Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner - 4 Wheel Drive II (2023) [Hi-Res]

Four wins! The debut album of the German-Swedish supergroup "4 Wheel Drive" was the most successful jazz recording in Germany in 2019. And the media were not stingy with praise either. "Four first-league jazz players with pure joy of playing and a desire for good pop music", was the verdict of ZDF's heute-journal on the ingenious and enjoyable collaboration of trombonist and singer Nils Landgren, pianist Michael Wollny, bassist and cellist Lars Danielsson and drummer Wolfgang Haffner. The leading American jazz website All About Jazz answered the question of whether this album belongs in every well-cared-for jazz record collection succinctly with: "4 sure".

The same can be said with a clear conscience about the quartet's second studio work after the concert recording "4 Wheel Drive Live", which will be released in October 2019. What's more, "4 Wheel Drive II" shifts up a gear, as the rocking, pulsating beginning of "Chapter II" from Wollny's writing workshop makes clear. Landgren likes to let his trombone roar like a sports car engine. Similarly dynamic are pieces like Danielsson's album finale "The Wheelers", which, thanks to Haffner's nimble broom work, makes you think you're on a high-speed train, or Wollny's mighty swinging "Spring Dance".

Compared to the first album, the proportion of original compositions penned by all participants has been increased somewhat, explains Danielsson, who has also contributed a sensitive, poppy ballad to the new album with "Just Another Hour". The mixing ratio between interpretations of world hits and originals, which made the debut such a big success, may be moving towards a 50:50 hybrid by now - but the fuel of 4 Wheel Drive has remained the same.

It's about creating music from deep within with like-minded people you can trust blindly in the driver's seat. "It just flows," enthuses drummer Haffner, "we're a group of close friends with nothing to prove, just going for it. I've had so many magical moments with this band, it's really incredible!"

The album "4 Wheel Drive II" adds many new moments full of magic to the history of the band, which is borne by "mutual respect and mutual love" (Landgren) and whose hour of birth struck at the end of 2017 at a special winter concert of the Jazz Baltica Festival: for example, the instrumental version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic "Sound of Silence", which has something mysteriously Nordic about it. Or the translation of the hitherto criminally uncovered Genesis ballad "Hold On My Heart" into the jazz context. If there's anyone who can sing a Phil Collins number without it being embarrassing, it's Nils Landgren. Which also applies to Elton John's "Your Song" or Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years". The courage to approach pop tunes that have become so ingrained in many people's minds from a completely different perspective pays off in full. Because with 4 Wheel Drive there are four originals at work who can be recognised from the very first note.

Michael Wollny doesn't see the popular hit material as a burden, but on the contrary as a liberation. "Songs that are so well-known give you the opportunity to be completely open to the moment," says the pianist, "in this band, the song selection allows us great freedom. It's like our concerts: anything can happen there." Fellow drummer Haffner agrees, "There's nothing wrong with interpreting a great song in your own way. If you do it with deep conviction, you will always reach people."

Nils Landgren, trombone
Michael Wollny, piano
Lars Danielsson, cello, double bass
Wolfgang Haffner, drums