Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – 4 Wheel Drive II (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – 4 Wheel Drive II (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:18 minutes | 981 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music

After the extensive retrospective of his ACT years, which, in three albums (3 Generations), offered a magnificent overview of his innumerable talents through a series of prestigious collaborations, trombonist, singer, composer, producer, and conductor Nils Landgren returns to the stylistic unity of the supergroup that he’s been a part of since 2019. He’s joined by some of his most loyal companions from the label (Michael Wollny on piano and Wolfgang Haffner on drums, both German, as well as Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson) to record the second volume of their alliance, following 4 Wheel Drive.

With an eclectic repertoire that mixes original compositions with covers of pop songs by Paul Simon (“Still Crazy After All These Years,” “The Sound of Silence”), Genesis (“Hold On My Heart”), Sting (“Fields of God”), or even Elton John (“My Song”), the quartet deploys the same sharp attention to detail that they do on their first record. Placing his delightfully fragile voice or the rippling swirls of his trombone within a sophisticated frame of arrangements that are never ostentatious or abstractly deconstructivist, Landgren shows gratitude toward the melodic seduction of these songs, making space for his companions to make subtle digressions (notably, Michael Wollny, often taking the lead with dazzling interventions). Depending on the track, he is able to take the ensemble with him toward a more modernist chamber jazz, or, in the opposite direction toward a pop music that’s at once nostalgic and carefree. – Stéphane Ollivier

Tracklist:
01. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – Chapter II (03:02)
02. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – Still Crazy After All These Years (05:27)
03. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – Hold on My Heart (05:17)
04. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – The Sound of Silence (05:39)
05. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – Just Another Minute (03:44)
06. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – Sunrise (04:12)
07. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – Spring Dance (03:00)
08. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – Fields of Gold (04:40)
09. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – April Rain (05:17)
10. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – Your Song (04:30)
11. Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – The Wheelers (04:25)

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