Florian Hoefner from St. John's, NFLD, Nick Fraser from Montreal and Andrew Downing from Toronto gather in Calgary to perform music from their JUNO-nominated album, Desert Bloom.  

Born and raised in Germany and trained in New York, jazz pianist and composer, Florian Hoefner, draws from a myriad of influences that cumulate in his unique brand of modern jazz. Praised as a “composer-bandleader of insightful resolve” by the New York Times and a “harmonically daring pianist […] reaching toward new sonic territory” by Downbeat Magazine, Florian Hoefner has made his mark as an inventive creator and performer of exciting contemporary Jazz.

Since 2018, Hoefner has been working with his new Canadian trio with Andrew Downing on bass and Nick Fraser on drums. Their award-winning debut album “First Spring,” was released in September 2019 on Alma Records / Universal. The album that focuses on Hoefner’s arrangements of folk tunes from around the world was nominated for a 2021 Juno in the category Jazz Album of the Year: Group and won “Instrumental Recording of the Year” and “Jazz Recording of the Year” at the 2020 East Coast Music Awards in Atlantic Canada. Now the three are presenting their follow-up album, “Desert Bloom” (release: June 3rd, Alma Records). The new program includes 7 new original compositions that showcase Hoefner’s hallmark lyricism and knack for suspenseful dramaturgy, and 2 new arrangements of pieces out of the contemporary Indie Rock and Bluegrass world.