Jazz Articles about Eric Hofbauer

About Eric Hofbauer

Album Review

Jason Robinson: Blue Salience: For Yusef Lateef

Read "Blue Salience: For Yusef Lateef" reviewed by Keith Flint

by Keith Flint
October 18, 2026

From a single note a song takes form. From a single seed a tree grows. Consider Yusef Lateef's own words from “Where Are The Goodies?" Spheres: Stories by Yusef Lateef (Fana Publishing, 1976), “To find out in a hurry whether the roots are where the rich dirt is, look up at the tree and see if the branches are soulful." His writing was as evocative of spirituality and human communication as it was given to compositional foundations and creative ideation. ...

Album Review

BLINK: BLINK

by Mark Corroto
October 16, 2025

It bears repeating: collective improvisation is far more challenging than individual soloing. It demands discipline, trust, and, as musicians like to say, exceptional ears. Composer and alto saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra's BLINK demonstrates all three, bringing together five musicians whose listening skills are as sharp as their instincts. The project is built on Dijkstra's long-running Porch Trio, featuring electric bassist Nate McBride and drummer Eric Rosenthal. That core group previously expanded into a sextet for PorchBone (Driff, 2024). With ...

Album Review

Dylan Jack Quartet: Eine Quartett des Grauens

Read "Eine Quartett des Grauens" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
November 2, 2023

Often--or at least usually, or sometimes? Let's say sometimes--the classics are classics for a reason. Any horror buff has their own ideas where to go for some creepy-crawlies and jump scares, but they'll probably all agree (on some level) that the most old-school classics set down the blueprint before moving pictures were even matched up with sounds. As Halloweeny films go, Dylan Jack and friends recognize 1922's silent-cinema staple Nosferatu as one of the true old guard, with a world-of-its-own ...

Album Review

Dylan Jack Quartet: The Tale of the Twelve-Foot Man

Read "The Tale of the Twelve-Foot Man" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
February 16, 2021

Rispetto al quartetto che aveva brillantemente debuttato nel 2017 con Diagrams vi è l'avvicendamento del clarinettista Todd Brunel con il trombettista Jerry Sabatini ma la scrittura messa in campo dal batterista leader mantiene, in The Tale of the Twelve-Foot Man, la medesima sofisticata bellezza, con una interessante evoluzione delle dinamiche e degli impasti sonori. Dylan Jack, figura attiva in vari ambiti della scena musicale bostoniana, si intende a meraviglia con i suoi compagni di viaggio, forte delle ...

Album Review

Dylan Jack Quartet: The Tale of the Twelve-Foot Man

Read "The Tale of the Twelve-Foot Man" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
August 22, 2020

Drummer Dylan Jack has long been a fixture on the Boston jazz scene and, with assorted partnerships including fellow Bostonians Charlie Kohlhase, Jeb Bishop and Bill Lowe, he has kept very busy. But, of late, his most fruitful collaboration may be his recordings with guitarist Eric Hofbauer. The two released the first-rate Remains of Echoes in 2019 (Creative Nation Music), a wide-ranging effort to reinterpret pieces from the jazz tradition and beyond, from Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus to Sting ...

Album Review

Eric Hofbauer and Dylan Jack: Remains of Echoes

Read "Remains of Echoes" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
November 14, 2019

Always attuned to unusual choices that keep his listeners guessing, guitarist Eric Hofbauer knows no bounds when it comes to his repertoire. One is as likely to hear a Cyndi Lauper or Nirvana cover as something by Thelonious Monk or Charlie Parker. And his stylistic approach on the guitar is similarly idiosyncratic, with a gutbucket blues as likely to spill forth as something more spikily avant-garde. This unpredictable creativity is once again on display on Remains of Echoes, an enticing ...

Album Review

Eric Hofbauer: Book Of Water

Read "Book Of Water" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
June 30, 2019

Boston based guitarist and rising star Eric Hofbauer obviously isn't afraid of challenges. But then again, no musician/artist should be if they wish to leave a mark. The compositional intent at first come across rather lofty: a five part, multi-ensemble project interpreting wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, namely the five pillars of Chinese philosophy understood as the “Five Agents," with each element its own book or, in this case, album, containing five chapters or compositions, someone's got to take ...