Wolfgang Haffner - Leo (Live Video)

Описание: Wolfgang Haffner is one of the most indemand musicians in European jazz and certainly its most successful drummer-bandleader. He has the kind of full-on schedule in which a series of concerts in Japan can segue straight into an extensive European tour... followed by a short stop-off for a meeting in Ingolstadt – where he’s now in his second year in charge of the programming of the Ingolstädter Jazztage festival – and then off again. Wolfgang Haffner has brought about a remarkable transformation in his career. He has emerged from being a figure in the background in bands led by artists such as Al Jarreau, Jan Garbarek and Nils Landgren, into the kind of bandleader who really sets the tone; it is a role to which he is particularly well attuned and suited. Furthermore, whereas his studio albums such as the most recent, 'Life Rhythm', put a focus on high production values and the careful creation of deeply relaxed flow, the new album ‘Life Rhythm - Live’ has not only captured all that finesse and deep craft, it also conveys the kicking energy and dynamic buzz of Haffner's live concerts. The album also demonstrates why – uniquely – con- certs by Wolfgang Haffner consisting solely of his own music in the largest concert halls are always sold out in advance.

For the 'Life Rhythm' album recording and tour, Wolf- gang Haffner put together a dream team. ‘Both keyboard player Simon Oslender and bassist Thomas Stieger have been in virtually all my musical ventures in recent years,’ he notes. ‘Trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky was already part of some of my earlier bands. And when I met guitarist Arto Mäkelä about two years ago, his empathetic playing immediately left a very strong impression on me. With him, the band was fully in place as a complete unit, I had put my dream team together’. Haffner wrote the songs for the album 'Life Rhythm' with the personalities of these musicians in mind, and the disc was released in the summer of 2024. In the autumn of the same year, the band went on tour, playing many of Germany's finest concert halls. And here, too, Haffner fulfilled a dream: ‘It was a pretty elaborate production, including a five-person crew, sophisticated lighting and sound, a real dramaturgy from start to finish, without any need to compromise or save on costs.’

Camera: Jonas Haldemann

℗ 2025 ACT Music + Vision GmbH & Co. KG
© 2025 ACT Music + Vision GmbH & Co. KG