DECEMBER 2008 ONLINE EDITORIALS

Bard Hoff - A Curious Day

album cover

By Tim Maddocks

Bard Hoff’s full-length instrumental album A Curious Day unfolds from, at times, a finely textured visage of jazz musings to a collection of what might best be described as, well, rock. The strength of which is that the exploratory nature of Hoff’s jazz tendencies contrast some of the beefier riffs, offering unexpected swings throughout. For instance, the album truly reveals itself as a platform for Hoff’s virtuosity when the experimental third song, a piano/guitar duet called “Finally Blue,” is followed by Hoff original “Maynard (of Arabia)” which begins subtly only to explode into a balls-out rock song.

However, the best song might be a cover of Steve Morse’s “Estudio De Morse,” which is a rising and triumphant progression of fast paced staccato notes. The song aptly shows that Bard Hoff, quite frankly, shreds his guitar at will. It is by far the most entertaining tune. And, indeed, it’s the craftsmanship that carries the album more so than the song writing: On a 10-song album three songs are covers (one of them is written by his son, Devin Hoff of Nels Cline Singers).

Drummer Ikaika Pekelo and bassist Tom Sublett provide a more than sturdy backbone for Hoff’s lead and it’s worth noting that Sublett provides a gracious accompaniment on the keys (he also wrote one of the tunes). Whenever the keys appear it provides an element that’s almost refreshing, because while Hoff shows that he’s talented, the album at times is a bit too solo-heavy. Still, overall Bard Hoff shows that he’s a guitarist to be reckoned with.
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