Eric Hofbauer

Eric Hofbauer is one of the most distinctive and restlessly inventive guitarists in contemporary jazz. Born in
Rochester, NY and long rooted in Boston’s improvised music community, Hofbauer occupies a creative space
where modern jazz, free improvisation, third stream, and deep Americana collapse into something entirely his
own. Stereophile’s David R. Adler has called him “a significant force in Boston’s improvised-music scene,” noting
“a rule-breaking spirit but also an impeccable rigor, a foundation of sheer chops and knowledge, that put Hofbauer
in the top tier of guitarists.”
A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and New England Conservatory — where he studied with Paul Bley and Ran
Blake — Hofbauer has spent three decades building one of the most conceptually ambitious bodies of work in
jazz guitar. He is widely known for his solo guitar trilogy (American Vanity, American Fear, American Grace) and
the four-volume Prehistoric Jazz series with his quintet EHQ, which placed consecutively on the Boston Globe’s
Top 10 Jazz Albums lists and was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air. His collaborators have included Han Bennink,
Cecil McBee, John Tchicai, Matt Wilson, and Steve Swell. Recognized in the DownBeat Critics’ Poll for Rising
Star – Guitar in 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2024.
His most recent project, Waking Up! (2023), transformed Greta Thunberg’s “How Dare You!” UN speech into a
searing four-movement jazz suite. Burning Ambulance wrote that “the virtuosity displayed by Eric Hofbauer is
staggering at times, but his acumen as a composer is even more impressive.” Mario Calvitti of All About Jazz
Italia called him “one of the most genuinely original guitarists of his generation, capable of renewing the language
of jazz guitar with a fresh and iconoclastic approach, but without disrespect to tradition.”
Hofbauer chairs the Jazz and Contemporary Music Department at the Longy School of Music of Bard College and
has taught jazz history at Emerson College for over two decades. His label, Creative Nation Music, has released
much of his most adventurous work.