Articles

Amos Hoffman: Back To The City

By Dan Bilawsky

Amos Hoffman's story is one of departures and returns. This guitarist-oudist cut his teeth in his native Israel, made his way to Amsterdam, and finally ended up in New York in the '90s as part of what could be considered the first wave of Israeli jazz talent to really make an impact on the Big Apple. And then he left. Hoffman returned to Israel, continuing to play, record on occasion, and mentor up-and-comers who've come stateside, or, no doubt, will. ...

Amos Hoffman: Carving

By Eyal Hareuveni

Israeli guitarist and oudist Amos Hoffman reaches a fine balance between his main instruments on this fine recording. The guitar sounds natural and organic in Middle-eastern scales, while the oud fits perfectly in the swinging jazz sensibilities. Hoffman articulates a clear and melodic outline on both instruments, while he crosses genres. Hoffman is backed by veteran Israeli jazz musicians like bassist/producer Ilan Salem, his friend Avishai Cohenand percussionist Ilan Katchka. Promising young players such as percussionist Itamar ...

Amos Hoffman: Evolution

By Dr. Judith Schlesinger

The oud is the principal instrument in Middle Eastern music: it's an ancient, fretless, short-necked lute with five pairs of strings and a bass string. On Evolution, his third CD as leader, Amos Hoffman plays the oud he made himself, and offers a fascinating combination of Middle Eastern music and jazz.

The Tel Aviv-based Hoffman wrote all the tunes here, providing a mix of composed and improvised music with hypnotic, sensuous, and insistent rhythms. Aside from ...

Amos Hoffman: Evolution

By Eyal Hareuveni

This is the second recording by Israeli guitarist Amos Hoffman that features him as an oud player, following Na'ama (Magda, 2006). Hoffman, who began playing the guitar when he was six years old and the oud a few years later, studied with Lebanese oud and nay player Bassam Saba, while he was living in New York.

For this recording Hoffman recruited good friend and prominent Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen, after playing on Cohen's recent recordings, veteran Israeli percussionist ...