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You are never really allowed to leave the music of Florian Hoefner once you have listened to it. The pianist has a knack of taking possession of your sensibilities, making the notes of melodies leap off the page and into you.

The music of ''First Spring'' is no different. Setting out to capture the splendor of music swirling around in his mind, the pianist has succeeded in relocating the ethos of traditional songs and the high and lonesome sound off bluegrass to the landscape of jazz. In the collision of these musical realms, something truly remarkable and miraculous emerges that gives new meaning to the definition of "beauty" and becomes central to Hoefner's aesthetic credo. He demonstrates that the heart of tradition lies in innovation. If Hoefner remains in the tradition, he also soars - and in doing so - also sets the music on this 2019 album exuberantly free.

The music and style of ''First Spring'' is a marked departure from earlier releases. ''First of all,'' says Hoefner, ''I wanted to create something different from the music on my quartet albums. As much as I love the sound of the quartet and hope to return to that medium soon, I was looking for something fresh and a new challenge. In recent years, I have been listening more and more to records by folk and country artists like Sam Amidon, Levon Helm and Chris Thile. I explored what made this music so compelling and how I could transfer it to the setting of a jazz piano trio without losing its original vibe. A common denominator in a lot of this music is the sound of the fiddle. It occurred to me that with the double bass I have a string instrument in the trio that I can use for exactly this purpose. So I started arranging some of my favorite songs for piano, bass and drums, often using the bowed bass as an additional melody instrument.'' The often swinging and sometimes sedate pulsating heartbeat for this music is provided here by drummer Nick Fraser and bassist Andrew Downing.

Track Listing

Sales Points

• Regular multiple posting and videos on all platforms throughout the life of the project
• For fans of Aaron Parks, John Taylor, Fred Hersch, Sam Amidon, The Bad Plus, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Esbjörn Svensson, Dave Brubeck, Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman Quartet, Laurent Courthaliac Trio
• Worldwide touring summer 2019 through 2020
• Servicing all key jazz publications, full national and regional press
• Strong marketing team with emphasis on social media marketing campaigns
• Servicing to college and jazz radio

Press Quotes

Florian Hoefner is a cerebral and harmonically daring pianist whose style crystallizes around jazz and blues fundamentals, but whose adventurous spirit finds him reaching toward new sonic territory. Luminosity, his starkly picturesque new album, makes profound statements from quiet moments. [...] There is serious density to this music. Prepare to explore it on end.

     —Brian Zimmerman, Downbeat

Mr. Hoefner is an articulate German-born pianist. [...] His new album, 'Luminosity,' shows him to be a composer-bandleader of insightful resolve.

     —Nate Chinen, New York Times

I've been following Florian Hoefner's career for some time now, and his latest album took me a bit by surprise. This time out he's leading a piano trio rather than his usual quartet, and while you might expect that to mean a more traditional sound, you'd be mistaken. Yes, the group swings hard when it wants to, but they're just as likely to play in a more impressionistic, less rhythmically-driven style-and while there are three Hoefner compositions on the program, the focus is on other people's tunes, and on settings of folk songs: 'Maid on the Shore,' 'Rain and Snow,' and the Armenian folk song 'Yoosin Yelav' (based on a setting by Luciano Berio). There's a bit more arco bass than you'd normally expect on a jazz recording, often employed to approximate the sound of a fiddle, and generally speaking this is a remarkably and fresh and original-sounding album. Highly recommended.

     —Rick Anderson, CDHotlist October 2019

Hoefner turns a self-imposed challenge into a poetic conception of real depth. [...] Luminosity it out there and it's the real deal.

     —Brian Morton, Jazz Journal

[The] pieces exhibit themes with dance-like qualities and Hoefner's acumen as a composer and a stunning performer. The release sparkles with ideas of thoughtful introspection and kinetic energy [...]

     —Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz