Christopher Hoffman is an American, Brooklyn-based cellist, composer, producer, and sound engineer whose work bridges modern jazz, free improvisation, experimental music, and cinematic storytelling, blurring the line between sound and image. He is known for his work with Henry Threadgill’s Zooid and Darius Jones Quintet.

REX is Hoffman’s first solo cello album, written and recorded while he and his family lived in the isolated Kent, Connecticut farm that was the former home of American, self-taught painter, ornithologist, and poet Rex Brasher (1869-1960). Brasher painted twelve hundred bird species across eight hundred and seventy-five watercolour paintings, always guided by a sense of perfection that captured his deep reverence for the natural wonder.

The experience of living in Brasher’s home and learning about his tireless artistic work convinced Hoffman that it was time to record his own solo cello album, and REX evolved naturally from free improvised snippets. The thirteen contemplative and intimate pieces were composed for acoustic and electric cello. Often, Hoffman fuses the two cello voices with effects and loops, suggesting an imaginary, layered conversation with Brasher’s legacy but avoiding addressing Brasher’s painting or distinct birds. The album cover artwork uses Brasher’s typography.

Still, Brasher’s home region is populated with many bird species, and REX faithfully reflects the solitude and intensity that shaped both Brasher’s artistic vision and Hoffman’s own creative process. REX is a soulful, loving tribute, echoing a great person, an inspiring place, and suggesting a fresh, life-affirming way of seeing the world.

Eyal Hareuveni

Christopher Hoffman (cello)