Jazz
Alma Records · 23 October 2026
Florian Hoefner has written three pieces about water as a force that gives life and shapes the world, from the atmospheric moisture systems of the Amazon to the Atlantic currents now threatened by climate change. “Into the Aquasphere”, the pianist’s first large-ensemble project, brings them together as a suite – “Aerial Rivers”, “AMOC” and “Force of Nature” – for a jazz quartet (piano, bass, drums and tenor saxophone) and a 22-piece chamber orchestra conducted by JC Sanford. Alma Records released it on 23 October 2026 (ACD10232); it was recorded at Studio Piccolo in Montreal in October 2024.
Hoefner describes it as a single ensemble, with the quartet woven into the orchestra. Alongside Hoefner on piano, the quartet features John Hébert on bass and Eric McPherson on drums; the album notes don’t name the tenor saxophonist. Christine Carter plays clarinet and bass clarinet, with Nathalie Bonin as concertmaster. Hoefner has lived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, since July 2014, and teaches jazz studies at Memorial University there. His previous albums on Alma are “First Spring” (2019) and “Desert Bloom” (2022).
Text by Aina Torrents