When the whole is greater than the sum of the parts- this is the enigmatic ideal than can, in the right situation, happen we collaborate together. Here you can find released albums which are in the main collective endeavours - bands I play in and also write for and bands in which I am a proud sideman. Where possible, the listen tab will lead to the bandcamp page which is of course where the artists most benefit. It’s not all here but a comprehensive discography is on this wikipedia page. This page is chronological in the main.
Release & Return
Jonathan Crayford & HC Rattle 2025
Recorded in Cologne in 2024 and released on Rattle music New Zealand, this duo recording features a pianist from my homeland I have long dreamt of playing together with. It captures a point in two lives that converges in sound.
Medno Roso
Kit Downes, Pjev, HC 2023
Recorded live in the Cologne Agnes Church during the Cologne Jazz Week. This record was a first encounter and something very special for all of us. Organ, sax , and balkan A- Capella beauty interwoven and beautifully released by Red Hook Records. The songs are handpicked by the choir from the larger region of former Yugoslavia and the way the are reimagined which happened in the moment is utterly unique.
Atlas
Slowfox5 2023
We recorded this album in Argentina with some wonderful musicians from Mar del Plata. It is a musical journey around the world in which we reinterpret folk tunes of all kinds of ways, sometimes taking them far away from their source material. The remains one of my favourites to this day. Playing unison lines with Valentine on the trumpet is something I cherish.
Gentle Giants
Slowfox 2017
This one remains one of my favourites from the trio. Recorded in the SWR Radio studios and featuring superb compositions by Sebastian Gramms- someone who is always pushing the limits of the written and improvised and how they can augment each other and continue to surprise.
Daylight
Unwind 2023
The 4th studio album of my dear New Zealand band featuring the Father/son team of Paul and Julian Dyne. In the main the music is written by Norman Meehan and the songs were developed through a gorgeous tour of Aotearoa.
Off World
WPW 2021
Wolffparkinsonwhite is the programming alias of Jochen Rückert. I remember he started to fill in the emtpy time in his hotel rooms during the long jazz touring. On this little gem I wrote some lyrics and sung over his weaving beats- songs of broken and unrealised love. I also recorded a music video here.
Pristine Sound of Root70
Root70 2023
This is our latest studio album and was recorded in a gorgeous old school studio in Bremen, all directly to analogue tape. All of the songs on this one are by Nils and are a bit of a return to our jazz roots.
Keep it clean
Phil Donkin Trio 2023
With bassist Phil donkin and drummer Jochen Rückert we recorded a classic Sax Trio album in dear Cologne- some ten years before the physical release in 2023. It’s a burner and features some classic standards like “Every Time we Say Good bye” and “My Reverie”.
Freedom
Slowfox 2021
Our third studio album, recorded in Cologne with titles based off a poem by the great Nina Simone: “"I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear! I mean really...no fear!".
Embers
Unwind 2025
Recorded in Aoearoa, this is our 4th studio album on Rattle and holds dearly for me the memories of our 2024 tour. We recorded this in the living room of a beautiful house in Wellington in which there is one of the finest pianos far and wide. The sun was high and the birds were in song.
Soundtracks
HC and Burnt Friedman 2020- Nonplace
One of my favourite co-productions I made with the great producer Burnt Friedman.
”You hear compassion and anger, vulnerability and strength, but deepest of all, perhaps, a sadness that would be almost unendurable if it were not examined and transformed, somehow, into beauty”