Holly Hofmann - Low Life

Styles: Flute Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:29
Size: 114,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:03)  1. Jack of Hearts
(6:49)  2. Touch the Fog
(4:17)  3. Grow (For Dick Oatts)
(5:48)  4. Lumiere de la vie
(5:49)  5. Cedar Would
(5:48)  6. The Very Thought of You
(5:08)  7. Make Me Rainbows
(5:50)  8. Soul-Leo
(4:51)  9. Farmer's Trust

Holly Hofmann has been a fairly high profile jazz flautist for years, working with everybody from bassist Ray Brown to pianist Bill Cunliffe to trombonist Slide Hampton. Her work in Flutology, a flute trio-plus-rhythm group that put her in a front line with Ryerson and the great Frank Wess, raised her profile quite a bit, and a string of positively-received releases on the Capri and Azica imprints have helped her establish a reputation as one of the finest jazz flute players operating today. Low Life is Hofmann's twelfth album, and it finds her working exclusively with alto flute. It's an instrument that, as Hofmann notes, has a limited range, but in her hands, its expressive qualities are limitless. The idea for this record was to take the negative connotation away from the concept of an "easy listening" record. Hofmann just wanted to present "simply arranged songs that show the beauty of the music and the alto flute," and that she does. 

Here, Hofmann works with longtime piano mate Mike Wofford and a trio of West Coast heavies guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist John Clayton, and drummer Jeff Hamilton. The results are predictably positive. Hofmann connects with Wilson on the guitarist's "Jack Of Hearts," melds with Wofford on Clayton's haunting "Touch The Fog," and keeps crossing lines, moving from the serious to the serene to the soulful, on her own "Lumiere De La Vie." A hip bass-and-drum-rims groove makes Mulgrew Miller's "Soul-Leo" an easy sell, a flute-and-piano duet on "The Very Thought Of You" puts the spotlight on the established Hofmann-Wofford team, and tranquility triumphs during Pat Metheny's "Farmer's Trust." If only all easy listening records were this easy to listen to. ~ Dan Bilawsky   http://www.allaboutjazz.com/furthering-the-flute-in-jazz-holly-hofmann-and-bill-mcbirnie-by-dan-bilawsky.php#.U46ofiioqdk

Personnel:  Holly Hofmann (Flute); Mike Wofford (Piano); John Clayton (bass); Jeff Hamilton (drums);  Anthony Wilson (guitar)

Low Life

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