NEW RELEASES: THELONIOUS MONK / JOHN COLTRANE – THE COMPLETE 1957 RIVERSIDE RECORDINGS; HAMPSHIRE AND FOAT – GALAXIES LIKE GRAINS OF SAND; JORN SWART - MALNOIA

THELONIOUS MONK / JOHN COLTRANE – THE COMPLETE 1957 RIVERSIDE RECORDINGS

For an all-too-brief, magical time in 1957, two of the greatest musicians in history-Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane-made their only studio recordings together, which are compiled in this deluxe 3-LP box set, due out June 9th. Launching the newly-minted imprint Craft Recordings, this collection features remastered audio from the original analog recordings, a unique "file folder" packaging, rare photos, and 180-gram vinyl pressed at RTI. Includes notes by the late Orrin Keepnews, who, as producer of the original sessions, was present at the creation of every note.

HAMPSHIRE AND FOAT – GALAXIES LIKE GRAINS OF SAND

UK Jazz pianist Greg Foat has teamed up with Mercury Award nominated The Bees member and multi instrumentalist Warren Hampshire to collaborate on a new LP drawing on their diverse musical influences. Ranging from classic British library music, ‘60s Italian soundtracks to Americana combined with touches of modern classical, minimalism, Jazz and Folk, Galaxies Like Grains Of Sand is an incredibly rich and diverse work, a deeply cinematic and evocative experience. Featuring many members of Greg and Warren's previous bands and one of the UK’s finest jazz drummers, Clark Tracy, the LP also features an orchestra and handpicked soloists, all scored by Foat and Hampshire. Recorded all analogue onto 2" multi-track in Edinburgh, mixed down by Mattias Glavå at his studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, then mastered and cut in Helsinki, Finland, the LP is truly a European affair flying in the face of the brexit nightmare.

JORN SWART - MALNOIA

Jorn Swart is a spirited up-and-coming jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, currently living and performing in NYC. The Dutch pianist's refined playing and emotive compositions have garnered him much recognition, here and abroad. In November, 2013 he toured Europe to present his debut CD, A Day in the Life of Boriz, featuring some of NYC's most thrilling and fearless jazz musicians. Swart now proudly announces the release of his compelling new sophomore album, Malnoia, available on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records on May 26, 2017. Malnoia is timeless and sophisticated, and reshapes the concept of the traditional jazz piano trio. In replacing double bass and drums with bass clarinet and viola, the project elegantly and creatively expands the limits of what is possible within a "piano trio". On Malnoia, Swart drew inspiration from classical composers such as Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok and Paul Hindemith, and combined them with elements of jazz, creating an atypical sound that can be both lyrical and nostalgic, and abstract and unpredictable. His melancholic themes suddenly turn into unruly improvisations or sparkling romanticism. The Malnoia trio, featuring Swart with Benni von Gutzeit (of the Turtle Island Quartet) on viola, and Lucas Pino (whose "No Net Nonet" has had a residency at Smalls Jazz Club for over three years) on bass clarinet, possesses the ability to sweep the listener up in a moving musical experience that has been described as "hallucinogenic chamber music".