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“Eric Hoffman & Ken Hatfield ‘Stirrings Still’ 2023 Baden Powell meets Michael Bublé. Laurindo Almeida meets Sinatra. Bola Sete meets Harry Connick, Jr. You get the idea. Ken Hatfield on nylon-string jazz guitar never disappoints, and this may be a first time for him to join forces in a duo with a talented crooner whose style harkens to a time when the Great American Songbook reigned supreme. Eric Hoffman is that vocalist who conjures jazz synergy together with Hatfield. The bittersweet catalyst to these collaborations is hidden in the last track ‘The Time I Spend with You,’ a tribute to the son of poet Annette Berkovits, and a moving story worth your further investigation through this link.” (URL: https://annetteberkovits.com/the-time-i-spend-with-you-jeremys-song/)

–© Alan Fark, minor7th.com

“Acoustic guitarist Ken Hatfield teams up with warm baritone vocalist Eric Hoffman for a pastoral collection of originals and covers. The two are so calming that they can even domesticate Tom Waits, as evidenced on the plaintive take of ‘You Can Never Hold Back Spring’. The two get back porch folksy on ‘Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home’, with Hatfield strumming up a pretty intro to ‘Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most’. The two create a rich moonlight sonata on their own ‘Lonely Nocturne’ and stroll through ‘Juniper Street’. Casual conversations.”

–George W. Harris, jazzweekly.com

Vocalist Eric Hoffman and guitarist Ken Hatfield have collaborated to record a gentle program of vocal/guitar duets, Stirring Still . . . . Hoffman has a pleasing baritone, while Hatfield offers empathetic accompaniment with a jazz flavor. This is an album for quiet time listening, and you will be drawn in by Hoffman’s lyric interpretations.

–excerpt, Joe Lang review of Stirrings Still, Jersey Jazz magazine

“Ken Hatfield and Eric Hoffman: Stirrings Still (Arthur Circle Music) is an intimate set of duets for voice and guitar, which balances originals and standards, both familiar and unexpected. Conceived as a reflective yet hopeful exploration of universal themes such as love, loss, hope, and possibility, the two musicians selected a mixture of their favorite songs by other composers and some of Hatfield’s originals, which take inspiration from a wide variety of sources. These include the title song [‘Stirrings Still’], ‘Lonely Nocturne’ from Hatfield’s 2013 homage For Langston, a jazz song cycle in which he set poems by Langston Hughes, and ‘Juniper Street,’ which like many Hatfield compositions, began life as an instrumental . . . , and others. Treasures from the Great American Songbook and beyond include, among others, ‘Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home’ with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, ‘You Can Never Hold Back Spring,’ written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan and Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman’s ‘Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.’”

–NitelifeExchange.com

“. . . intelligence and open-heartedness are evident in the writing, singing and playing. The two come across as gentle kindred spirits, with hearts on their sleeves.”

–excerpt, Rob Lester review of Stirrings Still, TalkinBroadway.com