The Jan Hammer Trio - Maliny Maliny (2015)

In 1968, long before he became a jazz-rock fusion synthesizer hero, Jan Hammer was a 20-year-old pianist/organist who had recently left his native Czechoslovakia. Before moving to the States, he stopped briefly in Germany to record this trio concert set. MALINA MALINA (Russian: Yagoda Malina) finds that Hammer performs bold, intuitive keyboards in the style of heavy soul jazz/hard bop groove, with the support of Czech bassist George Mraz and German drummer Kees Si, the bravura style of the album only hints at what will happen in the future.