Live music at Real Art Ways:
Infrared Band and The Fewell-Hofbauer Duo

Saturday, March 21, 2009, 8 PM
$12/$8 Students and Real Art Ways Members

Hartford, Connecticut -- Real Art Ways presents two innovative bands with new CDs from Creative Nation Music, both featuring Boston-based jazz guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer. The Infrared Band and the Fewell-Hofbauer Duo will perform live on Saturday, March 21 at 8 PM. Tickets are $12, $8 for students and Real Art Ways Members. Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street in Hartford's Parkville neighborhood. For tickets and information, visit realartways.org or call 860.232.1006.

The Infrared Band
Boston-based guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer's quartet, The Infrared Band, released its first album (Myth Understanding) in June 2008. Hofbauer’s newest ensemble explores his intermingling interests in wordplay, mythology and puzzles.

“If there’s a single overarching ethos to the band it would be ‘tell
your story,’” Hofbauer explains. “All my compositions have a back
story or theme and I encourage each player to add their own take
on those stories and to play from personal experience. There’s
no role playing, I compose to each of their strengths, featuring
everyone and challenging their limits.”

Nathan Turk (Signal To Noise) says of The Infrared Band's Myth Understanding:
"A lithe, smart quartet...Myth Understanding’s music speaks, flows and evolves...It’s great stuff, and Hofbauer’s definitely found the right voices for his brand of avant-postbop."

The Fewell-Hofbauer Duo
Guitarists/composors Garrison Fewell and Eric Hofbauer are inspired by the deeper roots of jazz in the music of West Africa, Persia and the Arabic-Islamic world. This intergenerational duo’s music juxtaposes ancient traditions with the language and techniques of contemporary improvisation.

The pieces on their album, The Lady of Khartoum, reference
such diverse elements as Congolese mythology, Delta blues, Sun
Ra, a muezzin’s call to prayer and the sonorities of traditional
instruments such as the oud, kora and African thumb piano. Most of the pieces are completely improvised. The duo also adds two original compositions to the mix, as well as interpretations of music by Thelonious Monk and John Tchicai.

Praise for the Fewell-Hofbauer Duo's The Lady of Khartoum:
"Two criminally undersung guitarists meet for a gentle but probing series of duets on The Lady of Khartoum...a love song to the guitar, in all its idiomatic strangeness, by two fine practicioners. And it’s a vibrant, imaginative, and—wait for it—fun record."
—Jason Bivins, Cadence

About Eric Hofbauer:
Over the past decade, Eric Hofbauer has built a career as a versatile performer in an eclectic range of ensembles. In addition to solo performances, his current projects include his duo with vocalist Rebecca Shrimpton and the longstanding collective, The Blueprint Project, which he co-leads with multi-reedist Jared Sims and pianist Tyson Rogers. Hofbauer is also a teacher of jazz guitar and jazz history at Emerson College and the University of Rhode Island, and founder of the Creative Nation Music label, which documents the music of many of Boston’s most distinctive jazz performers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Infrared Band.
Below: Fewell-Hofbauer Duo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real Art Ways is supported by Real Art Ways Members,
The National Endowment for the Arts, The Warhol Foundation,
The Wallace Foundation, The Greater Hartford Arts Council,
The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and
The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.


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