![Improvising & Experimental Music of Ottawa and Outwards. [2010 to 2023]](https://www.improvisedmoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IMOOLogoHighQuality-e1662557657744.png)
In March 2018, Eric, Emily, and Daniel met on tour and became instant friends. One important thing about friends is that you should spend time with them AND play music with them (if it’s that sort of friendship). This exciting new trio is going to spend time musicking on a short tour of Québec and Ontario in late October/November.
Each concert will feature a duo set by Emily (trumpet) and Daniel (acoustic guitar), a solo set by Eric (electric guitar), and finally a trio set featuring local guests. Each member of the trio has composed a piece for each other, and a piece that features the local guest of the evening.
The Ottawa concert will feature alto saxophonist Linsey Wellman during the final set.
Eric Hofbauer
“Eric Hofbauer has become a significant force in Boston’s improvised-music scene,” declares Stereophile’s David R. Adler. “His aesthetic evokes old blues, Americana, Tin Pan Alley, bebop, and further frontiers. There’s 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,” he writes.
Hofbauer has been an integral member of Boston’s jazz scene as a musician, bandleader, organizer and educator for the past twenty years. He has performed and recorded alongside such notable collaborators as Han Bennink, Roy Campbell, Jr., John Tchicai, Garrison Fewell, Cecil McBee, George Garzone, Sean Jones, John Fedchock, Steve Swell and Matt Wilson.
Hofbauer, recently recognized in the 2017 DownBeat Critics’ Poll for Rising Star – Guitar, is perhaps best known for his solo guitar work featured in a trilogy of solo guitar recordings (American Vanity, American Fear and American Grace). Of the trilogy, Andrew Gilbert of The Boston Globe writes, “No other guitarist in jazz has developed a solo approach as rigorous, evocative, and thoughtful as Hofbauer. His most recent solo release Ghost Frets, was described by Chris Haines of The Free Jazz Collective “as a real testament to Hofbauer’s musical style and vision…The playing is virtuosic throughout providing a real master class in creative solo performance.” Ghost Frets is a tribute to Hofbauer’s departed friend and frequent collaborator, Garrison Fewell, and features several Fewell compositions as well as pieces by diverse artists including Eric Dolphy, George Harrison, and the Psychedelic Furs!
https://www.erichofbauer.com
Daniel Kruger is a Montréal-based improvising guitarist, producer, composer, and music therapist whose exploration of the percussive and textural possibilities of the acoustic guitar shine brightest among his diverse musical curiosities and abilities. Daniel has spent time studying jazz and improvised music at the University of Guelph with Ken Aldcroft, percussion and highlife music at the University of Ghana with Eric Sunu Doe, and most recently music therapy at Concordia University.
Daniel founded Manatee, a 12-piece improvising ensemble that plays a uniquely interactive improvised dance music that is emphatically open to the influence of audiences who are encouraged to perform movements and gestures to communicate musical ideas with the band during their performances. Manatee released the audio/video recording Look the Other Way in 2015. In addition to Manatee and the modern jazz quartet, Masques, Kruger plays in Mars People, a trio with Emily Denison (trumpet) and Joe Sorbara (drums). Their debut recording is to be released in 2019.
Daniel currently works with street-involved youth, adults with substance addictions, children struggling with mental health, and adolescents with special needs as a music therapist and is in the process of completing a Master’s degree on the history of music therapy in Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwwKQdsykhE
Emily Denison is a trumpeter, composer, improviser, and bandleader. She is a recent graduate of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto where she earned her Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance with honours. She has been and can be heard in Ken Aldcroft’s Convergence Ensemble, the Nick Fraser New Quartet, Luscar, and the uniquely exuberant quartet, Bellwether4. Her most recent projects include a foray into solo trumpet playing, with a debut cassette entitled Kindred released under the HAVN record label in November 2016. Emily’s past projects as a leader include Really Great Songs, the trio Denison, Ballyk, Davis, and a summer 2016 cross-Canada tour with Emily, Anthony, and Friends. She can be heard on the University of Toronto 12tet’s albums Rebirth and Trillium Falls, and self-titled albums from the ensembles Congruence and Bellwether4.
www.emilydenison.com