Wolfgang Haffner - Kind of Cool (2015)

Drummer Wolfgang Haffner is one of Germany's most successful jazz-band leaders, in addition to contributing his skills as a musician on over 400 albums. Here he defines his take on the Cool Jazz sound. Three main pillars define 'Kind of Cool': First of all, 'cool' jazz tunes had to be on it. 'So What' for example, the opener of 'Kind of Blue', and 'Django', the perhaps best known composition by John Lewis, from the first album of his Modern Jazz Quartet. Secondly, standards were chosen from different styles that lent themselves to a 'cool' interpretation. The most logical choice was "Autumn Leaves", made famous by the versions crafted by Cannonball Adderley with Miles Davis in 1958 and by Bill Evans in 1959. The Broadway ballad 'My Funny Valentine' from 1937 also became a modern jazz standard thanks to the recordings made by Chet Baker and Miles Davis. And Billy Eckstine's 'Piano Man' can be considered one of the 'coolest' numbers made with the Kansas City sound of Count Basie; the two recorded it in 1959. Finally, Wolfgang Haffner contributed three of his own compositions that fit into the programme. Haffner has a veritable all-star band at his side for 'Kind of Cool'. The 83 year-old trumpeter Dusko Goykovich actually played with the fathers of cool and modern jazz like Miles Davis, Art Blakey and Chet Baker. Pianist Jan Lundgren has a profound mastery of the Great American Songbook. The vibraphone has a special role on 'Kind of Cool' and Christopher Dell, the virtuoso, avant-garde all-rounder among vibraphonists meets the challenge with aplomb. Finnish saxophonist Jukka Perko takes on the role of Paul Desmond, while e.s.t. bassist Dan Berglund helps Haffner provide the relaxed groove.