For more than a decade, Eric Hofbauer has been an integral member of Boston’s jazz scene as a musician, bandleader, organizer and educator.

Critics have called him “a brilliant player” (Ron Wynn, Nashville City Paper) who creates “intriguingly original music” (Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes) that features “a good sense of humor as well as great musical intelligence” (Richard Kamins, Middletown Eye).

Andrew Gilbert of the Boston Globe notes that “No other guitarist in jazz has developed a solo approach as rigorous, evocative, and thoughtful as Hofbauer.”

AllAboutJazz.com’s Troy Collins adds, “Hofbauer brings a wealth of historical antecedents to his playfully inventive compositions.  A refreshingly original voice, [he] reveals an affable yet mischievous sensibility in his writing and improvising.”

He has earned critical acclaim for his work in a variety of musical projects, including recent recordings with the Garrison Fewell/Eric Hofbauer Duo, Garrison Fewell’s Variable Density Sound Orchestra and The Blueprint Project with special guest Han Bennink. In 2007, after years of solo performances and co-leading ensembles, he founded his own group, Eric Hofbauer & The Infrared Band, which released its debut, Myth Understanding (Creative Nation Music) in June 2008 and followed up with LEVEL in 2011.

When not leading The Infrared Band, collaborating with local luminaries such as Fewell and Charlie Kohlhase, or supervising Creative Nation Music, he teaches jazz guitar and jazz history at Emerson College and The University of Rhode Island.

In 2009, Hofbauer was honored with the prestigious Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Music Composition, which included a large grant he used to complete a new book on modern improvisation methods, mix and master his 2010 solo recording, American Fear (Creative Nation Music), and compose new music for the Infrared Band’s recording, LEVEL, released in Summer 2011.

Interviews

On BBC 3′s Jazz on 3 in Nov. 2010. Interview by John Fordham with solo set of American Fear repertoire.

On The Jazz Session with Jason Crane. Interview about American Fear, CNM and other projects.
CLICK HERE – For full audio of interview.

About American Fear and American Vanity

Over the past decade, Boston-based guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer has  performed and recorded alongside such notable collaborators as Han Bennink, Roy Campbell, Jr., Garrison Fewell, Charlie Kohlhase, Cecil McBee, Steve Swell and Matt Wilson, but he is perhaps best known for his innovative work as a solo artist.

His two acclaimed solo guitar releases, American Vanity (Creative Nation Music, 2004) and American Fear (Creative Nation Music, 2010), represent two-thirds of a planned trilogy of recordings that dissect and examine American culture through spontaneous original compositions and stripped-down interpretations of musical touchstones that span country, jazz and rock.

These stark, personal statements showcase not only Hofbauer’s undeniable skills as a musician, but also his trademark intelligence and humor, as he deftly puts his own affable, sometimes jaw-dropping spin on the music of everyone from Johnny Cash and Hank Williams to Andrew Hill and Charlie Parker to Nirvana and Van Halen.

“Technically Hofbauer can obviously play the standard jazz guitar game,” writes Signal To Noise’s Robert Iannapollo, “but it’s clear he doesn’t want to be hemmed in by the clichés of its tradition.”

Critics have called his music “intriguingly original” (Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes), “both mischievous and playful” (Edwin Pouncey, Jazzwise) and “as unassumingly compelling as anything out there” (Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com).

In his review of American Fear, AllAboutJazz-New York’s Tom Greenland adds, “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.”