About Gregori Hofmann

http://www.gregorihofmann.com

Posts by Gregori Hofmann:

BIO
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BIO

South African Bassist Gregori Hofmann has been living and working in London for the last 10 years.

Greg can be seen and heard on stages around the world!

Greg plays electric and upright bass and has played and toured with some of the worlds most respected artists.

As one of the most sought after Bassists in London, Greg has the ability to play in many genres.
From the legendary Hammond Funk of the James Taylor Quartet to the King of Cheese himself Rick Astley. From the intergalactic fury of Argentina's Juanma Nieto Collective to the beauty of Nashvilles Lauren Shera. The sweet beauty and incredible storytelling in the Music of Marcus Foster has been supported Greg's glorious B-lines for over 5 years and counting. Greg has also toured with Nigerian Afrobeat/Jazz-Fusion Guitarist Adedeji and West African World Music Group Waaju. Also funking up the universe throughout the UK and Europe with the Old school Funk and heavily JBs influenced, Jezebel Sextet. Also shredding the Fusion vibes with Sebastiaan Cornelissen.

 

Greg has done sessions at ITV, The BBC, radio shows, theatre shows(which make him depressed) and has played in just about every other situation where music exists.

Along with the many acts he plays with he is also a bandleader and is about to release his 3rd album on his label Marine Drive Records.

Greg particularly enjoys improvising with heavyweights who don't Eff around.

Here's a list of Bass Players who make Greg cry.

Jaco/Jamerson/Pino/Meshell/Raphael Saadiq/ Oteil Burbridge/Willie Weeks/Chuck Rainey/Bootsy!!!

RICHARD BONAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Here are list of a few bands who make Greg sad/happy/depressed/chortle/stankface

Coltrane/Miles/Fleet Foxes/Zeppelin/Hendrix/Chick Corea/Weather Report/ Wayne Shorter/Bootsy/James Brown/Funkadelic/Paul Simon/ Joni/Cannonball Adderley/ Stevie/ Marvin Gaye/The Band/Bob Dylan/George Benson etc etc

If you put a gun to Greg's head and said 'Greg pick 3 artists you would love to play with or I'll shoot your face off!'

Greg might say in that situation 'James Brown, Miles in the Bitches Brew Period and Fleet Foxes!'

Then because the guy who asked Greg is so crazy (because he goes around  doing that to guys like Greg) he shoots Greg anyway and you will never get to play with Greg.

Greg only plays Fender Basses because they sound better than all the other basses.

Greg is currently touring and creating music with Seramic!

News! 12th November 2014
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News! 12th November 2014

Hey guys,

Hope all is good with you guys. All good here. Been playing as much as I can.

Lauren Shera, who is a great artist from Nashville, USA was over here and I was part of her band for a few gigs and her album launch which was really fun. I love playing with great songwriters and the band was great. I hope we can play together again soon!

Did some gigs with James Taylor Quartet in Ireland for the Cork Jazz Festival which was really fun. I love playing with those guys. After our set on the first night we got to go check out Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion Band which was interesting. For me it was really great to hear Pee Wee Ellis. His tone and playing sounds great as ever!

After that I spent some time in France at the Vintage Weekender in Lille with the Jezebel Sextet. We play instrumental Funk. It was really fun and the gigs went great.

In-between that I am always gigging around London and the UK. I have been working on a lot of original music with my own projects and new bands which is always exciting and what I love to do the most.

Right now I have started a band with Sam Wilcock and Tobias Humble. Its a a guitar trio and we are starting to get a vibe going which is really fun. Its all improvised music and we are going to start gigging soon and there will be some recording Im sure.

Tobias and I are recording a 3 track EP of some Afrobeat vibe tunes and hopefully we can get that done before the end of the year. I would love to gig that and get people vibing out!

I have been working on an EP of my own tunes where I will be playing guitar and singing. Its inspired by bands like CSNY, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell. That kind of vibe. I have always written acoustic guitar songs and sang but now I want to put some of these tunes out and I am really keen to start gigging.

I just recorded an album with The Juanma Nieto Collective which is one of my favourite Albums I have ever recorded! The tunes are really interesting and Juanma is an amazing drummer, musician and composer. Its kind of like if Flying Lotus was from Senegal.

Juanma, Ronan McCullagh and I will be going into the studio soon to record an EP or an album of some improvised music which we will be starting to record next week. Look out for that!

Then at the end of the month and beginning of December I think Ill be going on the road again with Marcus Foster which is always the best! Im so keen for that!!

Well thats all I can think of for now on the music front.
I think sometime in the near future I will be starting a podcast series and Ill be getting back to the online lessons soon I PROMISE!!!!

Hope all is good with you and you're feeling inspired!
Take care
Greg

MY NEW ALBUM IS HEREEEEEE!!!!!!!
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MY NEW ALBUM IS HEREEEEEE!!!!!!!

HERE IT IS!!!
A track from my new album!

TIDY LASAGNE SAGA : AGAINST GALA DAYS

If you figure out what that album name is an anagram for I will send you the Dropbox link for the full album right now!

The tune is called 'The Way Down' .
The album will be out on iTunes and all other online stores by Friday.
It will hopefully be on Spotify in a month.
I wrote these songs about a year ago and I've used any spare second I have had to get it done but these things take time!

The album features these guys on every track and I want to say a gigantic thank you to all of them for bringing the vibes Big Willie Style.

Gregori Hofmann : Acoustic Fretless Bass and Electric Bass
Raphael Bushman : Keys and the Havona-Craft (1987 Casio)
Lucas E. Parlato : Drums
Tal Janes : Guitar

I want to say an extra gigantic thank you to Dominik Told for recording, mixing and mastering the whole album! What a legend.

I will be filming an interview where I discuss the tracks and will share more info when the album is released. Hope you dig it! Let me know what you think and as this is my 2nd album on my label Marine Drive Records please spread the word if you like what you hear because I am the Lone Ranger/Raphael (Ninja Turtle)/ D'Artagnan (Musketeer).

Stank you!

PS If you click this link and check my youtube channel you might just find another new tune!

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Latest News!

Sup guys,

It has been a long time since I have updated the site. I have been really busy and on top of that have now got a son! I decided to take time off from the site as I wanted to wait until I had the right equipment to record so that I could make the quality of the audio and videos as good as they can be so you can get the most out of it. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be uploading some new lessons!

Lately I have been playing with a lot of different acts and artists, teaching in Colleges and Universities as well as private lessons.

I have been hosting a new jam night at Charlie Wrights in Old Street, London every Thursday and its been going really well. The band is great and we have a lot of fun jamming with everyone who comes down.

I am also going to be releasing my 2nd album, once again on my label 'Marine Drive Records'
I am really excited about that. Its got a lot of great musicians on it and is a continuation of the concepts I had on my debut album but with a whole new band and vibe. I will let you know as soon as its out. Once its out I'm going to be doing a lot more gigs around the UK and have got some dates I will be doing in Turkey with a brand new group of Turkish musicians!

I have been playing all over the place with Marcus Foster as usual and thats always great fun. We did quite a few festivals in the UK and Ireland and are now going into pre production for a new record! Thats going to be quite different from Marcus' first album and I think its going to be amazing.

I have also had the opportunity to do some gigs with The James Taylor Quartet and its been an amazing learning experience and the music is really close to my heart. James is a legend and has a long history of being a funk master on the organ so its an honour to play with him and get schooled on old school funk and organ players!

I am also going to be playing quite a few gigs with the Jezebel Sextet which is another funk band I play with quite often and we will be doing quite a few Otis Redding Tribute evenings at Jazz Cafe and around the UK and France so I cannot wait for that because Otis Redding is one of my favourite people to ever walk the earth!

I have been writing and producing some new music with Paris Ruel whose voice is kind of like if Maxwell, D'angelo and Prince had a baby and I will let you know when there is more to check out.

As well as that I am most excited about the new music which I am writing. I am going to be going in a whole new direction which is actually back where I began, as a songwriter who loves Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel so hopefully there will be an EP on the way next year.

Check out the pic at the top of the article. Thats my new Bass. A 1969 all original Fender Mustang and my new son, Marley! Those are my babies!

If you guys have anything exciting going on please feel free to leave some comments or mail me anytime.
Come down to the Jam at Charlie Wrights!

Take care
Greg

LATEST NEWS!
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LATEST NEWS!

Hey everyone,

It's been a while. Been pretty busy with rehearsals and gigs and been slack on getting new lessons done but I have decided to put up new lessons once I get a better camera so I can give you better quality video and sound.

Lately I have been rehearsing with The Ronan McCullagh Quartet as we are on our way to do 3 nights at the Cork Jazz Festival in Ireland. When I get back it's straight to gigs with Hepz Tagoe at the Jazz Cafe in London.

I have been in Turkey writing for an E.P I am going to put out soon once again on my own label, Marine Drive Records.
Its going to be a good one, I can feel it deep down in my plums. Got a lot of special guests so keep your earballs on the ground for the sound.

Finished a tribute night to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' album at the Alleycat with my group the Tribe of 4 and it was a deep one.

Put two new jamming around vids on youtube. One is an arrangement I did of the melody to Hadrien Feraud's 'Marie Ael'

The other is me jamming one of my favourite tunes 'Endangered Species' by Wayne Shorter

In November I'll be going on a UK Tour with my main man Marcus Foster and I'm so keen for that because I love playing and hanging out with Marcus and whether I am playing with him or not I am such a fan of his music and his voice.

As well as all that something new is happening.
Myself, Juanma Nieto (who is an amazing Argentinian drummer) and guitarist Ronan McCullagh have been meeting up and just going for it in the studio just jamming whatever happens. We will be recording an album soon of these jams. For a taste check my Soundcloud page.

LASTLY I need everyone to go to http://mobo.com/voting and vote for FEMI TEMOWO for best jazz act at this years MOBO Awards. Femi is the man and the album he just put out ORIN META is so special in every way that you need to vote and make this happen! GO VOTE AND GET THAT ALBUM!
Thats all for now! Hope all is good and everyone is jamming out with the man ham out.
Latas
G-ride

Interview for Martin Simpson’s ‘Why I Play Bass’ Book
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Interview for Martin Simpson’s ‘Why I Play Bass’ Book

Here is the interview I did for Martin Simpson's 'Why I Play Bass' Book. Martin is a great guy and I'm really grateful to be a part of this book that features so many amazing musicians including Victor Wooten, Pino Palladino and Paul McCartney.

I started playing bass simply because there was no one to be Jason in what was basically a Metallica tribute band. I started out pretending to sing when my friends wanted to play Silverchair songs together. After my best friend bought some drums to jam with his brother who
played guitar, we decided that with two guitarists and
a drummer that I would have to play bass by default. I
started out playing Rage Against The Machine,
Metallica, Cypress Hill and all the Metal/Rock
classics at the time. I was always into songwriter type
music i.e. Ryan Adams, Ray Lamontagne but I
worshipped Metallica and I had to play with a pick
and be Jason. I spent the next 4 years from when I was
14 to 18 doing gigs playing in a Death Metal Band.
When I finished school in South Africa at 18 I decided
to start a new band and go to London, which is where
I live now. After playing in the same band for 3 years
and trying to 'go for it' I got over working on building
sites and playing pub gigs and almost went home to
become a beach bum again. Instead of doing that, I
decided that even if the band was over, I couldn't stop
playing music and so I started studying Bass at The
University of West London. Going from playing
Metal and Rock my whole life, I learnt more on a one
year diploma course than I had ever before. I decided to carry on studying and have just finished a Bmus

Degree. Over the past 4 years of studying, I gave up playing Metal/Rock as I wanted to move away from that world and that mentality and immerse myself in everything else. I played in every band and with everyone I could. Sometimes gigging 7 nights a week with 6 different bands. With everyone I met, I learnt new ideas and approaches to music. Everyone was telling me different bands and artists to check out and my iTunes library got out of control. During the past few years I have learnt so much about music and tried to follow the tradition of the electric bass from Jamerson to Jaco and all the guys who played with James Brown. Everyone who you got to check out! As my ears and my eyes opened, I got into Double Bass and fell in love with the instrument and with the music - where I hear it the most, which is Jazz. At the moment, I’m still checking out Ray Brown and I'll probably do that until I die. The reason I have been so in depth when it comes to what I have been doing since I started playing bass is because all of these things have made me understand 'WHY I PLAY BASS' which I feel comes from who I am as a person, or I would have given up a million times. I don't like being the centre of attention, I love to support a vocalist or soloist and I'll do that all day and night. I love the instrument and the sounds it makes. A low voice, the link between rhythm and harmony. And the instrument is young. James Jamerson was and still is the man and guys like Pino are carrying on that tradition of supporting the music but also having a strong voice on their instrument. I love that there are guys doing all the crazy stuff too and creating any sound you can imagine. I love Matt Garrison and Damian Erskine and I’m fully into learning the tech side of things and getting intergalactic with my own tunes. SO I suppose I love checking out the tradition and I want to push myself creatively just like Matt is doing! When it comes to melody I'm always checking out the great improvisers like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Miles, Coltrane etc and the fact that our instrument can support those ideas is amazing too. The possibilities are endless and that’s why I can't really stop playing!

Gregori Hofmann Trio ”An Offering” AVAILABLE NOW!
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Gregori Hofmann Trio ”An Offering” AVAILABLE NOW!



Here is the debut album ''An Offering'' from The Gregori Hofmann Trio in its entireity.



This album is dedicated to all those who have influenced us musically and in our lives.
It is on Youtube right now for free and it will be on iTunes and Spotify in a few weeks, released on my
new label 'Marine Drive Records'

I really want to thank Jamie Murray and Ronan McCullagh for being such a HUGE part of this and making this album sound the way it does. You guys are my BROS. Thank you for all the rehearsals and all the time and soul you guys put in right from day 1.

I want to thank Graham Godfrey for his hours and hours...and hours and hours....and hours.....and hours of time and effort. Not only just playing on the album but also helping produce and then engineering, mixing and mastering the whole thing! I was a big time diva but what can I do!??!! THANK YOU my burrr!

I want to thank Tobias Miorin for helping to engineer and produce two of the tracks (moments notice and interlude) and for giving a lot of good advice along the way.

A HUGE thank you to Binker Golding for coming in on that day of days and just laying down take after take of the most redonkulous lines I've heard. Every note you played took the music to another place and your vibe and tone on the tenor and soprano sax is unlike anything I have ever heard! GOOD LAAAWDD THANK YOU FOR THAT!

Thank you to my sister in law Buket Tanaydin for giving us that beautiful voice and creating such a beautiful melody on 9 Crimes. I literally get goosebumps every time I hear it. THANK YOU SOOOOOO Much..

Another big thank you to my wife Dilek for putting up with a good year of late night chats with what ifs......? Maybes....? Recording Techniques abd some Lydian Augmented scales on Half Diminished chords''
I know you secretly love it all. Thank you for your support and patience.

I hope everyone enjoys it!
Take care.
G-RIDE

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