Joe Haider is a cantankerous personality of the European jazz world. If you 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 of 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. This release was recorded in Winterthur in September 2017. It is fitting that Joe Haider returns to his roots with this new album. He has never really forgotten them. He does it with a mixture of nonchalance and sustainability.
