NEW YORK, NY - Almost three decades after launching one of contemporary music’s most diverse careers, Bruce Hornsby still makes joyful noise as he discovers clever and expansive ways to chronicle dynamic musical snapshots, tapping into many of the genres that have influenced him over the years—pop, jazz, bluegrass, country and modern classical. Celebrating the release of a live 2-CD set, Solo Concerts, Hornsby shares his most recent explorations in a duo performance at Rose Theater in New York City on September 26 with Sonny Emory on percussion. Every ticket to this performance includes a copy of Solo Concerts.
“I think I’ve found a middle ground,” Hornsby says. “I think it’s very easy be straight down the middle, to write and play the very straight, simple music. I think it’s also easy to be completely out there, very obtuse and obscure, saying oh, they don’t understand. For me, the difficult thing is to find a middle ground where you’re reaching and broadening your language but still connecting with someone perhaps used to hearing – for an entire lifetime – only those seven white notes and those simple chords.”
For all his talents as a singer, bandleader and pianist with an instantly identifiable sound, Hornsby is a songwriter at heart. His commercial stock soared early on, when “The Way It Is”–the title track of his 1986 debut album–became one of the most popular songs on American radio. With Bruce Hornsby and the Range he also produced hits like “Mandolin Rain” and “Every Little Kiss,” and went on to further successes with his longtime band, the Noisemakers.
In recent years, he has pushed his artistic limits, working with bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs, The Bruce Hornsby Trio, and jazz legend Charlie Haden. Hornsby has also scored a number of projects for filmmaker Spike Lee including the documentary Kobe Doin’ Work (2009), Red Hook Summer (2012), and the upcoming Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. Hornsby has contributed to all-star collections that pay tributes to Fats Domino, The Band and most recently, Jackson Browne. A music graduate of University of Miami, Hornsby also has partnered with its Frost School of Music to establish the Creative American Music Program, a curriculum designed to develop the creative skills of talented young artist/songwriters by immersing them in the many traditions that form the foundations of modern American songwriting.
Hornsby’s duo performance will offer a glimpse of a restless spirit who continues to push forward into exciting new musical terrain.
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