guitarist, composer, educator
Saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase's Explorer's Club : A Second Life (Mandorla Music) Released June 2024
"Witty, varied, played warmly, and arranged dexterously the explorations on A Second Life should please just about every jazz fan. The album’s lineup is remarkable for the variety of textures and groupings Kohlhase creates, as well as the quality of the playing from each member" - Michael Ullman, The Arts Fuse
Guitarist Eric Hofbauer muses on the power and musicality of speech on "Waking Up!".
Greta Thunberg’s famous “How Dare You!” speech provides rhythmic and narrative basis for an imaginative four-movement suite.
Featuring Hofbauer’s “Five Agents” band in a follow-up to
2018’s release Book of Water.
“The virtuosity displayed by Eric Hofbauer is staggering at times, but his acumen as a composer is even more impressive.”
— Burning Ambulance
Concert Video - Glass Houses For Sound: Kris Davis, Noah Preminger, Eric Hofbauer & the Longy Now's The Time Ensembles.
On 3/10/22 Kris Davis kicked off the new Visiting Artist Collaborative Series at the Longy School of Music (the original date was 3/13/20...two years later we finally pulled this off!) Kris plays a solo set followed by a trio set with Noah Preminger (tenor sax) and myself (guitar and electronics), mostly improvisations based off of a few composed themes by Noah and myself. the final set features two student groups playing joining Kris to play through several of her compositions from her album Diatom Ribbons. There was something healing and powerful in the improvisation this night, a catharsis to counteract the burnout we (musicians and audience alike) wore on our bodies. The music and the creative spirit of everyone involved lifted that heavy garment (even if only for the concert.) It was an inspiring night! Thank you Kris and everyone involved, it was such a success on every level.
Boston-trained guitarist Eric Hofbauer cuts a broad swath through modern music since 1890: lassoing Satie, Nico, Waylon Jennings, and “Old Man River” into a 2002 solo record; playing Ives, Stravinsky, Messiaen, and Ellington’s elegy “Reminiscing in Tempo” in a memorable series of albums with his “Prehistoric Jazz” chamber quintet. Nowadays he also runs the jazz and contemporary music department at Bard’s Longy School. Hofbauer balances the serious and playful, and he gets an appealingly chunky, spiky acoustic guitar sound like the pre-amplified masters: he doesn’t lean on the signifiers but the (percussive) blues esthetic runs deep. - Kevin Whitehead, Moments Notice