Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer and pianist.
Hornsby often draws from the traditions of classical music, jazz, bluegrass, folk, motown, gospel, rock, blues, and clock band.
Hornsby recordings have been recognized on numerous occasions with industry awards, including the 1987 Grammy Award for Best New Artist with Bruce Hornsby and Range, Grammy Award 1990 for Best Bluegrass Album, and the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
Hornsby has also gained recognition for his solo album and performances, Bruce Hornsby's basketball band and Noisemakers, his bluegrass project with Ricky Skaggs and his performances as a session and guest musician. He also collaborated with the Grateful Dead and became a member of the band from September 1990 to March 1992, playing more than 100 shows during that period.
Video Bruce Hornsby
Initial years
Bruce Randall Hornsby was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, son of Robert Stanley Hornsby (1920-1998), a lawyer, real-estate developer and former musician, and his wife, nÃÆ' Â © e Lois Saunier. Raised by a Christian scientist, he has two brothers: Robert Saunier "Bobby" Hornsby, a realtor with Hornsby Realty and a locally known musician, and Jonathan Bigelow Hornsby, an engineer who has collaborated on songwriting.
He graduated from James Blair High School in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1973, where he played on the basketball team. He studied music at the University of Richmond, as well as Berklee College of Music and the University of Miami, from which he graduated in 1977.
In the spring of 1974, Hornsby's horn brother, Bobby, who attended the University of Virginia, formed the band "Bobby Hi-Test and Octane Kids" to play fraternity parties, featuring Bruce in Fender Rhodes and vocals. The band, listed on Skeleton Key: A Dictionary for Deadheads, brought cover of Allman Brothers Band, The Band, and Grateful Dead-dominated songs. Although Hornsby's collaboration with Bobby Hornsby will be relatively short-lived, Bobby's son, R.S. is a recurring guest guitarist with the band Hornsby and regularly toured with his uncle. His appearance is often awaited by fans. R.S. Hornsby died on January 15, 2009 in a car accident near Crozet, Virginia. He is 28 years old.
After graduating from the University of Miami, in 1977, Hornsby returned to his hometown of Williamsburg, and played at local clubs and hotel bars. In 1980, he and his younger brother (and songwriting partner) John Hornsby moved to Los Angeles, where they spent three years writing for 20th Century Fox. Before moving back to his native Southeast Virginia, he also spent time in Los Angeles as a session musician. In 1982 Hornsby joined the band Ambrosia for their last album Road Island and can be seen in the band's video for the album "How Can You Love Me." After Ambrosia disbanded, she and bassist Joe Puerta appeared as members of the touring band for pop star Sheena Easton. Hornsby is clearly seen in the music video for the 1984 hit song Easton "Strut." Maps Bruce Hornsby
Range
In 1984 he formed Bruce Hornsby and Range, signed to RCA Records in 1985. In addition to Hornsby, Range members were David Mansfield (guitar, mandolin, violin), George Marinelli (guitar and backing vocals), the former Ambrosia member Joe Puerta (bass guitar and backing vocals), and John Molo (drums).
Hornsby's recording career began with the biggest blow he had to date, "The Way It Is". It topped the American music charts in 1986. The song depicts aspects of homelessness, the American civil rights movement and institutional racism. Since then it has been sampled by at least six rap artists, including Tupac Shakur, E-40, and Mase.
With the success of the single, The Way It Is album became multi-platinum and produced another top five hit with "Mandolin Rain" (co-written, as many of Hornsby's earliest songs are, with his brother John). "Every Little Kiss" is also doing well. The other songs on the album help define what some people labeled as "Virginia sound", a mixture of rock, jazz, and bluegrass. Bruce Hornsby and the Range went on to win a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1987, beating Glass Tiger, Nu Shooz, Simply Red and Timbuk3.
Hornsby and Range sounds are very typical for the use of syncopation in a Hornsby solo piano, bright piano sound and extensive use of synthesizers as a background for a Hornsby solo. John Molo's drumbeats are often repeated throughout the recording version of the song. They are a double time knock, which allows Hornsby and other band members to do more with their solo.
Hornsby and Range's second album, The Scene From The Southside (where Peter Harris replaces Mansfield) was released in 1988. These include "Look Out Any Window" and "The Valley Road" that many critics noted for setting their "wider" music, allowing for a "more expressive" piano solo from Hornsby. It also includes the "Jacob Ladder," which the Hornsby brothers wrote for musician friend Huey Lewis; Lewis's version became the number one hit of his album Fore! . Scene offers further slices of "Americana" and "small town nostalgia," but it is the band's last album to perform well in the singles market.
In 1988, Hornsby first appeared on stage with Grateful Dead, a recurring collaboration that continued until the band's dissolution. Hornsby continued performing on stage often as a guest before becoming a regular fixture in the lineup tour for the Dead a few years later. During the late 1980s and early 1990s Hornsby worked extensively as a producer and sideman, mainly producing comeback albums for Leon Russell. In 1989 Hornsby co-wrote and played the piano on Don Henley's hit "The End of the Innocence", and in 1991 played the piano in Bonnie Raitt's hit "I Can not Make You Love Me". Hornsby continues to feature both of these songs in his own concert. He also appeared on albums by Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Clannad, Crosby Stills and Nash, Stevie Nicks and Squeeze.
During this era he slowly began introducing jazz and bluegrass elements into his music, first in the setting of live performance and later in studio work. In 1989, he first performed at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. He also reworked his hit "The Valley Road" with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for their album Will Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two . The song won at the 1990 Grammy Awards for Best Bluegrass Recording.
A Night On The Town was released in 1990, where he collaborated with jazz musicians Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone) and Charlie Haden (double bass) as well as bluegrass pioneer Bela Fleck (banjo). The change in style becomes clear as the album is much more rock and guitar driven, utilizing the guitar work of Jerry Garcia on a number of tracks, perhaps the most prominent on the single "Across the River". In concert, Hornsby and Range begin to hold out their songs, combining more "free music exchange." Critics praised the album for its production, political relevance, and Hornsby's movements towards expanding out of a tight pop sound by combining jazz and bluegrass. In the end, though, the core of the "rock band" sounds the limited aspirations of the Hornsby Range, and after a three-week tour in 1991, Hornsby dispersed to enter a new phase of his career. Drummer John Molo continued to perform regularly with Hornsby for several years, though other members pursue separate musical endeavors. After the involvement of Hornsby and Molo with The Other Ones, Molo left Hornsby to become the main drummer with bass guitarist Phil Lesh and Friends.
Grateful Dead
Hornsby played over 100 shows with a Grateful Dead from 1988 until the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995. At several performances in 1988 and 1989, he joined the band as a special guest and played an accordion or synthesizer. Beginning in the fall of 1990, he played piano (and often accordion) in many performances after the death of Grateful Dead keyboard player Brent Mydland, who died suddenly in July 1990. Mydland Place was filled in September 1990 by Vince Welnick, who became a single keyboardist in March 1992, though Hornsby still sat with the band on occasion.
Hornsby music itself developed significantly over this time period. Critics have suggested that the vibrant tradition of Dead fused folk and blues music with psychedelic rock in "loose knit expressions" and extended jamming "further push [Hornsby] beyond mainstream pop boundaries." Critics also commented on the "close musical relationship" formed between Hornsby and Jerry Garcia, which suggests that the jazz-enhanced style of jazz triggered the band's repertoire, and helped revitalize and refocus Jerry Garcia's guitar solos in the band's sound. Hornsby's friendship with Garcia continues, both inside and outside the band, as both "challenge" each other to expand their music through several other albums and live collaborations. Above all, the flexibility of Hornsby music and the ability to sneak in and out of additional freeform jams won longstanding Grateful Dead fans.
Since his first engagement with the Grateful Dead, Hornsby's live show has attracted the Deadheads and Hornsby commented: "I've always loved the group of fans we've drawn from the Grateful Dead, because the fans are often the adventurous music listeners." He has done a number of their songs on concerts and as a homage in studio and live albums, while the original Hornsby "The Valley Road," and "Stander on the Mountain," appeared several times in the Dead's setlist. Hornsby also improvised the "Silver Moon Apples" for Grateful Dead's Infrared Roses .
Hornsby was a presenter when the Grateful Dead was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and in 2005 he participated in "Comes a Time", a tribute concert to Jerry Garcia. He continues to work with Dead-related projects, such as Bob Weir's Ratdog, solo project Mickey Hart. He appeared as part of The Other Ones in 1998 and 2000, and sometimes sat down with The Dead. Hornsby continues to engage in the Grateful Dead and Furthur community, having opened All Good Music Festival in 2012 which features Bob Weir on rhythm guitar. In mid-2013, Hornsby performed with the Grateful Dead train group-influenced Railroad Earth. Hornsby reunited with surviving members of the Grateful Dead along with Trey Anastasio of Phish and Jeff Chimenti at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, and then at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, in July 2015.
Solo
Hornsby released his first solo album, Harbor Lights , in 1993. The record shows him in a more jazz-oriented setting and features an all-star lineup, including Pat Metheny, Branford Marsalis, Jerry Garcia, Phil Collins and Bonnie Raitt. Hornsby secured his third Grammy in 1993 for Best Pop Instrumental for "Barcelona Mona" (compiled alongside Branford Marsalis for the Barcelona Olympics).
In 1995, Hot House was released with its cover art, featuring a banquet session imagined between bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and jazz legend Charlie Parker. The album found Hornsby evolving into a jazz sound from Harbor Lights, this time reintroducing bluegrass elements from A Night on the Town and previous collaborations.
During this period, "even the concert delivered a more relaxed, more fun atmosphere, and Hornsby began receiving requests from viewers." The Hornsby concert became the "departure point" for the composition of the album, which will be merged and reworked into a "long spontaneous meditation". Both in terms of audience demand and in spontaneous decision-making, Hornsby's performance becomes an opportunity for him to challenge himself by trying to "find a way to seamlessly blend these seemingly different elements together."
Hornsby subsequently worked on several Grateful Dead reform projects, including several Furthur Festivals and The Other Ones' final formation, which resulted in the release of a live album, The Strange Remain . Hornsby's piano and vocals became a major factor in the band's performance of the classic Dead "Jack Straw" and "Sugaree" songs (featuring Hornsby on lead vocals, in the absence of Jerry Garcia), and Hornsby-original "White-Wheeled Limousine" and "Rainbow's Cadillac "" received rework in the hands of The Other Ones.
Three years after Hot House , Hornsby released a double album, Spirit Trail . Featuring a clear picture of his uncle's uncle on the cover, his collection of instrumental songs mixed with story-telling, rock, jazz, and other musical forms Hornsby has been investigating his career. The album takes into account the theme of "very South" with "songs about race, religion, judgment and tolerance" and "struggling with this issue." - especially on "Sneak at Boo Radley," a character referenced from the Harper Lee Pulitzer Prize - won the To Kill a Mockingbird novel.
Along the order of Harbor Light , Hot Springs , and Spirit Footprint , the playing Hornsby piano continues to gain further complexity, taking on a more varied variation of style music and combine more of the more difficult techniques, as evidenced by the independence of his two hands on the "Spirit Trail" "King of the Hill". Over the span of the same solo album, Hornsby made several mini tours playing solo piano performances for the first time in his career. The show allows Horns with unlimited possibilities to unite songs into other songs, often blurring the lines between classical compositions, jazz standards, traditional bluegrass, folk, and fiddle songs, Grateful Dead songs, as well as reworking of the original Hornsby. Hornsby reflects periods of intense solo performances, stating that the solo tour helped him "resolve [himself] to learn the piano" and "take [him] to play to a new level", an impossible exploration and improvisation. in band settings. He finally released his first solo album, just titled Solo Concerts, in August 2014.
The Noisemakers
The band's band touring band Hornsby underwent extensive changes between 1998 and 2000 as well, with old drummer John Molo joining former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh in his band Phil Lesh & Friends A twenty consecutive set of shows by Hornsby and his band at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland, California marks a very innovative evolution period for his live performances; where Hornsby and his band "were able to explore songs in a completely spontaneous way". Since then Hornsby has avoided even planning a list for his show, preferring to pick songs on the spot based mainly on audience requests. As Hornsby experimented with different sounds, delivering frequent collaborations with musicians such as Steve Kimock on guitar and Bobby Read on highly effect-driven electronic woodwinds, the new band, nicknamed Noisemakers, took shape. In 2000, Hornsby recorded this journey with a live compilation album titled Here Come The Noise Makers , and toured extensively with his new band featuring John "J. T." Thomas (keyboard, organ), Bobby Read (saxophones, woodwinds, flute), J. V. Collier (bass), Doug Derryberry (guitar, mandolin), and several different drummers before Sonny Emory takes over full time.
The next studio album of new material was not until 2002: Big Swing Face . This album is the most experimental effort of Hornsby to date; Big Swing Face, the only album on which Hornsby hardly plays any piano, relies heavily on post-electron beats, drum loops, Pro Tools editing, and solid synthesizer settings. The album also boasts "stream-of-consciousness wordplay" from lyrics that are in many ways more eccentric and funnier than previous works. Big Swing Face received mixed reviews, ranging from "new and better Bruce Hornsby" to be called one of "the weirdest notes of 2002".
In 2004, after 19 successful years at RCA Records, Hornsby returned to a more acoustic, piano-driven voice on his debut at Columbia Records Halcyon Days, reviewed by reviewers as "Pure Hornsby". Guests include Sting, Elton John and Eric Clapton.
Throughout the tour after the album's release, both with Noisemakers and in solo performances, Hornsby continues to show its desire to "grow" as a singer and performer and to expand the piano instrumental possibilities in various genres. He also began offering CD sets and digital downloads of digitally mastered soundboard recordings from live concerts via the Bruce Hornsby Live website; the selected concert has been offered since 2002.
In July 2006, Hornsby released a four-CD/DVD box titled Intersections (1985-2005) . The discs are thematically divided into three categories: "Top 90 Time," "Solo Piano, Tribute Records, Country-Bluegrass, Score Film," and "By Request". A full third of this music has never been released before; many known tracks are presented as unreleased live versions of original studio recordings, and most of the remaining songs come from single b-side, collaboration and/or tribute albums and movie soundtracks. One song, "Song H," a new composition, was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
In 2007 Hornsby started playing classical music: at a concert in Saint Louis, Missouri, during a Hornsby improvisation session in "The Way It Is", he began playing J.S. Variations of Goldberg Bach along with drums. In a different city he played five Goldberg Variations directly above the drum intro "Gonna Be Some Changes Made."
On September 15, 2009, Bruce Hornsby and Noisemakers released their fourth album, Levitate , for various reviews; it mixed a new solo material with some songs written along with Chip DiMatteo for the Broadway SCKBSTD drama. May 2011 saw the release of the band's latest live album, Bride of the Noisemakers.
Skaggs & amps ; Hornsby/The Bruce Hornsby Trio (2007-present)
In March 2007 Hornsby teamed up with bluegrass player Ricky Skaggs to produce bluegrass albums, Ricky Skaggs & amp; Bruce Hornsby , and played some tour dates together. The seeds for the album had been sown in 2000 when the couple collaborated on "Darlin 'Cory", a song on bluegrass tribute album Bill Monroe Big Mon and then proposed recording a shared album. Ricky Skaggs & amp; Bruce Hornsby, featuring a duo supported by the Skaggs band Kentucky Thunder, a bluegrass mixture, a traditional country, "jazzy Hornsby piano and humor" on the spectrum of songs from traditional to new compositions such as opening the song "The Dreaded Spoon" "a funny story about a young ice cream robbery." The pair also rediscovered Hornsby's hit "Mandolin Rain" as a small acoustic ballad and "gave a warning story about violent backwoods", "A Night On the Town," a treatment that highlights "the always-present tradition of Appalachian storytelling. "The album ends with Rick Rick's surprise surprise hit" Super Freak "cover in bluegrass settings. Ricky Skaggs & amp; Bruce Hornsby topped Billboard's bluegrass chart for several weeks. The album shows Hornsby carving out a place for pianos in traditional bluegrass, disproving the idea that pianos are not compatible with "string-oriented" bluegrass. The duo released a live album Cluck Ol 'Hen in 2013, and continues to play live when the schedule allows.
Along with the bluegrass project, Hornsby recorded a jazz album, Camp Meeting . with Christian McBride (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums). Along with the original compositions by Hornsby, the three delivered "newly harmonized songs" of songs by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, a previously undocumented Ornette Coleman ("Questions and Answers") and compositions Early Keith Jarrett ("Death and the Flower.") The trio made a series of appearances in the summer of 2007, including the Playboy Jazz Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival and the Hollywood Bowl.
On January 4, 2007, former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart reunited with Hornsby, Mike Gordon (from Phish and Rhythm Devils) and Warren Haynes to play two sets, including the Dead classic, at a post-inauguration event. a fundraising party for Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to be Chairman of the House at the United States Congress.
Hornsby wrote the song for Broadway Musical, entitled "SCKBSTD"; one song from the project, a biographical song about Donald Trump's real-estate tycoon titled "The Don of Dons," made several appearances in a setlist during his 2007 early solo piano performance. He also compiled a score for ESPN's documentary ESPN, Kobe Doin 'Work , about NBA star Kobe Bryant and his MVP season.
Outside of composition and musical performances, Hornsby has taken ownership of the Williamsburg area radio station "The Tide," WTYD 92.3 FM, and he has awarded the American Creative Music Program Bruce Hornsby at Frost University of Music School of Miami, encouraging songwriting research wide throughout the traditional genre. Hornsby played alone in a cameo role in Robin Williams's World's Greatest Dad, in which Williams's character is a fan of Bruce Hornsby.
In 2014, Hornsby toured the selected date with Pat Metheny Unity Group.
Hornsby is part of the Grateful Dead farewell and reunion event in June and July 2015 along with four surviving original members and Trey Anastasio from Phish.
Tools
Hornsby currently uses Steinway & amp; Children's grand piano concert. He bought a piano in Zurich, Switzerland, during a solo tour in Europe in 1995. With the Range and until 1995, he used Baldwin's concert piano. He currently uses Korg M1 synthesizer. With Range, Hornsby uses the Oberheim OB-X synthesizer.
He is also honored by Steinway & amp; Children with their Limited Edition Piano Signature Series. Hornsby selected ten Model B Steinway Grands to display in this collection, each personalized with his signature. Hornsby has three models of its own 9-foot Grandway Steinway.
In the 2016 album "Rehab Reunion", she plays the mountain dulcimers created by BlueLion. http://kmuw.org/post/bruce-hornsby-picks-dulcimer-rehab-reunion
Personal life
Outside the field of music, Hornsby is a regular basketball player and a sports fan. As such, he can often be seen in college basketball games around the state of Virginia. Hornsby stated that he beat Allen Iverson in a one-on-one basketball game in a row after helping him out of jail. Hornsby shared this story at The Dan LeBatard Show on ESPN Radio on March 21, 2017. He is also a friend of former St Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and attends the match at St. Louis whenever she can. Their friendship brought La Russa introducing Hornsby to jazz bassist Christian McBride, which later led to the formation of The Bruce Hornsby Trio (along with drummer Jack DeJohnette) and their first album, Camp Meeting .
Hornsby and his wife Kathy have twin sons: Russell, who ran Division I track at the University of Oregon, and Keith, who played Division I basketball for UNC Asheville Bulldogs from 2011 to 2013, was transferred to Louisiana State University and played for LSU from 2014 to 2016 They were named after musicians Leon Russell and Keith Jarrett, respectively.
Discography
By: The Other Others
The Other Ones - 1999 - Thankful Gratitude Account - Direct 2-CD Set
References
External links
- Bruce Hornsby on IMDb
- Official website
- Bruuuce.com - Bruce Hornsby's fan website
- BruuuceBase: Bruce Hornsby organizes the list
- Bruce Hornsby Live concert release
- List of events played with Grateful Dead
- An interview with Bruce Hornsby for TheWaster.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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