Joe Haider Trio - Waltz for Ever (DOUBLE MOON RECORDS 2018)

Worth Listening to Again and Again!

If you did not know better, you would shake your head in disbelief: Joe Haider was actually born in 1936. In other words, he was born in Darmstadt three years before the outbreak of the Second World War. During that World War, he danced waltz with his mother – his father was busy elsewhere. Later, the pianist Haider, who became familiar with European music tradition at a conservatory and African-American jazz aesthetics thanks to working with countless US luminaries, composed waltzes for all his wives; he was married a total of three times. Now, he is continuing to “waltz further” into the end of time. At any rate, this is suggested by the title of his sixth trio album, Waltz For Ever, which oscillates between wisdom and power.

Haider, a Swiss national by choice, is accompanied on this wonderfully varied album by two Swiss jazz musicians, who were born in 1980 (Claudio Strüby) and 1982 respectively (Raffaele Bossard). Bassist Raffaele Bossard is already a longtime companion of Haider and has already recorded four albums alongside the pianist.

As a companion, Bossard acts at the same time solidly and with agility, and his improvisatory digressions are characterized by a wonderful balance of gravity and virtuosity. For Bossard, the bass is a bass and not an oversized guitar. Bossard is omnipresent on the Swiss scene; among others, he is active in the groups Pilgrim of saxophonist Christoph Irniger, Mats-Up of trumpeter Matthias Spillmann and Plurism of drummer Dominic Egli. This is the first recording with Haider for the very busy drummer Claudio Strüby. Strüby has become known in recent years through his work in the crossover trio Rusconi, but has also cooperated with “elder statesman” Andy Scherrer. Strüby’s supple, punchy playing style, full of surprising accents, fits optimally into a piano-trio context.

The majority of the pieces on Waltz For Ever were composed by Haider. When composing, Haider is initially inspired by people, situations and stories. However, composing craftsmanship is required when working out the pieces, for example, in the choice of keys or in the thematic fine tuning. Katy’s Katzenvilla actually existed, and Haider remembers vividly even today how one day two cats carried a whole sack of sausages from the dining table over a fence into a nearby forest. Haider is a gifted narrator of anecdotes. Much of his lovely storytelling can also be found in his piano playing. Haider does not want to amaze his listeners, but instead enchant them. If you ask Haider about pianists who have influenced him, he first mentions two rather unfamiliar names: Claude Williams and Dick Twardzik. He also mentions Dave Brubeck, Sonny Clark, Tommy Flanagan and Bill Evans. Then there was McCoy Tyner as later influence. Actually, Haider is a forgiving type, and yet he remains unforgiving on some points. Consequently, a question mark can be added to the title The Reconciliation, Haider said. In fact, it is not a love, peace and harmony piece, but a rather attacking number.

When selecting the three pieces from the “Great American Songbook”, Haider was guided by personal reminiscences. He learned to love the ballad Darn that Dream listening to a version by the blind Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu. Haider used to play the song Nature Boy, which was made famous by Nat King Cole, in duo performances with the trumpeter Charlie Shavers. And Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye was on his wish list after hearing a touching version by Ray Charles. Of course, the fact that this piece with the lines Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye /I die a little receives an additional dimension at Haider’s age goes without saying.

But for now, his motto is: Now more than ever!

Tom Gsteiger

Joe Haider, piano

Raffaele Bossard, bass

Claudio Strüby, drums

1 Waltz For Ever  06:19

2 Inspirations  05:19

3 Katys Katzenvilla  06:44

4 Nature Boy  04:12

5 Dance Of The Flames  06:43

6 Darn That Dream  07:00

7 The Reconciliation  04:43

8 Every Time We Say Goodbye  05:43

Joe Haider Jazz Orchestra & The Sparklettes - Back to the Roots (DOUBLE MOON RECORDS 2018)

Joe Haider is a cantankerous personality of the European jazz world. If our listen to him speak, you are confronted with deep Swabian dialect, but if you can hear him play, with a profound swing. This music and the associated feeling of dazzling freedom have accompanied him during his whole life, ever since the surprised boy was lifted by a GI onto a tank in the days after the end of WWII and was brought into contact with chocolate, music and the American way of life. Even if the modern, hard bop, blues and even a pinch of soul have influenced his style over the decades, the now 82-year-old pianist and Swiss national by choice from Darmstadt, who was active in Stuttgart and Munich for a long time, continues with his special blend of rhythmic presence and matter-of-factness rooted in tradition.

Consequently, it is fitting that Joe Haider returns to his roots with his new album "Back To The Roots", which he has never really forgotten. He does it with a mixture of nonchalance and sustainability, which already results from his choice of co-musicians. Because, he uses an orchestra with nine musicians on one hand, whose brass-centered members enable a wide variety of modern, jazzy tonal qualities. This scaling-up of the quartet sound makes it possible to create both big band associations as well as references to the typical sound ideas of small ensembles, which often characterize styles. The three saxophonists Daniel Blanc, Thomi Geiger and Domenic Landolf, who also play flute and clarinet in addition to their customary instruments, confront the trumpeter Dave Blaser, trombonist Rene Mosele and bass trombonist Lucas Wirz. All of them are trained in experimental projects in addition to traditional styles, which in turn benefits the intricacies of the arrangement. Besides Haider himself on the piano, the bass player Raffaele Bossard and drummer Dominic Egli round out the sound of the nonet.

The CD was recorded in Winterthur in September 2017. A vocal quartet also joined the instrumental ensemble in the studio. They were old acquaintances of the bandleader, because the singers Doris McVeigh, Isabelle Ritter, Nina Gutknecht and Xenia Zampieri had met in 1999 at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern where Haider had taught since the eighties and of which he is now also the director. An a cappella quartet was formed from the friendship, which has since performed with a wide-ranging repertoire in other countries too. Together with the Joe Haider Orchestra, the Sparklettes launch into a soul swinging sound, then again to a ballad-like iridescent program or one between modern harmonies and experimental expressiveness that leads to a lot of blues in the pedigree of Joe Henderson and Charlie Parker and all the way to Isla Eckinger and original compositions. In spite of the potential opulence arranged transparently, a typical Haider jazz cosmos develops over nine pieces, which has a good effect on the addition of the multiple vocal elements.

1 Back to the Roots  06:50

2 The Inner Ear  05:58

3 The Goal Stands at the Beginning  06:12

4 The Other Blues  09:17

5 Ko Ko  06:37

6 If I Was A Little Bird  07:37

7 The Shade of Jade  06:43

8 She Was Looking at the Moon  10:16

9 Movin' Out Now  07:34

Joe Haider Jazz Orchestra

Joe Haider - Piano

Daniel Blanc - Flute

Thomi Geiger - Saxophone

Domenic Landolf - Saxophone

Dave Blaser - Trumpet

Rene Mosele - Trombone

Lucas Wirtz - Tuba

Raffaele Bossard - Bass

Dominic Egli - Drums

The Sparklettes