From large-scale ensemble albums to intimate chamber works, Colin Hinton’s music bridges the gap between jazz improvisation and modern composition.
He often works within expansive structures, creating space to explore themes of memory and perception.
PROJECTS
Three Suites 2026, Endectomorph Records
Hinton’s most ambitious project to date is a double album featuring pianist Santiago Leibson and bassist Eivind Opsvik. Produced by Tyshawn Sorey, Three Suites (January 2026) unfolds in longform arcs that weave chamber-like textures, ritual intensity, and free improvisation into a unified continuum. Written over a four-year period starting in 2019 and recorded in 2023, the music reflects everything from pandemic-era isolation to a deep appreciation of mentors—transforming personal experiences into expansive musical architecture. Each suite offers a different emotional entry point while the trio’s interplay moves between spacious lyricism and dense climaxes.
Ocelot 2018–present
Since 2018 Hinton has coled Ocelot with reed player Yuma Uesaka and pianist Cat Toren. The trio is acclaimed for its collaborative interplay and distinctive sound world. Guided by mentorship from Wadada Leo Smith through Chamber Music America’s Ensemble Forward program and inspired by their 2024 Uncool Residency in Switzerland, Ocelot blends improvisational risk with patience and detail. Their next album, produced by Smith, is scheduled for 2026.
Rtn CONUS RELAD 2025
Premiered by the Eclipse Quartet in June 2025, Rtn CONUS RELAD takes its title from a U.S. military acronym meaning “Return to Continental United States – Released from Active Duty.” Rooted in more than 20 hours of interviews with Hinton’s father about his service as a Marine artillery forward observer in Vietnam, the piece captures the fragmented nature of memory and the contradictions of lived experience. Quiet suspensions and sudden fractures embody silence, distortion, and emotional aftermath, while unstable harmonies suggest the gaps between personal recollection and historical narrative.
Shifter II 2025
Commissioned by Roger Zahab for violin and piano, Shifter II belongs to an ongoing series of short works inspired by a silent film made by Hinton’s partner, Katharine Hooper. The piece drifts in and out of focus, moving through slow, flickering transformations where familiar material reappears altered or incomplete. Like the film, it explores how memory reshapes what we hear and see.
Memory // Perspective 2024
This trio for two pianos and percussion investigates the tension between repetition and change. Cells of rhythm and harmony return in altered forms, creating music of shifting focus where memory and perception blur. The piece evokes slowly rotating objects, inviting listeners to notice small transformations in texture and timbre.
Simulacra 2019
Released in 2019 on New Focus Recordings, Simulacra marked Hinton’s first large-scale ensemble statement. Combining composition and improvisation, the album was praised for its depth, detail, and dynamic interplay. The five piece group (Tenor/clarinets/flutes, guitar, bass, drums) establishes many of the longform ideas that Hinton continues to explore in later projects.
Photo credit: Luke Marantz