by Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs
It takes a lot of creativity, technical adeptness and courage to record an entire album with only guitar and drums. Especially when the two musicians are choosing challenging pieces written by the likes of Don Cherry, Sting, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix and Ornette Coleman. That’s a wide range of styles and genius. Hofbauer and Jack do not disappoint. Their sound and this production are unique and actually quite captivating. The title of their album was shortened from a quotation of the great Jimi Hendrix. He once said, “Is it just remains of vibrations, echoes long ago?” Dylan Jack and Eric Hofbauer shortened it to “Remains of Echoes.” These two Boston improvisors open with Sting’s composition, “Walking on the Moon.” They follow this unusual arrangement and delivery with “Bird’s” “Klactoveedsedstene.” The first song being sparsely played and the 2nd track more bebop influenced and giving Hofbauer an opportunity to stretch out on his guitar in a Thelonious Monk-kind-of-way. He plays this one the way I think Monk would have, if he was a guitarist and not a genius pianist. Dylan Jack is especially creative on drums, not only supporting the rhythm but improvising and expressing a percussive freedom that draws the listener into the song with his whirlpool of drum licks. I am caught up and enjoying it. One of my favorites on this album is their interpretation of Jimi Hendrix’s “Up From the Skies” tune. Hofbauer exposes his blues chops on the guitar.
“Using slide guitar is a way for me to express that strong emotional pull that always draws me back to the blues,” Hofbauer declared in the liner notes.
The two musicians play around with various textures, time-registers and rhythms. On Don Cherry’s “Mopti” composition, Dylan Jack takes us back to Africa and gives us quite a solo on his drum set.
“My approach on this record was to be a solo percussionist/drummer in order to get as much music as I could out of the instrument. Whether I was playing melodies, soloing or supporting Eric, I tried to surround his playing with different registers, timbres density and space,” Jack explained.
This is a unique listening experience that combs through the great music of iconic musicians and sweeps us up into a pompadour of sound and intriguing creativity.