American Grace

AMERICAN GRACE - LINER NOTES FINAL What do you do when your wife leaves town on a business trip and you're home alone with a bottle of bourbon and a guitar? If you're Eric Hofbauer, you turn off the telephone and computer, open the bourbon and record a solo guitar CD. American Grace is guitarist Eric Hofbauer's third solo recording, completing the trilogy begun in 2004 with American Vanity and followed by American Fear in 2010. Throughout all three recordings, Hofbauer comments on varied aspects of American society and culture, covering a wide range of styles from '80's pop tunes, jazz standards, bebop and free jazz to country and blues. Any other guitarist would require multiple personalities to pull it off so gracefully. In trying to describe the impact of such stylistic diversity in Hofbauer's playing, critic Dan McClenaghan in a review of American Vanity posed the question, 'Is [Hofbauer] a brilliant young artist or a wild-eyed nut-case? ...possibly a combination of the two.' Eight years later, Hofbauer isn't that young anymore but he hasn't lost the 'wild-eyed' nature that has made him one of the most accomplished and intriguing solo guitarists in the world of free jazz and creative music. His sound, technique and invention have all notably matured and evolved as the result of numerous solo concerts and tours in the U.S. and Europe. Hofbauer continues to dissect and examine American culture and values, only with American Grace, he now finds more hopeful and positive solutions to the conflicts between society and the individual, all of which become evident as you listen through the eighteen tracks he recorded here. I had been meditating on grace, he explains, and how if you look on the outside, there seems to be a lack grace in American politics, culture and education. However, when you look inside, and there's nothing like solitude to help with that, you can find it.' Reflecting on his journey of exploration through three solo recordings, Hofbauer explains 'The trilogy is about process, coming of age, or coming to terms with the internal and external world. It's autobiographical and I hope in some ways, universal. Grace is the final step... acceptance of who we are, regardless of what the universe has dished out. Vanity and Fear portrayed the more green side of that process, while Grace is the arrival of knowledge, or awareness of how to embrace the duality inherent in life and humanity.' His notion of duality is expressed by working one musical aspect against it's' opposite: poly-tonality, where one key center is played simultaneously against another, and poly-rhythm, where contrasting rhythms or meters compete for dominance. You will hear familiar melodies re-harmonized in unexpected ways, odd meter phrases of five, seven, nine or seventeen beats that sound perfectly logical, and harmonic form deconstructed and reassembled according to Hofbauer esthetics that find Ornette Coleman and Robert Johnson in the same tune. The opening track, 'Kid Justice;' swings like a cool pop tune turned avant-jazz. Hofbauer explains the title,'My favorite part about mythology, especially modern mythology, is when the main character realizes they are the hero. 'Kid Justice,' is my musical realization that we all have to be our own heros in order to survive.' A catchy bass line hook and an unusual rhythmic subdivision of nine beats insure the groove. The 'bridge' appears briefly and what seems to be a return to the melody is actually a wisely crafted solo that expands on the rhythmic counterpoint of the main theme, turning into free interplay. That's right - interplay. A Hofbauer solo recording is a dialogue with his self, or selves, where multiple voices emerge. There's a contemplative change of tempo and mood with a two-chord vamp supporting a three-note melodic line that slowly gathers momentum, returning to the original tempo, followed by a short reprise of the theme and the bass line weaving between feather-weight harmonic jabs before it slows gently to an 'almost ending...' The unresolved ending is a recurring theme on America