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Anyone who has followed the career of Bruce Hornsby knows he has the requisite chops, experience and education to be a top-flight jazz player. With the release of Camp Meeting, Hornsby demonstrates his prowess as a pianist, composer and band leader while paying homage to some of the jazz giants who came before him.
Camp Meeting is a trio session with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Both are in top form, as usual; providing not simply accompaniment but conversation.
Starting with a surprisingly accessible version of Ornette Coleman's Questions and Answers, Hornsby comes out of the chute with an interpretation focusing on the percussive and, of course, DeJohnette is up to the task.
The next cut, titled Charlie, Woody and You is credited to Hornsby and Charles Ives as co-writers. The most "out" track on the CD, the title is an obvious reference to Dizzy Gillespie's composition Woody N' You - considered the first be-bop recording when released by Coleman Hawkins and later made famous by Miles Davis on the Relaxin' LP that would follow.
The rest of the LP provides more of a mainstream groove, which in no way should be construed as denigration. Miles' Solar, Trane's Giant Steps, Monk's Straight No Chaser and three Bud Powell compositions all receive a respectful reworking that demonstrate Hornsby's inventiveness and the facility of his superb sidemen.
The other original, Hornsby's Stacked Mary Possum holds its own among these classics and may very well become one in its own right after a generation of Berklee and Miami students learn it. Close friend and Miami alumnus Pat Metheny is credited as "De Facto Executive Producer" but the recording is self-produced by Hornsby and expertly engineered by Joe Ferla, who captures the acoustic instruments clearly and without any artificiality.
I hope Camp Meeting is the beginning of a series of recordings that will show Bruce Hornsby to be a contemporary among the major jazz artists of his generation.
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