Hornsby Bringing Noisemakers Back To Ridgefield

By John Voket

On any given night up until just a few weeks ago you may have found Bruce Hornsby, the lanky piano man from Virginia, drilling deeply into a 20-minute Miles Davis jazz improvisation backed by none other than Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride. And on any alternating day, he might be occupied tripping joyously through a bluegrass set, trading licks with the likes of Ricky Skaggs.

And in between Hornsby may have been tinkling the keys in some intimate theater handling a solo show on his own, or folding his accompaniments into the envelope of his own band, The Noisemakers. Any way you slice it, it all defines that weird combination of work and pleasure that adds up to a career in the music business.

While his nearly 18 months treading the tightrope between the jazz trio and the king of bluegrass mandolin have passed, Hornsby is still bringing audiences to their feet, and he’ll be doing just that for a handful of remaining shows including a return to The Ridgefield Playhouse on Wednesday, August 13.

Fans know that Hornsby typically lets the audience determine his set list, driven by the request slips that begin piling up next to his piano long before the lights go down. And since his sense of humor, and his willingness to push himself and the willing accomplices in his band to the extreme, you might get treated to any or all of his hits, or a tune or two representing his days playing with The Grateful Dead, or some attempt at rolling out a cover song challenge like “Free Bird” or “Play that Funky Music.”

In a recent chat with The Newtown Bee, the multi Grammy winner said while the business of touring is not among his favorite chores, the few hours each night he gets to spend teetering between his stellar band and his adoring fans makes it all worthwhile.

When asked how he managed to attract such a crack team of musicians in The Noisemakers, he described them as kindred spirits who put in way too much time paying their dues in less responsive environments.

“They have a similar background as I do, in that they’ve played tons of [crappy] old gigs from the Ramada Inn to the wedding reception to the country club to the bar mitzvah,” Hornsby said. “And they’ve played great gigs too, with great artists. They’ve got great ears – they are grizzled veterans of the wars like I am.”

He said when the request comes up for some obscure Hornsby tune, or anyone else’s cover song, they can usually pick right up on it and play along.

“I’m not deliberately trying to screw them up. They’re well seasoned, and if they don’t know it I just do it myself and I’m OK with that,” Hornsby said.

Besides his commitments to his craft and his band, Hornsby is also committed to helping young up-and-coming musicians succeed through an endowment program — The Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program — that he created for his alma mater, the University of Miami, earlier this year.

In fact, he’s reportedly purchased a home in Miami to be closer to that educational scene.

“I graduated from the University of Miami, and I got so much out of it. I had a good teacher, Vince Maggio – a stern taskmaster – who could really walk the talk,” Hornsby said. “I still consider him to be my teacher. His kudos to me on my jazz record meant even more to me than the good reviews in the major music magazines.

Hornsby is also reportedly busy lining up projects for some time in the future, once he wraps up his Noisemakers tour later this month. He’s got an Off-Broadway musical called, SCKBSTD, in the works, he’s writing a score for an upcoming Spike Lee film about basketball star Kobe Bryant, and he also has a small part in a new Robin Williams movie, World’s Greatest Dad.

For tickets to Bruce Hornsby, as well as other upcoming shows at Ridgefield Playhouse including The Little River Band, Pete Seeger, Joan Osborne, Charlie Daniels and Lindsey Buckingham, visit RidgefieldPlayhouse.com or call 203-438-5795.