Bruce Hornsby like his mentors Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock has had a hard time standing in the same spot musically. His career has always been about great piano chops, clever tunes and a journey that's sometimes unpredictable but always expanding. We talked to Bruce just before the release of his most daring and innovative album "Big Swing Face."

John Beaudin - Hi Bruce. Nice talking to you again. We first met in 1993 during the 'Harbor Lights' tour. I know you've done a few interviews since then. (laughing)

Bruce Hornsby - (laughing) Yeah, just a few.

John - Thanks for doing the interview on such short notice.

Bruce - I promise I won't Cuss.

John - (laughing)Promises, promises. We can talk about the new album in a bit. Let's start with 'Here Come the Noisemakers' it's a great live record. Where did the title come from?

Bruce - There was this guy who used to come hear us during our bad old days of playing in bars and disco lounges. We used to play at this biker bar in Virginia Beach, Virginia called the Cave and there was this guy named Donnie, a real country boy. He was not into our music we played too much Steely Dan and Miles Davis for him and he wanted to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd. So every night when we would walk in he would always be at the bar and he would derisively hiss, "Here come the noisemakers." So that was how that came about. (laughing)

John - (laughing) Did you ever do a little Skynyrd?

Bruce - (laughing) Hell no, we didn't do Skynyrd.

John - (laughing)Maybe a little 'Sweet Home Alabama' or 'What's Your Name?'

Bruce - (laughing)We did none of that 'Give Me Three Steps,' 'Oh That Smell' or 'Free Bird'.

John - 'Here Come The Noisemakers' is obviously an album that the fans have been crying for since the beginning.

Bruce - You know John, I've heard that a lot but the timing was just right when I put it out.

John - You're all over the place on this one, style wise and genre wise. I think I was more aware of your independence as a piano player because I'm slowly relearning that as a drummer and the key to great playing is having complete independence and as a player you've just gone up a few notches. Hell, most players in Pop stay where they are after they get comfortable with a few hits but with you it really shows you practice.

Bruce - Yes absolutely. I've sort of recommitted myself to study the piano. I wanted to develop that independence of the hand where I could play something in the left hand, some very involved ostinato or pattern and be able to play very freely over that with the right hand but have the left hand really solid. That's really hard to do and it takes a lot of practice so I'm gradually developing it and there's a lot of that on that record.

John - Fame a lot of times takes up that space from the artist and they can get wrapped up in the glamour and forget about being a musician.

Bruce - Well yeah, virtuosity has never been part of what Pop or even Rock music was about mind you with some notable exceptions of course there was Stevie Ray Vaughn, Mark Knopfler and Hendrix, which were all great. On the piano Leon Russell's a great player. In their own way with what they do Elton John and Billy Joel are great players. I really always tried to find a place in me for some really involved playing. I'm a schooled musician so it's part of my background and it's part of my interest to keep growing as a musician in every way. This is just another way that I'm interested in continuing to just get better. You see music is different than sports. If you get better in sports you just do better, if you practice a lot you just improve and you're a stronger player and that's great. In music if you practice a lot and get better you improve your way out of the mainstream because most people, the massive audience, wants their music real simple and real straight. It's very different.

John - Getting better in sports can mean a lot of money but getting better as a musician can still mean you ride the bus.

Bruce - Very true. The great players are anonymous, no one knows who they are, no one knows their names and it's a total crime. The names Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock are not household names. That's just the nature of the beast and I can't be bothered with that. It's always been about my own sort of singular pursuit of quality playing on my instrument.

John - Speaking of Keith Jarrett, I loved your version of 'Backhand' on his tribute album.

Bruce - Thanks. You know they just asked me to do it and it was really fulfilling to do it and to find out that Keith really liked what I did. With 'Backhand' I think he liked my irreverence that irreverent spin that I put on it. I went down to Mardi Gras in New Orleans and turned it into a party song with Jason Marsalis on Drums and myself on piano with no bass player. Actually, we used Tuba for bass and we used a Brass band called the 'Night Crawlers' from New Orleans. There was also Bo Dollis from the' Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indian Tribe' singing on it. I'm really proud of what we did and it was a great joyful noise. Is it the first track on the record?

John - Yes it was. Having loved the Koln concert, I don't remember how long I have been a fan but when I first put it on I didn't know you were on it. Then within three to four seconds I knew it was you. You have a style!

Bruce - That's always nice to hear and I've heard that for years that sometimes I'm instantly recognizable and that's really what you want. That's what it's been about for me for years, to develop a sound and a style. To develop a way of playing, singing, writing and whether you like it or not you know it's me. My playing has really changed over the years. The playing for instance on the live record is very different from my first record but people still say they know it's me. That's a really good thing because I know and I think you know that I'm not just regurgitating the same old thing that I was doing early on. I know that I'm doing some things very differently but people can still tell me they know it's me.

John - Look at how many of the great players in Jazz have said that in the beginning they just copied a certain style from an idol but eventually whether they like it or not their own style will come shining through. I think listening to you from a fans stand point, your style is always there. You're getting a lot better as a pianist, writer and singer but that style is there. It's who you are.

Bruce - I may challenge that on the new record ('Big Swing Face' to be released June 25th). You know the response has been, "Wow we love this, who is it?"

John - Really?

Bruce - Oh yeah. That will be very different.

John - Where are you going with this new album?

Bruce - It's a little more experimental. (laughing)

John - Is it a little more Jazz or blues or neither?

Bruce - Well, it's not more Jazz, definitely not. I feel like I've really done that area harmonically. Don't get me wrong I'm really proud of the things I've done. I've utilized that Jazz language somewhat in my songwriting in the past. The new album is more blues and it's a lot more rhythmic, funky and simple. It's just different. I'm sure you'll think it's very different.

John - Last time we spoke in 1993 I asked you if you were interested in ever doing a solo Piano album or New Age album. You said that you think a lot of those New Age pianists were derivative and that you would probably sound the same if you did it. I talked to George Winston a little while ago and he was considering of doing 'The Way It Is' on his album 'Plains' but he couldn't bring anything new to it.

Bruce - Oh, he was?

John - George is a huge fan of yours.

Bruce - That's really nice and I'd love to hear what he would do with it. You know I'm always curious to hear covers of my songs.

John - Like a very different version by the late Tupac(Shakur).

Bruce - Yeah and it's been covered by a few other people in the hip hop. There was Mace and E-40 had a hit with a song called 'Things will Never Change' it was kind of 'The Way It Is' sideways. I loved that and Country singer Sara Evans did 'Every Little Kiss.'

John - Did you play on it?

Bruce - Yes I did. I actually went down to Nashville and played and she's a very nice girl. We did it in one take it took us all of six minutes. (laughing)

John - That's cool but that happens a lot in Nashville doesn't it? They record things quick.

Bruce - That's true. She has a really good band with Matt Chamberlain on drums who played on 'Spirit Trail' and Matt Rawlings who's a great piano player and Randy Scruggs my old friend on guitar. So their a great group of guys. You know they're real pros down in Nashville and yes they do know how to cut a record really quickly. It's really fun though going down and working with those guys.

John - Do you still record in your own home?

Bruce - Yeah I do. I still record in other places also. I made a record with Ricky Scaggs that's a tribute to Bill Munro and it has Dolly Parton and the Dixie Chicks. It's really a good record. Joan Osborne and John Fogerty are also on there but once again I'm the first track on the record.

John - I heard you don't do Letterman anymore.

Bruce - Well I will but not sitting in with the band. The last time they didn't want me to play an actual song. So I don't like the idea of just sitting in and playing in and out of commercials.

John - Getting back to the live album, you know as much as you've gotten fancy-schmancy on the keys it's still has some pretty great driving tunes. (Laughing)

Bruce - What hit's ya?

John - Well for starters 'Spider Fingers,' 'King of the Hill' and 'Rainbow Cadillac' these songs are your get up and boogie songs. The get out of my freakin way I'm coming through songs.

Bruce - (laughing) I've never heard it put quiet that way before. Well you've got to watch those songs they can get you a speeding ticket. (Laughing) I've had that with other people's records where you get so psyched and you realize suddenly that you're doing 85 in a 55 zone so you better slow your ass down.

John - (laughing) Thanks for the advice. I really like the energy on the live record though.

Bruce - Well thanks. I really felt that it was time for people to really hear what you had mentioned before that it was for our true fans who waited for it for years. Another reason why I wanted to put it out is because I thought the mass of America, Canada and quite frankly all over the world know of me from just two or three songs from 1986 to 1991. Most people don't know me after that. If you go back and listen to the first record and if you listen to the brand new record, they are really very different. The new one has way more balls, the singing and playing is way better and the whole thing is great! We have just been about trying to improve our musical abilities in every way for so long. I think this new record really shows it. I know I'm blowing my own horn about it but that's why we put these things out.

John - Don't you get a lot of people who are so surprised when they see you in concert?

Bruce - Oh yeah. People come up to me all the time and say, "You know people have no idea what you do."

John - I've seen you three times in concert and I'm always amazed that you take requests whether you know the song or not.

Bruce - I think most people don't take requests because they are not loose as musicians. They are not ready to just go just anywhere. They have a very strict set list with lighting cues that have to be hit. Theirs is much more of a packaged show and it's a very different approach. Our approach is completely not that and it's really informal. Sometimes it leads us to some place that we wish we hadn't gone when we just wing a song we've never done before. I think the audience really likes to see someone up there really trying to do something new in the moment, in front of their eyes rather than the nice safe thing. I think not all audiences like that of course and there are the people who want to hear 'The Way It Is' just like the record. Those people should not come to see us because we're not playing for them.

John - Just before we wrap up I have to ask you about a few songs. Is 'Down the Road Tonight' autobiographical? Was there a racy 'little road side shack' that the older boys frequented?

Bruce - It's autobiographical only in the sense that a place did exist. A 'little road side shack' and 'rumor had it there we're woman turning tricks in there.

John - So you really didn't know? (laughing)

Bruce - I never knew for sure. I actually think it was true but we always knew about it but never went in.

John - How about one of my favorite's of yours' The Show Goes On.' Whenever I think I've figured it out I listen to it again and I'm lost again.

Bruce - (long laugh) I love it. That one is really obtuse for people. You're not alone. A lot of people really like the song but they don't know what the hell it's about. It's about a girl who uses bad judgment. It's about a girl who I the singer really like and I see her falling for the wrong guys who use her like she's on the 'long list of victims.'

John - When I heard you sing 'The man with the long coat with the long list of victims' I thought you were talking about a serial killer. (laughing) I'm thinking it's such a pretty song too bad it's about blood and guts. (laughing)

Bruce - (laughing) Yeah, a lot of people have thought that. Well in the song she's putting on this show and everyone is just gossiping about her. That's pretty much what it's about. It's a little obtuse I guess I wasn't really clear. (Laughing).

John - I never get sick of that song. It's still one of the most requested in concert right?

Bruce - It's the most requested song that wasn't a hit. But frankly at this point we hardly ever get requests for those singles. It's a very nice thing ten years after my last top twenty hit that we have a very solid core of people who come to hear us and they don't care what we play and they are people who are there for the right reasons for my money. We don't want them to come if all they want to hear are those old hits. That sounds too much like 'Dick Clark presents' to me and I refuse to do that.

John - The first time I saw you live you did 'The Way It Is' ultra fast and it was almost a suedo Jazz/hillbilly hoe down version. For the first thirty seconds I remember thinking what the heck is he doing but by the end of the song I was hooked.

Bruce - (laughing) I think back then we were doing it too fast because we really couldn't get the groove of the record but now my band really can.

John - What do you think of radio today?

Bruce - Well it's music for kids isn't it? It's not music for me and I know they're not targeting me with that top 40 stuff.

John - Musical daycare.

Bruce - Yeah exactly. Of course there are other formats in radio that I like to listen to.

John - Do you still listen to country?

Bruce - Well some but not a lot. Did I when we talked in 1993?

John - I don't recall.

Bruce - You know I mostly listen to records. A lot of old classic American music such as Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Miles Davis and Coltrane to Bill Munro, George Jones and Sam Cooke to gospel. I like Ray Charles.

John - Bruce, I really appreciate your time thanks so much.

Bruce - John thanks for being so aware and so knowledgeable about what I do. I really appreciate it.

John - Any plans on coming back to Canada?

Bruce - I know I haven't spent a lot of time in Canada but as you probably know John being in radio, there isn't a huge market for me in Canada. Your market is very pop and it's not really interested in Jazz on an intense level but hey tell someone to make me an offer I can't refuse. (laughing)

John - I hear you. Jazz is really growing in Canada though don't give up on us!

Bruce - I hear that. No, I won't forget you.

Check out our interview with Bruce Hornsby from 1993
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