Mark Lockheart

All highly respected and innovative bandleaders in their own right, this all-star trio brings together three of the most exciting and original jazz musicians/composers in the UK.

Malija was formed in 2014 as a result of an invite play at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival in New York.

Featuring original material by all three members, the trio’s diverse influences include bluegrass, tango and old-fashion jungle grooves. It’s hard to describe this music but perhaps Jasper put it brilliantly when he described the trio’s music as “weird, simple, complicated, free, tight, floaty, ugly, beautiful and heartfelt depending on your mood”.

Their first collaboration was back in 2009, when the three musicians recorded and toured with Mark Lockheart’s acclaimed album ‘In Deep’, a record that brought these three musicians together as part of a quintet. Since then, each of them has developed a huge mutual respect and friendship, that to form a trio seemed the most logical and natural next step.

"Malija delivers the expected deliciously abstruse riches a-plenty, peppered with humour, melodic wit, irregular groove and a vivid descriptive quality" - Mojo *****

"The pleasure of this trio in their close relationship is infectiously evident all over the set, beautifully played and often very spontaneous three-way postbop/world-folk conversation" - The Guardian ****

"The london-based equal partners trio Malija deliver lyrical chamber jazz with a strong pulse and fine-tuned sense of mood" - THe Financial Times

"The real substance of Malija’s music often lies just below the surface. Instinct is an album whose secrets and subtleties become more and more apparent on subsequent listenings" - The Jazzman

"Instinct's really handsome in its intertwindness of the songs and the musicians. Big album that will hit some rounds here" - Writen in Music ****

"The Day I Had Everything is another jewel in an increasingly valuable crown of Edition Records" - The York Post

"All-star trio delivers meticulously crafted performances of new material...a cliché-free collection and a work of trenchant individuality...The outstanding recorded sound serves to complement the meticulously crafted performances" - The Arts Desk

“To listen to an album is also to respect the choices of artists, to be carried unrestricted into their world, to share with them. Instinct manages to provide us with this moment of communion which intensifies with each listening. What more do we need?” - Highland

"This album will forever magnify what is beautiful about new jazz" - Wexford Echo