A mainstay of the Chicago Music scene for more than twenty years, Eric Hochberg has lent his bass work -- both upright and electric -- to a variety of projects across the realms of jazz, folk, rock and blues. He has performed and/or recorded with the likes of Pharoh Sanders, Bobby McFerrin, Pat Metheny, Cassandra Wilson, Von Freeman, Ken Nordine, Bob Dylan, Cannonball Adderly, David Bromberg, John McCutcheon, Fareed Haque and Sonia Dada, and toured nationally with The Lyle Mays Quartet, The Paul Wertico Trio, The Terry Callier Group, Kurt Elling and the Grazyna Auguscik Quintet. His own band The Eric Hochberg Quintet performs frequently around town. Accompanying members, Steve Eisen, Orbert Davis, Paul Wertico and Laurence Hobgood help bring Hochberg's compositions to life in a soulful, but delicate and accomplished manner.
He can be heard on the recordings of Terry Callier (TimePeace/Verve Forcast, TC in DC/Premonition). Kurt Elling (Close Your Eyes, The Messenger/Blue Note), Rich Corpolongo (Just Found Joy, Smiles/Delmark), Howard Levy (Harmonica Quartet/Tall Thin), Ken Nordine (Upper Limbo/Grateful Dead Records) and the Paul Wertico Trio (Live in Warsaw/ IGMOD).
He has toured internationally with the Lyle Mays Quartet, The Terry Callier Trio, Kurt Elling with Trio New, and the Grazina Auguscik Quintet and has performed at many Jazz Festivals including Montreal, San Fransisco, Chicago (10 times), Montreux, UK London, Free Jazz/Brazil, Leverkeusen/Germany and the International Society of Jazz Educators/ Atlanta.
Chicago Tribunte critic Howard Reich says, "Hochberg remains one of the more versatile bassists in the city, which makes his work the perfect foil for TrompeterÆs stylistically free ranging pianism. ...The bassist yields a plush tone and firmly linear playing. In solos, he makes even the most technically intricate cadenzas sing."
The Sun Times' Lloyd Sachs says, "HochbergÆs [unaccompanied solo] gave off a devout folklorish wisdom. ...a bold and frequently soaring lyricism."
Downbeat Magazine agrees, saying "Bassist Eric Hochberg is formidable... a rhythmic and melodic partner in the group, bowing, plucking, never letting the level falter"
"But it is Hochberg's compositions which make up the band's repetoire that most distinguish them." says Chicago Reader's Neil Tesser. "His tunes are accomplished, and certainly not without their clever angles, but their main virtue lies elsewhere: these songs have one helluva lot of soul, and they stay simple enough to let that blare through. In this respect, they're like Hochberg's rich toned, remakably concentrated bass work. When he solos, he's a man who knows just where he's heading, who automatically, unconsciously, cuts away any of the undisciplined undergrowth that clutters his path."
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