''Harbor Lights'' was the fourth album by

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions ...

and was released by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

in 1993. It was the first album credited solely to Hornsby, without his previous backing band, the Range. The record showcased Hornsby in a more jazz-oriented setting and featured an all-star lineup, including

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed inst ...

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

and

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

. Unlike earlier albums, ''Harbor Lights'' allowed more space for Hornsby's and guest-players' "extended instrumental" solos to "flow naturally" out of the songs. The tone was set by the opening title track, which after 50 seconds of expansive solo piano lurches into an up-tempo jazz number, ending with Metheny's guitar runs. The album closes in a similar fashion with "Pastures of Plenty", this time with an extended guitar solo from Garcia intertwined with Hornsby's piano. Hornsby also quotes the main musical phrase from the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

's " Dark Star" as the jazz head to his song about tensions surrounding a biracial relationship, "Talk of the Town". The mid-tempo "Fields of Gray", written for Hornsby's recently born twin sons, received some modest radio airplay, peaking at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100. ''Harbor Lights'' was well received by critics and fans, who praised it for its "cooler, jazzier sound" and its "affinity for sincere portraits of American life, love, and heartache." The album cover uses

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

's 1951 painting ''Rooms By the Sea''.

Track listing

All music and lyrics by

, except where noted.

Personnel (on all tracks)

– vocals, grand piano, organ,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, synthesizers *

Jimmy Haslip James Robert Haslip (born December 31, 1951) is an American bass guitarist who was a founding member of the jazz fusion group the Yellowjackets, which he left in 2012. He was also an early user of the five-string electric bass. Early life and ...

– bass *

John Molo John Molo (born December 5, 1953, Bethesda, Maryland) is an American rock and jazz drummer and percussionist. He has played with a variety of bands, combos, and soloists. Best known for being the drummer for Bruce Hornsby and the Range, he has a ...

– drums Additional personnel, by track ''Harbor Lights'' :::*

– guitar solo,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

:::* John Bigham – rhythm guitar :::* Laura Creamer-Dunville – backing vocals :::*

Jean McClain Jean McClain (born March 8, 1953), better known as Pepper Mashay, is an American soul, house and dance music singer-songwriter who has had success as a touring and studio performer. Early life McClain grew up in Muncie, Indiana. Growing up, h ...

– backing vocals :::* Dave Duncan –

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

man :::*

Jeff Lorber Jeffrey H. Lorber (born November 4, 1952) is an American keyboardist, composer, and record producer. After six previous nominations, Lorber won his first Grammy Award on January 28, 2018 for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for '' Prototype' ...

– loops ''Talk of the Town'' :::*

–

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

:::* Jeff Lorber – programming :::* Will Ross – rhythm guitar :::*

– guitar :::*

–

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

''Long Tall Cool One'' :::*

–

:::*

– backing vocals ''China Doll'' :::*

– guitar solo :::*

– backing vocals :::* Tony Berg – guitar chords :::* Wayne Pooley – guitar chords ''Fields of Gray'' :::*

–

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, backing vocals :::*

John McLaughlin Williams John McLaughlin Williams (born 1957) is a Grammy award-winning American orchestral conductor and violinist. He attended the Boston University School of Music, the New England Conservatory and is a graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Music. Hi ...

– violin :::* Laura Roelofs Park – violin :::* Beverly K. Baker – viola :::* William Conita – cello :::* Lamont Coward – percussion ''Rainbow's Cadillac'' :::* John Bigham – lead and rhythm guitars :::*

– backing vocals :::* Laura Creamer-Dunville – backing vocals :::* Jean McClain – backing vocals :::* John D'earth –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

:::* Glenn Wilson – horns :::*

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

''Passing Through'' :::* John Bigham – guitar :::* Laura Creamer-Dunville – backing vocals :::* Jean McClain – backing vocals :::*

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

''The Tide Will Rise'' :::*

– rhythm guitar and guitar solo :::*

– backing vocals :::* Debbie Henry – backing vocals :::* Laura Creamer-Dunville – backing vocals :::* Jean McClain – backing vocals :::* Bona Cheri Williams – backing vocals :::* John D'earth –

:::* Glenn Wilson – horns :::* George Gailes III – horns :::* Roy Muth – horns :::* Tim Streagle – horns :::* George Harple –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

:::* Philip Koslow – French horn :::* Adam Lesnick – French horn :::* Alan Peterson – French horn ''What A Time'' :::* Debbie Henry – backing vocals :::* Bona Cheri Williams – backing vocals :::* John D'earth – trumpet :::* Glenn Wilson – horns :::* George Gailes III – horns :::* Roy Muth – horns :::* Tim Streagle – horns ''Pastures of Plenty'' :::*

– guitar :::*

– violin :::* Laura Roelofs Park – violin :::* Beverly Baker – viola :::* William Comita – cello

Production

* Produced by Bruce Hornsby * Production Coordination – Sharona Sabbag, Shamina Singh and Amy Wenzler. * Engineered by Wayne Pooley and Steve Strassman * Additional Engineering – Eddie King * Mixed by Wayne Pooley (Tracks #1, 3–5, 7, 8 & 10), Keith "KC" Cohen (Track #2) and David Leonard (Tracks #2, 6 & 9). * Recorded at Bruce Hornsby's House (Williamsburg, VA) and Acme Recording Studios (Mamaroneck, NY). * Mastered by

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

at Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME) and

Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such no ...

(New York, NY). * Horn Charts by Bruce Hornsby * String Quartet Charts by John McLaughlin Williams * Art Direction and Design – Norman Moore * Cover and Inside Art – Edward Hopper * Back Cover Photo – Greg Gorman * Inside Photo – Carey Wilhelm * Management – Q Prime * Guitar Technician for Pat Metheny – Carolyn Chrzan * Piano Tuning and Service – Leo Schatzel * Tambourine Technician – Danny Gillen

References

{{Authority control 1993 debut albums Bruce Hornsby albums RCA Records albums