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Bruce Hornsby
"When I play music, I guess I'm what you'd call an ecstatic," says Bruce Hornsby. "I'm always pursuing those joyful, exuberant, transcendent moments that happen when everything is working. That's why I called this album Levitate, because that's what those moments feel like."
By any standard, Bruce Hornsby has built one of the most diverse and adventurous careers in contemporary music. Drawing from a vast wellspring of American musical traditions, the singer/pianist/composer/bandleader has created a large and remarkably accomplished body of work that's employed a vast array of stylistic approaches, while maintaining the integrity, virtuosity and artistic curiosity that have been hallmarks of his work from the start.
The 13-time Grammy nominee's multifarious talents and far-ranging musical interests are prominent on Levitate, which marks the artist's Verve debut. The album's 13 songs span an expansive sonic and emotional palette, encompassing heartfelt insights and absurdist humor, while incorporating a broad assortment of influences within compact song structures. The material ranges from the expansive, expressive songcraft of "Prairie Dog Town" and "In the Low Country" to the gently reflective introspection of "Invisible" and "Here We Are Again," with the album-opening "The Black Rats of London" offering a swaggering treatise on the influence of the rodents, insects and microbes upon key historical events. Such colorful moments help make Levitate a consistently compelling evocation of Hornsby's established abilities, as well as a substantial creative departure.
"I've always been about finding a place to express my interest in playing the piano within the pop song context," Hornsby explains. "But with this record, I felt like I'd done that enough, so this time I really wanted the focus to be on the songs. This record actually has a couple of songs that are under three minutes, which is kind of unprecedented for me.
"It's also my first record with no piano solos," he adds. "I tend to write long, lyric-intensive songs, and I also like to blow. But this time I thought, I've done that, and I really want to make this record more about the writing."
Beyond its distinctive musical approach, Levitate features the vibrant balance of sincerity and silliness that's long been a hallmark of Hornsby's songwriting. "As I get older, I tend to gravitate in my writing more and more toward the humorous," he says. "For years, I was sort of well known for writing love songs, but I stopped doing that a long time ago, because it's just not what I'm interested in now. But for Levitate, I actually wrote a love song, 'Here We Are Again'�"although it's a time-travel fantasy love song using the language of physics, it resonated for me as an interesting angle lyrically."
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Bruce Hornsby: Camp Meeting
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by Mike Jacobs
To anyone that has paid attention to his nearly 40-year career, it goes without saying that Bruce Hornsby is much more than a guy with pop hits, MTV videos, GRAMMYs and stints with the Grateful Dead under his belt. For those that haven't, look no further than the title track from his album Camp Meeting (2007, Sony) album with Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride to confirm he is a musician's musician, regardless of context. All that said Bruce, we'd love ...
read moreBruce Hornsby: 'Flicted
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by Geno Thackara
After two straight albums made by basically throwing every dang thing at the wall just to see what would happen, it turns out Bruce Hornsby still has one more in the grab bag. He began Absolute Zero (Zappo, 2019) and Non-Secure Connection (Zappo, 2020) without any particular theme, just taking musical bits and bobs he'd produced for Spike Lee films and letting each one wander into its own space. Again packed with weird turns and fun surprises, 'Flicted rounds out ...
read moreBruce Hornsby: Non-Secure Connection
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by Geno Thackara
It's hard to imagine Bruce Hornsby's listeners being fazed much by anything he does anymore. Harmonic layers of semi-processed voice drones in an ambient haze? Classy strings crossed with jarringly angular piano and over-jokey lyrics about internet girls? After a career that's touched on jazz and bluegrass as prominently as folk and classical, his familiar crowd knows how to take it all in stride. He could attempt perhaps the most smoove-jiving half-sincere-half-parody R&B pastiche ever, and hardly anyone would bat ...
read moreBruce Hornsby and yMusic at the Merriam Theater
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by Geno Thackara
Bruce Hornsby and yMusic The Merriam Theater jny: Philadelphia, PAMarch 4, 2020 It's, what, our fourth show? We should have it together by now," Bruce Hornsby laughed during one between-song lull while a couple of his cohorts quickly tuned up. The joke was that he'd forgotten the planned order of songs to be played, though that's certainly understandable for someone normally used to winging it without a set list at all. To listen to the ...
read moreBruce Hornsby: Absolute Zero
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by Geno Thackara
While the music world has plenty of explorers, Bruce Hornsby is still one of its most restless Marco Polos. Where he's often made a habit of bouncing from one thing to another for a whole album at a time--solo contemporary piano, yee-haw bluegrass, piano-less folk, jazz trio, film score and stage musical--he's in full, glorious, kitchen-sink mode this time around. Don't read too much into the title. Absolute Zero gleefully zips all over the style map with the exact opposite ...
read moreBruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers with Los Lobos At The Flynn Center for the Performing arts
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by Doug Collette
Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers w/ Los Lobos Flynn Center for the Performing Arts Burlington, Vermont July 20, 2018 Given the musicianly approach Bruce Hornsby has applied to his career, it makes perfect sense for him to tour with Los Lobos. With his bands (originally the Range and now the Noisemakers) and in collaborations with like like-minded artists such as the Grateful Dead, Bela Fleck and Pat Metheny, the keyboardist/vocalist/composer has put more premium on ...
read moreBruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers: Rehab Reunion
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by Geno Thackara
A Bruce Hornsby album with no piano seems sort of like a Chinese dinner without rice. Well, upon further consideration it may not be quite as crazy as it sounds. The man's career is defined by nothing if not restlessness, and he's managed to do something fresh and different almost every time out. The most surprising thing he could do would be to not surprise us somehow. Rehab Reunion shows that that danger is as remote as ever. ...
read moreBruce Hornsby | Arcata | Review | Pics
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Source:
JamBase
By James Martin Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers :: 09.15.11 :: Van Duzer Theatre :: Arcata, CA Bruce Hornsby is a musician who needs no introduction, with notable, well known turns in Bruce Hornsby and the Range, the Grateful Dead, The Other Ones, Ricky Skaggs's band, amongst other collaborations, forming a musical career that has spanned over 37 years. Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers entertained the crowd at the intimate Van Duzer Theatre on a Thursday night for over two ...
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Bruce Hornsby and the Noise Makers to Play Friday, June 10 at the Pageant
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Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Pianist, singer and songwriter Bruce Hornsby (pictured) is coming to St. Louis on Friday, June 10 to play The Pageant. An alumni of Berklee School of Music, Hornsby is known for his wide-ranging musical interests, playing pop, rock, classical, country and bluegrass with a long list of stars as well as collaborating with jazz players such as Branford Marsalis, Bela Fleck, Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette. With his current band the Noise Makers, which often has included jazz/funk drummer Sonny ...
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Bruce Hornsby | 11.14 | Illinois
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Source:
JamBase
Words by: Maureen Gasek | Images by: Norman Kind
Bruce Hornsby :: 11.14.09 :: Centre East Theatre :: Skokie, Illinois
Bruce Hornsby :: 11.14 :: Illinois Bruce Hornsby walked onstage carrying a stack of requests, waived to the audience, and began to play. He started with a jazz-fusion piece that transcended into a comfortable, soft classical style taking the audience from a storm of sound to a comfortable ...
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Singer/Songwriter/Pianist Bruce Hornsby Interviewed at AAJ...and More
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Source:
All About Jazz
For more than 20 years, singer/songwriter, pianist/composer, and band-leader Bruce Hornsby, has proven to be a survivor in an ever changing music environment. From winning multiple awards including a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1987 for the multi-platinum album The Way It Is (RCA, 1986) with his band The Range, to dual releases in 2007 (on Sony/Legacy)--a foot-stomping bluegrass duo Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby and the swinging jazz trio outing Camp Meeting, with drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist ...
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Bruce Hornsby Busy with Music, Film, Broadway Musical
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Source:
Billboard Magazine
A new album, a new label, a Broadway play and a cameo in a Robin Williams film are keeping multi-Grammy winning artist Bruce Hornsby busy for 2009. “Levitate," Hornsby's 12-song set, is slated for a September 15 release via Verve and finds the multi-instrumentalist collaborating with his band the Noisemakers on their first recordings together since 2004's “Halcyon Days.” Eric Clapton guests on the song “Space is the Place,” and Deadheads will relish in the song “Cyclone,” on which Hornsby ...
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Bruce Hornsby: New Album
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Source:
JamBase
MUCH-ANTICIPATED NEW ALBUM OUT IN SEPTEMBER
Bruce Hornsby Mr. Hornsby is a remarkable pianistThe America in his music is one of countless connections and intersectionsthat's still wide open and welcoming." The New York Times
Bruce Hornsby, a 13-time Grammy nominee and three-time Grammy winner, will add to his accomplished body of work with Levitate, his much-anticipated new album, set for release September 15 on Verve. The release is Hornsby's first studio album co-credited to his longstanding touring band The Noisemakers. ...
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Bruce Hornsby Calls Jazz "Meeting" with Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette
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Source:
All About Jazz
NEW YORK - Bruce Hornsby refuses to be counted among the pop stars trying on jazz for size. I can see why someone may want to make an album that goes down easy and why a record company would want to put it out because it's a quick way to make a sale," said Hornsby, who makes his all-instrumental jazz debut with Camp Meeting, due August 7 via Legacy. But my record is just the opposite. I have two of ...
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Bruce Hornsby Makes His Long-Anticipated Instrumental Jazz Debut with "Camp Meeting"
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Source:
All About Jazz
Hot on the heels of last year's Intersections box set and this year's acclaimed bluegrass collaboration with Ricky Skaggs, the Grammy Award-winning musician/songwriter/singer revisits his jazz roots with an 11-song collaboration of originals and re-envisioned compostions by Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. Bruce Hornsby, Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette will take their show on the road in select cities in August, including Northampton (Mass.), the Newport Jazz Festival, Los Angeles and San ...
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