On Wednesday, September 15th, guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer will celebrate his latest recording, American Fear (Creative Nation Music), with a hometown CD release concert at Johnny D’s in Somerville, Massachusetts. The opening set will feature selections from the record, an intimate and inclusive collection of solo guitar performances that musically explore how fear is reflected and manifested in American culture. Hofbauer will then be joined by his working quartet, The Infrared Band, to preview several new original pieces from the group’s forthcoming second release, Level, due early next year.

“Hofbauer plunders the songbooks of musicians such as Andrew Hill, Johnny Cash, Charlie Parker and Fats Waller smashing their various styles together in an acoustic guitar pile up that is both mischievous and playful,” explains Jazzwise review Edwin Pouncey in his review of American Fear. “Boston, Massachusetts is truly blessed in having Eric Hofbauer as a member of its improvised music community,” adds AllAboutJazz.com’s Nic Jones. “Over the course of successive releases he has proved himself to be one of the great original voices and this solo guitar recital proves it in spades.”

Hofbauer’s name has been synonymous with the Boston jazz scene for more than a decade thanks to his integral efforts as a musician, organizer and educator. When he’s not collaborating with local luminaries such as Garrison Fewell and Charlie Kohlhase, he’s helping numerous others through Creative Nation Music, a label he founded in 2004 to document the area’s most distinctive jazz personalities. A recent winner of the prestigious Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Music Composition, Hofbauer is also a teacher of jazz guitar and jazz history at Emerson College and The University of Rhode Island. Learn more at http://cnmpro.com

Photo by Amy Touchette

On Friday, September 10th, Firehouse 12 will open its 2010 Fall Jazz Series with a two-set performance by acclaimed cornetist/composer Taylor Ho Bynum‘s primary ensemble, the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet. This special event, which also marks the launch of Bynum’s two-week Acoustic Bicycle Tour across New England, focuses on a brand new book of music made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s 2010 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The five year-old group’s newly revamped lineup features Jim Hobbs (alto saxophone), Bill Lowe (bass trombone), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ben Wolfe (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums).

“Bynum’s music is filled with a fabulous array of textures,” wrote Cadence‘s Jason Bivins in his review of the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet’s 2007 debut, The Middle Picture (Firehouse 12 Records). “He arranges and composes music in a way that really takes advantage of these resources, putting his mates into all kinds of provocative situations and combinations.” Critics have also described Bynum’s work with the band as “thought-provoking” (Nate Chinen, New York Times), “consistently compelling listening” (Time Out New York), “virtuosity on its own terms” (David R. Adler, AllAboutJazz-New York), and “the shape of jazz to come” (Philip Clark, The Wire). The Chicago Reader‘s Peter Margasak adds, “Taylor Ho Bynum has cemented his reputation as one of the most compelling and progressive trumpeters and bandleaders currently active, at home in every corner of the creative-music map.”

His expansive résumé includes collaborations with both his contemporaries and legendary figures alike, most notably the iconic saxophonist/composer Anthony Braxton, with whom he has performed and recorded extensively over the past decade. His most recent releases as a leader/co-leader include Tomas Fujiwara & Taylor Ho Bynum’s Stepwise (NotTwo Records), Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings’ Madeleine Dreams (Firehouse 12 Records), Positive Catastrophe’s Garabatos Volume One (Cuneiform Records) and The Thirteenth Assembly’s (un)sentimental (Important Records). He is also an active member of numerous other ensembles, and a busy organizer and administrator with such organizations as the Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT Music), Firehouse 12 Records and the Tri-Centric Foundation. Learn more at http://www.taylorhobynum.com

2010 Fall Jazz Series Schedule

09/10 :: Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet
09/17 :: Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet
09/24 :: The New Mellow Edwards
10/01 :: Julian Lage Group
10/08 :: Jürgen Friedrich Trio
10/15 :: Chris Dingman’s Waking Dreams
10/22 :: Eric Hofbauer with special guest Garrison Fewell
10/29 :: Agusti Fernandez/Joe Morris
11/05 :: Stephan Crump with Rosetta Trio
11/12 :: Dave Phillips and Freedance
11/19 :: Ches Smith and These Arches
12/03 :: Tim Berne Los Totopos
12/10 :: Mario Pavone Orange Double Tenor
12/17 :: Singularity: Music by Joel Harrison Septet

Tickets and more information available at:
http://firehouse12.com/performance_space_calendar.asp

Photo by Marcus Stern

Boston-based guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer talks about his latest recording, American Fear (Creative Nation Music), his approach to composition and running his own label, among other things, on the August 9th episode of The Jazz Session.

Click here to hear the entire interview with host Jason Crane.

In his newly posted review of guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer‘s new solo recording, American Fear (Creative Nation Music), BBC Music’s Kevin Le Gendre writes, “Boston-based Hofbauer, who, in the last decade, has steadily asserted himself as an original if not maverick exponent of the guitar to be loosely aligned with the mighty Marcs—Ducret and Ribot—and Tortoise’s Jeff Parker, provides a wily and at times engrossing demonstration of those possibilities on this sequel to his 2004 set, American Vanity. Hofbauer skims right over the art-pop divide by interpreting Tears For Fears (Everybody Wants to Rule the World), Van Halen (Hot for Teacher), Charlie Parker (Moose the Mooche) and Andrew Hill (Black Fire). But as successful as his deconstructions and wry commentaries on these monuments are, he perhaps reaches his creative peak on nine originals, the bulk of which actually last no longer than a couple of minutes.”

He adds, “Hofbauer is more than able to pen a pithy little riff but he really hits heights as a soloist when investigating timbres, and after striking up a guitar equivalent of a saxophonist ‘slap tonguing’, he makes it clear that he won’t settle for what his instrument can do when he can explore what it really ain’t supposed to.”

On September 21st, Creative Nation Music will release Sound Particle 47 (CNM016), the second release from veteran Boston-based guitarist/composer Garrison Fewell’s Variable Density Sound Orchestra. The group brings together a flexible cast of improvisers from Boston, New York and beyond that includes Eric Hofbauer (guitar), Roy Campbell (trumpet), Achille Succi (bass clarinet and alto saxophone), Kelly Roberge (tenor saxophone), Steve Swell (trombone), Dmitry Ishenko (bass), John Voigt (bass) and Miki Matsuki (drums). Sound Particle 47, the follow-up to the band’s self-titled 2009 debut (CNM014), documents both its continued musical evolution, including new compositions by members of the band as well as frequent collaborator John Tchicai, and its expansion from a sextet to a nonet.

“When I originally assembled the band, I was hearing a sound in my head and chose musicians I thought could create that sound,” Fewell recalls. “I knew that this time I wanted an expanded group. I was hearing higher intervals; I was hearing more horns and a more expansive sound palette, and more interactions. But I had to think about the original structure and choose carefully. When you add another instrument, you’re adding a personality that will affect all the other parts. I had to find the right colors to add to Roy Campbell’s trumpet and Achille Succi’s alto sax.  Next, I needed a tenor sax and was looking for a voice, a sound, and a personality that could keep stability among the other musicians. I also have definite ideas about the rhythmic concept of the group—I want free improvisation, but I also want it to groove.”

“You will hear similarities to their first album,” writes jazz critic Ed Hazell in the liner notes, “but the differences between them are important as well, especially to fully understand the generosity and brilliance of Garrison Fewell’s malleable framework for improvisers. The members of the debut recording have all returned, but several new members have been added. Their addition has altered the internal dynamics of the group and expanded its musical options. The changes reflect a sound that Garrison imagined in his mind’s ear before he began to make it a reality.  So while the sound is bigger and the number of possible interactions has multiplied, with four horns and four strings the ensemble is still balanced. Garrison selected individuals he knew would work selflessly to generate an organic sound, and who were capable of whatever the composition or the interactions of the moment ask of them.”

Critics called Variable Density Sound Orchestra (CNM 014) “solid, approachable and at the same time richly complex” (Phillip McNally, Cadence) and “as intriguing a project as has been available on the contemporary jazz scene…chock full of inventive musicianship, truly new concepts, and fresh approaches that pay big dividends” (Michael G. Nastos, AllMusic.com). JazzTimes reviewer Michael J. West adds, “Variable Density Sound Orchestra should be on jazz education syllabi worldwide: It demonstrates how even free improvisation depends on musicians listening closely to each other. Guitarist Garrison Fewell’s septet uses some compositional structures, but the real backbone comes from developing and responding to each other’s spontaneous ideas. The products of that chemistry are gorgeous.”

“The guitarist formerly known as one of Boston’s most eloquent inside players has become one of its leading experimenters,” explains the Boston Phoenix‘s Jon Garelick, who included Variable Density Sound Orchestra on his best of 2009 list. Fewell, a professor at the Berklee College of Music since 1977, has toured the globe for more than 30 years as one of the jazz world’s premier performer/educators. For much of the past decade, he has left his mainstream jazz roots behind to collaborate with such renowned avant-garde musicians as Tchicai, Khan Jamal and Charlie Kohlhase, and more fully explore longstanding influences including Albert Ayler, Anthony Braxton and Sun Ra in his music. The Variable Density Sound Orchestra, founded in 2008, balances both aspects of Fewell’s musical personality by showcasing the melodic accessibility and sturdy framework of his compositions as well as the unbridled freedom of free improvisation. Learn more at http://www.myspace.com/garrisonfewell

Photo by Bob Patton

Tonight, veteran Boston-based guitarist/composer Garrison Fewell and his Variable Density Sound Orchestra, featuring special guest John Tchicai, will perform at the historic Greenwich Village venue, The Players Theatre.

The group, which brings together a flexible cast of well-known improvisers from Boston, New York and beyond, will preview music from Sound Particle 47, its forthcoming September release on Creative Nation Music.

In addition to Tchicai, Fewell’s frequent collaborator in a variety of other projects, the line-up for this event will include Roy Campbell, Jr. (trumpet), Steve Swell (trombone), Kelly Roberge (tenor saxophone), Eric Hofbauer (guitar), Dmitry Ishenko (bass) and Miki Matsuki (drums).

Critics called the band’s self-titled 2009 debut “solid, approachable and at the same time richly complex” (Phillip McNally, Cadence) and “as intriguing a project as has been available on the contemporary jazz scene…chock full of inventive musicianship, truly new concepts, and fresh approaches that pay big dividends” (Michael G. Nastos, AllMusic.com).

JazzTimes reviewer Michael J. West adds, “Variable Density Sound Orchestra should be on jazz education syllabi worldwide: It demonstrates how even free improvisation depends on musicians listening closely to each other. The products of that chemistry are gorgeous.”

Photo by Marcus Stern

Tomorrow at 2:45 p.m., Boston-based guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer and his working quartet, The Infrared Band, will perform at Powderhouse Park in Somerville, Massachusetts as part of Joe’s Jazz and Blues Fest 2010.

The group blends whimsy and intelligence, along with inspiration from diverse sources such as ancient mythology and martial arts films, to create its distinctive sound.

Critics have noted its “intriguingly original music” (Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes) and called its 2008 debut, Myth Understanding (Creative Nation Music), “rewarding on every level” (Michael Coyle, Cadence).

Hofbauer’s latest CD, the innovative solo guitar recording American Fear (Creative Nation Music), was released last week.

“Boston, Massachusetts is truly blessed in having Eric Hofbauer as a member of its improvised music community,” writes AllAboutJazz.com’s Nic Jones. “Over the course of successive releases he has proved himself to be one of the great original voices and this solo guitar recital proves it in spades. He seemingly and effortlessly has forged a highly individual instrumental vocabulary and this, allied with a harmonic sense that’s by turns sly and steeped in wit, is one of the hallmarks of his work.”

Photo by Bob Patton

Creative Nation Music recording artists the Garrison Fewell/Eric Hofbauer Duo and Garrison Fewell’s Variable Density Sound Orchestra will perform back-to-back tonight at Johnny D’s in Somerville, Massachusetts.

The former is a multi-generational duo that features “two of Boston’s most adventurous guitarists” (Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe) exploring the musical antecedents of jazz from around the world, juxtaposing ancient traditions with the language and techniques of contemporary improvisation.

The latter is an unusually flexible ensemble that balances the melodic accessibility and sturdy framework of Fewell’s original compositions with the unbridled freedom of free improvisation a la Albert Ayler and Sun Ra. This performance, which will feature Fewell and Hofbauer, as well as fellow Boston-area musicians Jerry Sabatini (trumpet), Kelly Roberge (tenor saxophone) and Dmitry Ishenko (bass), offers a preview of music from the band’s forthcoming second release, Sound Particle 47.

Here’s the Editor’s Pick for the show in the Boston Phoenix.

Learn more at http://cnmpro.com

Boston-based guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer‘s new solo recording, American Fear (Creative Nation Music), officially hits the streets today.

The sequel to his well-received 2004 solo debut, American Vanity (Creative Nation Music), it dissects and examines American culture though spontaneous original compositions, stripped-down interpretations of music from the likes of Andrew Hill, Nirvana, Tears for Fears and Van Halen, and eccentric real-time mash-ups of Johnny Cash and Charlie Parker and Fats Waller and Hank Williams.

“The jazz historian in me finds a lot of fear—and overcoming of fear—in the history of the music, making it perfect for this type of exploration of the human condition,” Hofbauer explains. “That said, most of this music is fun and playful, and I think fear is a powerful force for creativity, not just a negative. After you deal with fear, you come to a sense of wonder about yourself and the human condition—and about America, too.”

Here’s a sample of the critical response so far:

“What if a Joe Pass/Marc Ribot/Derek Bailey mutant were to record a solo guitar album thematically based on common fears in modern America? Eric Hofbauer’s American Fear is probably the closest you’ll come to an answer to that question.”
—John Garratt, PopMatters.com

“For all its variety, drawing on recognizable elements of jazz and other musical traditions, Hofbauer’s voice emerges here unique and distinct, blending the comedic with the tragic—and having some serious fun.”
—Tom Greenland, AllAboutJazz-New York

“I’ve never heard anyone play the guitar like that before. There’s so much going on in there and it’s quite extraordinary to listen to—a lot of tremendous energy and that real self-propelling rhythmic feel as if he had his own built-in rhythm section.”
—John Fordham, BBC 3′s Jazz on 3

“Boston, Massachusetts is truly blessed in having Eric Hofbauer as a member of its improvised music community. Over the course of successive releases he has proved himself to be one of the great original voices and this solo guitar recital proves it in spades. He seemingly and effortlessly has forged a highly individual instrumental vocabulary and this, allied with a harmonic sense that’s by turns sly and steeped in wit, is one of the hallmarks of his work.”
—Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com

Hofbauer will hit the road in September for a week of Northeast U.S. solo dates in support of the record. Please stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can catch him playing upcoming gigs with his quartet, The Infrared Band, as well as the Garrison Fewell/Eric Hofbauer Duo and Fewell’s Variable Density Sound Orchestra.

Variable Density Sound Orchestra by Bob Patton

Boston’s Creative Nation Music is pleased to announce two upcoming local events in June featuring its recording artists.

On Wednesday, June 16th at 8:00 p.m., Johnny D’s in Somerville’s Davis Square will host a special double-bill featuring the Garrison Fewell/Eric Hofbauer Duo and Fewell’s Variable Density Sound Orchestra.

The former is a multi-generational duo featuring “two of Boston’s most adventurous guitarists” (Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe). Together the pair delves deeply into the musical antecedents of jazz from around the world, juxtaposing ancient traditions with the language and techniques of contemporary improvisation.

“This freewheeling pan-cultural duo helps show that jazz’s family tree has some pretty deep roots,” writes Signal to Noise’s Nathan Turk. JazzTimes‘ Steve Greenlee adds, “You hear Louisiana, Africa, and the Middle East in these songs crafted from two guitars and a boxful of percussive toys. It’s eclectic, that’s for sure.”

The latter is an unusually flexible ensemble that balances the melodic accessibility and sturdy framework of Fewell’s original compositions with the unbridled freedom of free improvisation a la Albert Ayler and Sun Ra. This performance, which will feature Fewell and Hofbauer, as well as fellow Boston-area musicians Jerry Sabatini (trumpet), Kelly Roberge (tenor saxophone) and Dmitry Ishenko (bass), will offer a preview of music from the band’s forthcoming second release, Sound Particle 47.

“This is as intriguing a project as has been available on the contemporary jazz scene,” declares AllMusic.com’s Michael G. Nastos, “and comes highly recommended. It’s chock full of inventive musicianship, truly new concepts, and fresh approaches that pay big dividends.”

A few days later, on Saturday, June 19th at 2:45 p.m., Hofbauer will perform with own quartet, The Infrared Band, as part of Joe’s Jazz and Blues Fest 2010 at Somerville’s Powderhouse Park. The group blends whimsy and intelligence, along with inspiration from diverse sources such as ancient mythology and martial arts films, to create its distinctive sound.

Critics have noted its “intriguingly original music” (Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes) and “a take on jazz guitar that sidesteps the usual” (Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com), and called its 2008 debut, Myth Understanding, “rewarding on every level” (Michael Coyle, Cadence).

Hofbauer’s latest recording, the solo guitar release, American Fear, will be released earlier that week on June 15th.

Learn more about Creative Nation Music at http://cnmpro.com