‘I keep thinking about how to lead a band from the drums in a way that gives the instrument a central role, but one which is more about shaping the music than displaying virtuosity,’ says Wolfgang Haffner. This way of working, a common thread throughout his career, is a key factor in ‘Life Rhythm’, his tenth album for ACT. Haffner may shun the virtuoso drummer/ bandleader stereotype – and do so intentionally – but ‘Life Rhythm’ nonetheless has the drums at its very heart. Back in 2022, Wolfgang Haffner was given the opportunity to play the first solo concert of his career, an event that started the sequence of events which have led to this album. He remembers: ‘That was an insane challenge. I had a decision to make: was I really going to play a drum solo … for a full hour? Of course not.’ This reflection encouraged Haffner, who has habitually composed his music at the piano, to make use of the drums in his songwriting process.

All of the pieces on ‘Life Rhythm’ originate from a drum groove. A great example is the title track which opens the album. It is no coincidence that the groove has a clear echo of Phil Collins and his track ‘Take Me Home’. Collins, and the way he turns a drum part into a building block for his songwriting has always been one of Haffner’s greatest inspirations. Each of the eleven highly concentrated, song-like pieces on ‘Life Rhythm’ opens up its own world of particularly musical drumming: ‘Balance’ has some gentle brushwork, in ‘Joy of Life’ it is a cymbal groove, for ‘Eternity’ there is the subtle use of electronics, and in ‘Silence and Sound’ less is definitely more. ‘Life Rhythm’, says Wolfgang Haffner, ‘is not a repetition for me, but a continuation.’ With its warmth, power and clarity, the music has the distinctive hallmark which makes Haffner probably the most popular drummer/bandleader in Europe, known from his albums and from thousands of concerts in more than 100 countries. And at the same time it marks an evolution in his music.

Indeed, perhaps one of the key factors behind Haffner’s success is that his music will always contain elements of the familiar alongside the new, and that Haffner consistently brings the audience along with him to participate in the flow of his ideas – and also in the ‘life rhythm’ which he communicates so brilliantly, and instils in everyone around him.