bebop and jazz into his work, and the result is a musical gumbo that audiences continue to adore.

Here Come the Noisemakers  does not have new material on it, but it does reintroduce songs from each of the musician’s six studio releases. For the collection, there are also a few segues into the works of others including Mr Hornsby’s piano intro into George Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy,” which then continues into Samuel Barber’s “Nocturne.”

In addition to his own albums, Bruce Hornsby has written songs for Huey Lewis & The News (“Jacob’s Ladder,” which appears on the new Hornsby release), co-written for Don Henley (“The End of the Innocence,” also on the new collection), the end-title for Spike Lee’s latest film Bamboozled, and appeared on album tributes to Keith Jarrett and Bill Monroe. His exceptional work in writing songs has led one reviewer on Amazon.com to call him “the King of the Lyric Makers.”

“I love words, especially clever words,” Mr Hornsby said Monday afternoon.

But it is his own music and the performance of such that continues to drive Bruce Hornsby.

“I’m glad this is a short tour, to be honest with you,” he said this week. “I don’t like to be away from my family for too long, and I’ve been known through the years for my collaborating with other artists; but by far, the most fulfilling part of my career has been the playing. All that other stuff comes from that.”

Once the abbreviated tour (set to run only through November 16) wraps up next week, Mr Hornsby wants to get back to the studio album to work on his next album. He is  hoping to have it ready in time for a spring release.

In the meantime, the new album is better than any T-shirt or poster for bringing back memories of a Bruce Hornsby concert, and just as useful to prepare for an upcoming one.

Tickets for “An Evening with Bruce Hornsby” on Wednesday, November 15, at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, are $28.50 each. Showtime is 7:30 pm. For reservations contact the theatre at 203/265-1501.

50860/525-4500, or visit www.ticketmaster.com.