Catching Up- Paul Hofmann

Pianist, composer, and educator Paul Hofmann spent four years (1992-1995) working with the “A list” of the Kansas City jazz world, including Tommy Ruskin, Gerald Spaits (they co-led a jam at the Plaza III for a year or so), Charles Perkins, Mike Metheny, Bob
Bowman, Kim Park, Kerry Strayer, Kevin Mahogany, Rod Fleeman, Karrin Allyson, Fiddler, Danny Embrey, and others. He was on the first Kansas City Boulevard Big Band CD on the SeaBreeze label. The memory
of working with Claude Williams and Milt Abel are among his prized memories. “Milt Abel and Claude Williams - two legends from the Swing and Bebop eras whom it was my great honor to have wonderful associations with”, Paul shared with us. “Those are
definitely some of my greatest memories of my stay in KC - working with those two gentlemen (and true
gentlemen they both were).”
He has continued to maintain his Kansas City contacts.
For example, he continues to record at Soundtrek
Studios here. A couple of Hofmann Trio records that
were released on his MHR Records, Things Are Looking
Up! and There With a Smile (which also features Charles
Perkins) were recorded when still living in Kansas City.
But he continues to record at his “favorite recording
studio, with Ron Ubel, Jeff Schiller, and others.” He
recorded his solo Letter to Sarah at Soundtrek in 2005,
and the more recent The Flood and the Rainbow was
done in 2006. The latter includes Mike Metheny on
one track. (This recording will be reviewed in the
February JAM.) He’ll be back in April for another
recording date at Soundtrek, probably a solo outing.
Another continuing Kansas City relationship is with
drummer and artist Keith Kavanaugh, “my longtime
art director, CD designer, webmaster of MHR Records,
etc. - for something like fifteen years now.”
But this is not his only recording activity. He
plays on the soon to be released second Film Noir
Project recording co-led by guitarist Bob Sneider and
vibraphonist Joe Locke. The Sneider-Hofmann duo
has two recordings called Interconnection and Escapade,
with a third entitled Serve and Volley (composed for
Paul’s daughter, a tennis player) due in a few months.
The duo records “got big rotation/distribution”, says
Hofmann. The duo has played at a club at Rochester’s
Strathallan Hotel for five years, featuring many other
notable musicians.
And there is more, shares Hofmann. “A new CD
by drummer Mike Melito was just released last week,
called In the Tradition, which is also the name of a tune
I wroteon an earlier MHR release (Topsy Turvy) and
which Mike wanted to revisit on his new disc.” This
recording also includes a front line with tenor saxophonist
Grant Stewart and trumpeter John Swana.
Much of Paul’s performing is in Rochester, where
he teaches full-time at the Eastman Community Music
School (he attended the Eastman School of Music before
he came to Kansas City). “My full-time Eastman
teaching gig (jazz piano and composition) is hard to get
away from during the school year, so I’m notdoing any
touring these days,” Paul told us.
Paul Hofmann’s fifteen CDs are available from his
Web site, www.mhrrecords.com.
—Roger Atkinson