[JPL] Bruce Hornsby

[Nick Francis]

I've been a Bruce Hornsby fan for 20 years now, and improvisation has played a very major role in his piano playing, both on record and in live performance. Since first hearing about this project, I've been real curious. The disc finally arrived yesterday. The thing that struck me strongest on the first listen was that it was uniquely Bruce. He wasn't trying to channel Bill Evans or Bud Powell; he sounded like Bruce, with that countryish/pentatonic thing he does; a perfect example would be 'Solar", which I thought was the highlight of the disc. I also enjoyed his rendition of Keith Jarrett's  "Death and the Flower" . The only real clunker, IMHO, was "Straight No Chaser". And although I appreciated his own harmonic take on "Giant Steps" it seemed a little gimmicky, particularly on the drum track.  Overall though, it was a unique performance which was enormously respectful to the tradition. I tracked down an interesting audio interview from the Greensboro News-Record where he talks about how he was "nudged" by DeJohnette and Metheny into doing it, despite his great fear and humility regarding his own jazz skills .

 

[http://media.news-record.com/layout/set/mmplayer/content/view/mmplayer/1034/(offset)/0] http://media.news-record.com/layout/set/mmplayer/content/view/mmplayer/1034/(offset)/0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


-----Original Message-----
From: Jae Sinnett <jaejazz at yahoo.com>
Sent: Sat, August 4, 2007 10:53 am
To: Jazz Programmers Mailing List <jazzproglist at jazzweek.com>
Subject: [JPL] Bruce Hornsby

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Wow, I'm surprised that besides Blaise, no one has commented on the Bruce Hornsby CD. Good, bad or indifferent. I thought that one would at least generate some conversation...if for no other reason it's him and that he's usually not heard in jazz circles. Usually I give some critiques of Cd's here that I think are interesting but I have a rule in that I don't do that with local artists...artists that live here and Bruce falls under that category. 

The writing on the new Terence Blanchard CD is wonderful....as is the playing. Out of the gate tracks four and five will be my favs for airplay.

Jae Sinnett 




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Nick Francis - KPLU Music Director