Like a curate's egg
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The Wolfgang Haffner Quartet's performance was good in parts but did not achieve a seamless excellence
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Photo: G. Krishnaswamy
MIXED SIGNALS The performance was entertaining but hard to appreciate wholeheartedly
I might have still been in the delirium that the Bunny Brunel jazz-rock show sent me, which was probably why I felt myself suddenly sobering down to the Wolfgang Haffner melodies within the first few minutes of the show.
More importantly, I had to re-slot their music (an oft-encountered problem with `slotting' in the first place) from "jazz-rock", to the "rock-jazz/fusion" arena before being somewhat comfortable with it for the rest of the evening. But the German quartet, the sole international act of the week-long Bengalooru Habba, had a packed Chowdiah grooving to their sets that were adorned with a mélange of electronic sounds.
Although there seemed to be a strong jazz sensibility underscoring most of their sets, notable in the confluence of the soloist and the support system led by Wolfgang Haffner on the drums, it was evidently supplanted by layers of rock and blues tonality, and soon by some techno-pop instrumentation.
All the numbers stood out for their harmonic and rhythmic cleverness resulting in a holistic, ambient set; the compositions seemed like they were ready to gel with any other art form like a film, or even a lounge bar (which was probably why Haffner seemed restless to get to Opus).
Haffner's evocative themes in "Blue Bar" and "Space Calzone" worked well largely due to his interaction with Sebastian Studnitzky who balanced both the trumpet and keyboards adeptly. Christian Diener on the e-bass time and again implanted a groovy rhythm that was well received by the audience. Frank Kuruc on the electric guitar, who opened the set with an atmospheric solo, remained well within the structure of the quartet lending a feeling of completeness, even if it required him to stay low-key with minimal phrasings.
In the delicate and moody "Silent Way", Studnitzky lent in with a soulful and melodic trumpet, ably supported by some breezy guitar play by Kuruc.
The unnamed previous set was the only one that saw the musicians depart radically into lengthy solos before hitting the melody again. Strong jazz elements highlighted this up-tempo set.The German craze for pyrotechnics was exemplified by Haffner's electronic elements and musical textures borrowed from R&B, and even trip-hop, known to give the listener the impression of a musical journey. These effects were used with a considerable amount of lyricism throughout their set.
"Blue Bar", inspired by a seaside bar in Spain, was doused in '80s electronica-infused acid jazz, as were most of the following sets. The four musicians worked well to maintain the overall integrity of the compositions, although it meant that the audience wouldn't be treated to any virtuoso displays on their instruments. But they held the quartet on for a couple of encores that pretty much continued in a similar seam, except that this time even Diener's bass was laced by its own set of effects.
Although the performance was entertaining and likeable, it was hard to appreciate. Especially by the jazz-rock buff expecting to see some hardcore experimentation as its pioneers did in the '70s.
"Nu jazz" seems to be flourishing at the cost of oversimplifying the often-outstretched nuances of good old jazz-fusion, to an extent that they are hardly an integral part.
BHARADWAJ M.V.
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