Life On Wednesday

Haffner, Jonathon
Cachuma Records
Jazz | Oct 2009

Reviews

Fo
Reviewed 2009-12-24
JONATHON HAFFNER: Life on Wednesday
Cachuma, 2009

MODERN JAZZ – Saxophonist Haffner leads a hot, grinding electro-acoustic sextet, loaded with top talent and featuring two drummers. Really good stuff; relatively straight rock-jazz romps for the most part, with a few diversions into free improv (4) or open soundscapes (5,10).

Jonathon Haffner - alto sax, clarinet
Craig Taborn - piano, wurlitzer, electronics
Wayne Krantz - guitar
Eivind Opsvik - acoustic & electric bass
Jochen Rueckert & Kenny Wollesen - drums

* * * * | Fo’s Picks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 9

1. 4:57 – perky, oblique stomp; chugs under bouncy sax, gloopy electronics
2. 3:18 – skittery drum intro; catchy melody with a rock beat, falls apart
3. 6:42 – slow ballad; lumpy guitar solo, jittery piano
4. 3:19 – brash unison theme, jumps into high-energy free jazz
5. 10:42 – quiet mechanized burbling, cute electronic accents; lonely sax starts about 4:00 in, gradually adopts churning groove & nasty wail
6. 1:00 – solo horn; high & thoughtful; leads right into #7
7. 4:51 – relaxed jazz-rock melody, guitar churns it up
8. 1:01 – solo horn: relaxed, spacious
9. 3:48 – starts out laid back, but sax really gets cranking; guitar brigs it back
10. 2:40 – clarinet floats slowly over a weird, open landscape; angular tones
11. 6:53 – serious tune; sax keeps it simple, piano flows, builds to strong finish

[ Fo ] 12/24/09

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Charting

2009-12-27 — 2010-02-28 Jazz
Week EndingAirplays
Feb 28 1
Feb 7 1
Jan 24 1
Jan 17 1
Jan 10 2

Track listing

1. Time Time
2. Radio One
3. New Mexico
4. Western Wren (The Bird Call)
5. Formings
6. Big Wheel
7. Tuesday Night Danny
8. Freewheel
9. Wednesday Night Firsts
10. Maybe Mexico
11. New Year