'...a supremely gifted musician...a trumpet player for the 21st century...wow!'

- Bebop Spoken Here

As a performer, I've played throughout the UK and Europe at venues such as The Vortex, Cafe Oto and Kings Place, London, Manchester and Bristol Jazz Festivals, Les Duc des Lombards, Paris and Tonder (Denmark) & Leuven (Belgium) Festivals.

Up to 2015, I led the Nick Malcolm Quartet, featuring pianist Alexander Hawkins, bassist Olie Brice and drummer Ric Yarborough. We released three albums; ‘Glimmers’(2012) on FMR records and 'Beyond These Voices' (2014) & 'Real Isn't Real' (2019) on my own Green Eyes label, with Richard Williams (on The Blue Moment) calling the group 'a highly evolved mechanism in which four voices create a sense of perfect integration'. We had an entire gig broadcast on BBC Radio 3's 'Jazz on 3', appeared at the EFG London Jazz Festival 2014 and Manchester Jazz Festival 2011 and 2014 and toured nationally with Jazz Services support in 2012 and 2014. Real Isn't Real saw the addition of a second quartet of female vocalists to the band, with me receiving funding support from the PRS Foundation towards the creation of this album.

After the quartet I formed jade, a group that deconstructed through sampling and improvisation original compositions influenced by JDilla, the AACM, Burial, and Anglican Church music. The band toured in March 2019 in support of the release of 'Real Isn't Real', with the help of ACE funding. More recently I’ve been leading the quintet ‘Out Front’ with bassist Olie Brice and featuring Jason Yarde, Dave Smith and Jake McMurchie. We’ve been touring the UK in 2026 with our debut album of original music ‘Buried Webs’. I also run the trio Malcolm/McCarthy/Harris playing arrangements of AACM, 60s Miles and Monk tunes plus a groove project called the Dedication Organ Quartet. Coming in 2027 is Knotted Kernel, a multimedia project mixing spoken work, found sound, music and taste that celebrates English cider culture.

As a sideman I am or have been a member of Eliza Carthy's Wayward Band, vocalist Emily Wright’s Moonlight Saving Time, Rebecca Nash's Atlas, Dee Byrne’s Outlines, The Greg Cordez Quintet and George Cooper's Jazz Defenders. I've worked with musicians as diverse as Roger Turner, Sarah Gail Brand, Mark Sanders, Dominic Lash, Laura Jurd, Alex Merritt, Paul Dunmall, Sara Colman, Shabaka Hutchings, Josienne Clarke, Jim Moray and UK soul artist Pete Josef.

I have previously been commissioned to write pieces for large jazz ensemble by Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival and The Creative Orchestra, Manchester. I also appear in contemporary classical ensembles, and have performed premieres of challenging new music by composers such Ianncu Dumitrescu and Richard Barrett at LSO St Lukes and for BBC Radio 3 broadcast.

I was a Take Five Edition IX participant, a professional development scheme for emerging creative jazz musicians run by Serious.

'Malcolm has the potential for serious greatness, both as a musician and as a composer, and he should be revered more widely.'

- Roger Farbey, Jazz Journal

'...a supremely gifted musician...a trumpet player for the twenty first century fully conversant with the post-war history of his instrument...wow!'

- Bebop Spoken Here