The Blue Note
Above: My program from the Blue Note show.
As soon as I laid my eyes on the full-page notice for this special run of Bruce Hornsby shows in the Village Voice (a copy of the page is above), I decided I was going to all three of these shows.
The Halcyon Days album was out and for me represented a wonderful musical milestone for Hornsby and his great band, the Noisemakers. I was already a big fan (given my piano background, love of the Grateful Dead, and my experiences seeing Bruce play before. I had seen him with his own band a couple of times, but had seen him many times in the Grateful Dead, Further Festival and Other Ones contexts. And I had been lucky to meet him briefly and shake hands, on the first Further tour.
On the first night I was able to get tickets for the early show, and he performed with (saxophonist) Bill Evans as a guest.
This and other parts of the run are documented on a great DVD that was released later, “Three Nights on the Town.”
I sat at a table at the far side of the stage at The Blue Note, just about touching JT Thomas as he sat at his keyboards. On other nights as well as this one, Bruce nicely tied together so many of my musical interests, including my own study of music. (My own piano teacher over many years studied with some of the same music teachers as Bruce at the U of Miami music school.)