Nick Hempton, George DeLancey & Dan Aran - Trio Stonk: Live at Smalls (2026) [Hi-Res]

For his fifth album, Nick Hempton ditches the overly complex original compositions and involved arrangements and pares the band back to a flexible, streamlined three-piece. Recorded before a receptive and vocal audience in the band’s natural habitat, Trio Stonk: Live at Smalls is a freewheeling joyride showcasing the band’s back-to-basics approach: “Swing, melody and the blues; simple, familiar chord progressions, tune selections made on the fly, composers' melodies jettisoned on a whim, and songs crashing and bleeding into one another. Sometimes we start and finish together, but we're trying to fix that." NH

Nick Hempton, saxophones
George Delancey, double bass
Dan Aran, drums