Hornsby Delivers Heartfelt Mix With Ease

The earnest pop balladry of Bruce Hornsby is never preachy, even if it often comes from a place more heartfelt than, say, the latest song about sports from Hootie & the Blowfish. At the House of Blues on Saturday, Hornsby was as relaxed and amiable as if he were playing in his own living room.

Sitting behind a grand piano, Hornsby opened the two-hour concert with music from his latest album, “Hot House,” a collection of eclectic jazz-and-blues-flavored pop, and spent the rest of the night playing requests from the crowd.

Before singing his 1986 breakthrough hit “The Way It Is,” Hornsby noted that this was his first performance of the song in several tour stops in Los Angeles. Even so, the song has remained the blueprint for several of the hits that have followed through the years: work based on rich, expressive piano melodies.

Often on Saturday, Hornsby’s interests seemed to lie elsewhere. He twice picked up an accordion to add a vaguely Cajun flair to the music. And Hornsby left room for some fine solo work from members of his six-person band.

The band’s deeper forays into a contemporary jazz vein were usually successful. But too many of the show’s middling songs--those that were neither accessible pop, nor expressive jazz-flavored work--slowed things down, failing to connect on the emotional level Hornsby surely intended.