Wolfgang Haffner - Round Silence (2009)

There is much to like about this album but it would be even more enjoyable if it had a few rough edges.

'Serenely played music, free from needlessly hectic activity and tension' is, according to the sleevenotes of this, his third album as leader, what drummer/composer Wolfgang Haffner is aiming to produce with his regular trio (completed by pianist Hubert Nuss and bassist Lars Danielsson), augmented now and again by guitarists Dominic Miller and Chuck Loeb, singer Kim Sanders, trumpeter/keyboardist Sebastian Studnitzky, electric bassist Christian Diener, percussionist Ernst Ströer and trombonist Nils Landgren, plus a trombone/flute/clarinet section.

The resulting recording touches a number of stylistic bases, from the mellifluous lyricism of the title-track (which could easily be mistaken for an escape from any one of a number of ECM albums) to more robust, chattering pieces, all with their musical agendas set by Haffner himself, whose playing ranges easily and naturally between relatively straightforward jazz drumming to contemporary-sounding beats and the sort of subtle but driving percussion often associated with so-called 'world' music.

The overall effect of the album as a whole is a mite diffused as a consequence of the constant changes both of personnel and mood, but taken track by track is rich, polished, affecting and invigorating by turns, and the writing, for a variety of musical resources, is of a consistently high quality.

Tracklist:
01. Round Silence - 06:08 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
02. Left Side Field - 06:10 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
03. It's Not Safe - 05:01 (Haffner, Wolfgang / Sanders, Kim)
04. Azul - 05:06 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
05. Stadium Jazz - 05:26 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
06. Nightsong - 08:04 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
07. The Space In Between - 04:19 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
08. Tubes - 04:41 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
09. Ride - 05:16 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
10. Wordless - 05:30 (Haffner, Wolfgang)
11. The Flow - 05:10 (Haffner, Wolfgang)

Line Up:
Wolfgang Haffner - drums, log drum, table tubes
Hubert Nuss – piano
Lars Danielsson - double bass, cello
Sebastian Studnitzky - trumpet, piano, Fender Rhodes
Christian Diener - electric bass
Ernst Ströer - percussion
Julian Haffner - add. percussion programming (#2)
Fiete Felsch - alto flute
Lutz Büchner - clarinet
Dan Gottschall - trombone
and others

Further Musicians:
Dominic Miller – guitar (#1)
Chuck Loeb – guitar (#6)
Kim Sanders – vocals (#3)
Nils Landgren – trombone (#8)

Recorded by Florian Oestreicher at Realistic Sound, Munich, Jan. 22 & 23, 2009
Additional recording at Bohus Sound (Gothenburg) by Åke Linton, A-Trane Studio (Berlin) by Holger Schwark, Les Cypres (France) by Dominic Miller
Mastered by Peter Heider at Purecuts (Nuremberg)

Produced by Wolfgang Haffner
Executive Producer: Siegfried Loch