Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – 4 Wheel Drive II (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:18 minutes | 981 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
After the extensive retrospective of his ACT years, which, in three albums (3 Generations), offered a magnificent overview of his innumerable talents through a series of prestigious collaborations, trombonist, singer, composer, producer, and conductor Nils Landgren returns to the stylistic unity of the supergroup that he’s been a part of since 2019. He’s joined by some of his most loyal companions from the label (Michael Wollny on piano and Wolfgang Haffner on drums, both German, as well as Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson) to record the second volume of their alliance, following 4 Wheel Drive.
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Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Wolfgang Haffner & Lars Danielsson – 4 Wheel Drive Live (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:22 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
It scarcely feels necessary to mention the pre-eminent status of all four of these artists, because that is evident from hearing the music. When Nils Landgren brings such feeling to his own melody “Le chat sur le toit”, or when Michael Wollny dazzles with the blues-infused piano solo in “Lady Madonna”; when “Polygon” opens with a bass intro from Lars Danielsson, or when Wolfgang Haffner sets up the power groove to propel “4WD”, then it’s clear what’s happening: four leading figures in European jazz who know each other well and who have appreciated each other’s work for many years have now got together. True, their paths have crossed many times before, and in all kinds of configurations. The formidable duo of Landgren and Wollny comes to mind, for example, as does Haffner’s long-term role as an anchor in the Funk Unit, or Danielsson’s vivid bass presence in Haffner’s trio…but here for the very first time are the four friends as a quartet. They decided to record an album together at the Nilento Studio in Gothenburg: “4 Wheel Drive”.
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Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – 4 Wheel Drive (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:41 minutes | 983 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
4 wheel-drives may cause pollution, but they go fast! Nils Landgren was keenly aware of this power when he decided to name his album 4 Wheel Drive. Alongside him, the record’s three other wheels are Michael Wollny (piano), Lars Danielsson (bass) and Wolfgang Haffner (drums). These musicians, who are some of the driving forces of today’s European jazz, play with impressive unity under the leadership of a charismatic yet never despotic leader, Swedish Nils Landgren, who plays trombone (and sings). They revisit hits of 4 major pop artists, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Phil Collins and Sting, whose songs comprise eight out of the twelve tracks on the record, choosing a fan-friendly repertoire while always adding a distinctive twist. These songs’ melodic strength in today’s collective unconscious is never weakening the band’s inspired improvisations. Even Landgren’s intimate and delicate vocals bring an innovative light. – Clotilde Maréchal
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Wolfgang Haffner – Silent World (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 51:49 minutes | 537 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
“Silent World“ klingt wie die Essenz Wolfgang Haffners Schaffens. Wie für ihn üblich spielen großartige Musiker an seiner Seite. Neben dem angestammten Trio steuern langjährige Weggefährten wie Bill Evans, Till Brönner, Dominic Miller, Nils Landgren oder Mitchel Forman ihre Qualitäten bei. Gemeinsam erschaffen sie den Haffner Sound, diese einzigartige und unverkennbare Kombination von gepflegtem Groove, klangschönen Melodien und einem tiefen Gespür für Atmosphäre und magischen Stimmungen. Den Albumtitel kann man mit einem Zitat von Claude Debussy verstehen: „Musik ist die Stille zwischen den Tönen“.
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Wolfgang Haffner, Roberto Di Gioa – Kind of Cool (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:00:22 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
James Dean and Marlon Brando were the glamorous heroes of the silver screen in the 50s. Character actors, sex symbols, blasé eccentrics with a penchant for extravagance. Role models for the rebellious youth: the embodiment of cool. A new attitude towards life was spreading around the USA. ‘The Birth of the Cool’ also happened at the same time in the field of jazz, leading it to become the soundtrack of a generation. Miles Davis, John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet, Dave Brubeck and Chet Baker (the ‘James Dean of jazz’) gave jazz a whole new direction: the search for a special ‘cool’ atmosphere based on tone and space in jazz, on substantial melodies with a laid-back approach designed for the collective. But this music was never cold-cool, it was merely played and conceived with what one might call a cool head.
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Wolfgang Haffner – Kind of Tango (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:51 minutes | 969 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
“This isn’t about reproducing an original, it’s much more like a translation. When I absorb and adapt influences and when I write, I follow my own path – and that allows me to be myself. It’s a process from which something new and contemporary can emerge.” This is how Wolfgang Haffner describes the artistic approach in his “Kind of…” album trilogy, all of which have the unmistakable Haffner sound running right through them. After a first adventure in cool jazz, and then a search for musical traditions in Spain, his new destination is Buenos Aires: “From the moment Siggi Loch suggested tango as my third point of departure, I didn’t need any more convincing. Rhythm is the essence of tango, plus catchy melodies which can then be developed – and there’s so much emotion in it too.”
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Wolfgang Haffner – Kind of Spain (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 48:32 minutes | 540 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
The title irrevocably sets the tone: in Kind Of Spain Wolfgang Haffner turns his attention to the Iberian Peninsula. Surrounded by pianist Jan Lundgren, trumpet player Sebastian Studnitzky, guitarist Daniel Stelter, the vibraphonist Christopher Dell and bass player Lars Danielsson the Bavarian drummer combines jazz and traditional Spanish music with exquisite intelligence and taste, producing mostly original compositions, but also reinterpreting Rodrigo and his legendary Concierto de Aranjuez. Following a delightful parenthesis exploring 50s cool jazz in Kind Of Cool, released in 2015, Haffner opted for an entirely acoustic ensemble, whose improvisations never run wild and perfectly match the refinement of such an approach. A wonderful album that will beautifully complement an already rich discography.
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Wolfgang Haffner – Dream Band Live in Concert (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:41:09 minutes | 1,10 GBGenre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ACT Music
Stars, drive, and heart: Brecker, Landgren, Evans and more – the “Dream Band” of drummer Wolfgang Haffner on a live double album.
One can hear it within the first few seconds: this music project has been done for the sheer love of it. Bandleader Wolfgang Haffner gets the programme under way on the drums by building intensity step by step. He plays with attitude and propulsive power, and never a trace of just showing off. This was how Haffner (b.1965) began the autumn 2021 concerts by his “Dream Band”, so it is also what we hear at the start of this double album of recordings from the tour. Known as the go-to rhythm anchor for all kinds of jazz, funk and pop units since the 1980s, he chose to indulge himself in some luxury casting, gathered together “my favourite musicians”, and did a tour with shows in thirteen German towns and cities: Ingolstadt …Frankfurt… Berlin… Bremen…
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