ERIC HOFBAUER American Grace MOSTTY
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RECORDREVIEWS ERICHOFBAUER MOSTTYOTHER PEOPLE DO THE OREGON AmericanGrace KIttING FamilyTree SlipperyRock! EricHofbauet guitar PaulMc€andless, soprano saxophone, oboe, bass CreativeNation CNM 022 (CD).2012.Creative PeterEvans, piccolo trumpet, trumpet, slide trumpet; clarinet,flutes; Ralph Towner, classical guitar, Nation,prod.; Daniel Cantor, mix, mastering. Jonlrabagon, sopranino, soprano, alto, piano,synthesizer; Glen Moore, bass; Mark DDD?TT:58:27 tenor saxophones,flute; Moppa Elliott,bass; Walker,drums, hand percussion, drum synthesizer CAM JazzCAM 5046 (CD).2012. PERFORMANCE**'***{ KevinShea, drums, percussron ErmannoBasso, (CD). prod.; Oregon,prods.; Johannes Wohlleben, eng. DDD. soNtcs ***** Hot Cup123 2012.Moppa Elliott, RyanStrebet eng. DDD? TT:52:38 TT:60:58 PERFoRMANcE**'**-€ Guitarist Eric Hofbauer, cofounder of PERFoRMANcE***'* +.: sonrcs* *** + soNlcs*r*(*** the Creative Nation label, has become a significant force in Boston's improvised- Oregon still plays with fire and still music scene.Withjust a Guild arch- I saw this bizarre band, known to rts sounds like only one band in the top and an earthy, unadorned sound, fans asMOPDTI! at the BelgradeJazz worid. That sisnature blend of sonori- Hofbauer has blasted away at everything Festival last year. Their midnight concert ties comes from Raloh Towner's lush - &om Charlie Parker,Xric Dolphy, and was an outrageous Dadaist happening, a nylon-string guitar, Paul McCandless's Andrew Hill to Tears for Feari. a-ha- musical debauch of manic virtuosity and keening reeds,and Glen Moore's fluid and Van Halen. His aestheticevokes old deadoan merriment. bass.The runes,mostly wrimen by blues, Americana Tin Pan Alley, bebop, SEppery Ro ck I works because Towner, are bracing little hooks traced and funher fronciers.There's a rule- MOPDIKs more orsanized studio in tight unisons.lmprovisations are breaking spirit but also an impeccable versionof mayhem ii srill mayhem. planned, concise,and contained within rigor, a foundation ofsheer chops and The album's running joke, tortuously ensemble counterpoint. The solosfeel thatput Hofbauer in jazz; F.*l:ag" the top enumeratedin the unhinged liner ltke the arch, formal decorum trer otJazzplectnsts. notes atffibuted to "Leonardo feels like classicalmusic;'Walker's In terms of sound, Ameriun Grace Featherweight" (the great criric rhythms feel like world-beat. gets its power from its utter simpliciry. Leonard Feather may have stirred The musicianship is unimpeachabie. The tone is pure and round but in his grave),is that SlipperyRorA/ is Intricate set pieces like "Bibo Babo," edgy, withjust enough echo to serve MOPDTK's tribute to srnoothjazz. 'Julian." and "Carnival Express"are the music. There's a haze of vinyl There may never have been a band less executedwith precision. Oregon noise leadingoffthe cageycover of smooth.All nine of the comoosifions. albums have always been ear candy, the Beatles' "Dear Prudence," and by bassistMoppa Elliott. arejagged and Family Tee is wonderfully rich and cavernousreverb from a struck oiano juxtapositions of incompatible dynamic and vivid. It was engineered 'Wotrlleben in the closing"ldumea," an 18thL- elements. Tempos vacillate. Stnrcnrres bv Tohannes at Bauer cenfl1ry sacred-haqph1'rnn. But those explode. Stylesfly by: Albert Ayler, Siidios in Ludwigsburg, Germany, are the onlv sonic deoartureson this fragmentary bebop, Philip Glass, where some of the great early ECM zero-overdubs ...o..&re. Kool and the Gang, Haydn. The line albums were recorded. From the pulsing irre-gularbeat berlveen put-on and passionis erased. Given the band'slongeviry and and dissonanceof "KidJustice" to the Besideslaughs, there are efilarat- genuine virtues, there is no pleasure in coarseexoerimental timbres of "Beat ing rushes.Trumpeter Peter Evans reporting that Oregon does not wear the Drum" and the sparselyricism of burns lines offreakish lyricism into entirely well. They were innovators "New American Psalm," Hofbauer's "Can't Tell Shipp from Shohola." in blending genres.They may even ohgrnals fill half the album and cohere Tenor saxophonistJon Irabagon wildly be where New Age gor the idea (nor into a cinematic story. There's also hammers and vaults across"Sayre." But their fault).But after all theseyears, music by Ornette Coleman ("Peace"). MOPDTK is not about "solos." Evans Oregon's format can sound pat and the a tune made famous by Cyndi Lauper and Irabagonhave been improvising slick arrangementscan sound precious. ("True Colors"), and others, reworked together for 10 years.Often they seem And Paul McCandless, for all his skill, with great depth of feeling and imagi- to be wailing in their own separate is a problem. His frenetic squealing on nation. "-WestEnd Blues," the 7928 worlds, and then you hear that their soprano saxophoneand oboe eventu- Hot Five classic,becomes a vehicle concurrent hell-raising has aggre- ally grateson the nerves.'When you're for rwangy solo virtuosity; Hofbauer, gated into a grand, improbable design. in the mood for mannered, ornate, outdoing himself, even plays Louis MOPDTK is a uniquely twisted, sonicallyalluring music. Oregon is per- Armstrong's legendary cornet cadenza skilled, and self-consciousavant-garde fect. When you're not, Oregon sounds to the last detail. -ouoid n. ed"t jazz b:,;nd.-Thomas couad Dfissv. -Thomas Comad 128 May2O'13' stereophile.com.