Cellist extraordinaire Christopher Hoffman is poised to return with a follow-up to his critically praised Asp Nimbus release with one that aggressively moves on from that prior album to present new sounds. Working with a base trio of himself, Frank LoCrasto (keyboards) and Bill Campbell (drums), Hoffman also brought in high profile guests like erstwhile employers Anna Webber (flute) and the incomparable Henry Threadgill (alto sax).
Vision Is The Identity (Out Of Your Head Records) marks a return for Hoffman to the electro-acoustic approach that he took for Multifariam, only this time he started with programmed demos done by himself with Pro Tools and added live musicians afterwards, creating the electro-acoustic hybrid largely sequentially instead of side-by-side.
The final track “Farewell Forever” making its public debut in the stream above is a good demonstration of what kind of music this process produces. Hoffman, who played Atari and Nintendo video games as a kid, relates that “so much of that game music is inside me and I think this track as a great example of it peeking through.” But the 80s-ish retro-synth is playing a Hoffman composition that characteristic for him artfully draws in elements of classical and modern jazz. There are short but very effective solos by LoCrasto, guest Alfredo Colón on EWI and then Hoffman himself on electric cello.
Christopher Hoffman’s “Farewell Forever” brings two, seemingly divergent worlds together in creating a lively new one. Vision Is The Identity is slated for release on March 22 2024 and can be pre-ordered/ordered from Bandcamp.
Henry Threadgill CD’s on Amazon
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