Bruce Hornsby's Intersections

My appreciation of Bruce Hornsby’s music dates back to his first RCA album with the Range, The Way It Is. I’ve not religiously followed him through the years–heck I only recently found out that he has a jazz trio, in addition to his work with his current band, the Noisemakers. But my wife and I recently realized we both had enjoyed Hornsby’s work almost from his start.  So recently when I was at my favorite CD Warehouse in Roswell I was pleased to run across a copy of his 2006 box set, Intersections.

Back in my college days, I worked in the music library at the Georgia State University School of Music. Part of my job (and this tells you how long ago it was) was to prepare educational cassette tapes of classic jazz albums for the students to study. I knew little  about the blues and jazz at that time (and I remain that way, honestly). But one thing that amazed me about many of these albums (particularly the historical archive releases–such as the Smithsonian collections) were the alternate takes and demos that the musicians did of their songs.

For me, that’s the appeal of Hornsby’s live material. As much as I dislike the Grateful Dead, the way they approach music (and the time he spent playing with them) has informed how he revitalizes decades old songs of his.  For example, there is at least four different versions of The Valley Road in this box set. On the way into school yesterday, I shared two versions with my son. I make assumptions about my son’s musical leanings and invariably he proves me wrong. In this case, I played the bluegrass version and the blues version (with Bonnie Raitt, if my ear is right), assuming he’d be partial to the blues version. To my surprise and delight, he enjoyed the banjo work on the bluegrass version immensely more.

The box set includes a DVD and a small book that collects memorabilia and reviews/articles about Hornsby’s musical journey. Hornsby’s musical history is a rich one (and the list of collaborators he has appearing on this box set is staggering to realize) and I’m really glad to see in one collection a fairly clear map of the journey he’s taken so far, as wel as the folks he’s encountered along the way.