Kind of Cool

As part of their 125 Years of Jazz campaign, ACT is proud to present four exceptional albums back on vinyl, each in a special colored pressing, in limited editions. Drummer Wolfgang Haffner is one of Germany's most successful jazz-band leaders, in addition to contributing his skills as a musician on over 400 albums. Here he defines his take on the Cool Jazz sound. Three main pillars define Kind of Cool: First of all, 'cool' jazz tunes had to be on it. 'So What' for example, the opener of Kind of Blue, and 'Django', the perhaps best known composition by John Lewis, from the first album of his Modern Jazz Quartet. Secondly, standards were chosen from different styles that lent themselves to a 'cool' interpretation. The most logical choice was 'Autumn Leaves', made famous by the versions crafted by Cannonball Adderley with Miles Davis in 1958 and by Bill Evans in 1959. The Broadway ballad 'My Funny Valentine' from 1937 also became a modern jazz standard thanks to the recordings made by Chet Baker and Miles Davis. And Billy Eckstine's 'Piano Man' can be considered one of the 'coolest' numbers made with the Kansas City sound of Count Basie; the two recorded it in 1959. Finally, Wolfgang Haffner contributed three of his own compositions that fit into the programme.