guitarist, composer, educator
Dylan Jack Quartet: Winter Panes (Creative Nation Music) Released Nov. 2024
On “Winter Panes,” the Dylan Jack Quartet gives winter classics a fresh, new jazz interpretation. The recordings, made in a cold church in Massachusetts, literally and figuratively reflect various cultural views on the winter season. The tone is set immediately with the fiery trumpet of Jerry Sabatini on the opening track “New Africa” by Grachan Moncur III, while Eric Hofbauer’s guitar, subtly enriched with electronics, enhances the soundscape. James Brown’s “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” is playful and swinging, with an infectious groove thanks to Jack and bassist Tony Leva. The less obvious choices are the most striking, however. Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” receives a polymetric treatment, completely refreshing the original waltz pattern. The Sephardic Hanukkah song “Ocho Kandelikas” unfolds from a stately opening to a rousing tango finale. The quartet demonstrates that a Christmas album does not have to be predictable. “Winter Panes” is an inventive journey through various musical traditions, unified by the ensemble’s coherent vision. A winter album that captivates all year round. - William Brown, Maxazine
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
New Video Content - Ives, Beatles & Jamaaladeen
Three new YouTube videos that highlight some wide ranging topics and music. The video above is a lecture/demonstration about the relationship between Charles Ives' compositional language and its relationship with jazz and other improvisation vocabularies. It was shot in the Ives library, housed in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The first video below features the new EHQ, Noah Preminger, tenor, Hofbauer, guitar, Sean Farias, bass and Francisco Mela, drums performing a Hofbauer arrangement of "Mother Nature's Son" by Lennon-McCartney. It was from the Wild Music Festival in Aug. 2024 on George's Island in Boston Harbor. The final video is from the Dave Bryant album release concert in May '24 for the album Wire and Bone which features Jamaaladeen Tacoma on electric bass! Bryant, keys, Hofbauer, guitar, George Garzone, tenor, Kenny Wessel, guitar, Chris Bowman, drums. It's funky and free, as you would expect an ensemble comprised mostly of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time. Check out 9:30 mark. Sunk in the Funk by J Tacuma.
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
