Joe Haider Trio feat The Amigern String Quartet

To say goodbye (?) to my long career, I'm treating myself to something very special in May 2024. A wonderful formation with 7 first-class Swiss musicians and great music! Modern, swinging jazz with well-known arrangements and original compositions. In 2024 I will be 88 years old and to this day I am very proud and grateful that I can still play and compete. Of course there are limits. That means May 2024 will probably be my last tour! At some point it's enough! (Joe Haider)

Joe Haider fills out a more than exciting chapter in the book of German jazz history. The weirdo at the piano is a landmark in every respect. But one that was mostly overlooked or ignored. Is he also an innovator? If you take the view that the real innovation of these days lies in steadfastly defending yourself against the oversized grasping arms of the zeitgeist, then yes. And a role model? Musically in every respect. In other respects, however, the protagonist himself has doubts, at least when it comes to his past. However, no one can ignore one thing: Joe Haider is without a doubt an original, a style creator. One of the most important German jazz musicians of the post-war period.

»I have been working as a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and teacher for over 60 years now, and there is still no end in sight. I'm already 84, but still fresh and alive!« A truly more than satisfactory assessment that Haider can draw in these turbulent times. Even if he admits: "But it sounds like the final phase or like extra time followed by a penalty shootout, to put it in football jargon. Still, I have to see how I can move on. In my long career I was able to get to know many fellow musicians and take part in many concerts as a pianist and bandleader. I am eternally grateful for that!” Music determines the Darmstadt native’s existence more than anything else. For him she was always his driving force, elixir of life, emotional sponge, companion, lover, excuse and means of articulation all in one, always present, in good days and bad. Haider made a lifelong pact with her from the day he decided to devote his heart, hair and soul to jazz. If this American cultural import has a completely unique sound in German-speaking countries today, then it is also because of someone like him.

As the house pianist in the legendary jazz club “domicile” in Munich in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Joe met everyone who had status, a name and a brilliant idea in international jazz: Nathan Davis, Booker Ervin, Benny Bailey, Johnny Griffin, Philly Joe Jones, Joe Newman, Klaus Doldinger, Leo Wright, Peter Trunk, Dusko Goykovich, Pierre Favre, Klaus Weiss, Don Menza, Manfred Schoof, Mark Murphy, Hans Koller. Despite a career that was more like a roller coaster and a recording market that was increasingly subject to the laws of commercial success, he continued to release records of almost admirable consistency and consistency. But his contributions to the training of talented jazz musicians are almost even more valuable. In 1974, Joe Haider founded the Munich Jazz School in Munich, and from 1984 to 1995 he directed the Swiss Jazz School in Bern in his adopted Swiss homeland. Everywhere he gathered a multitude of talented musicians around him to teach them what he had learned from others.

“I was very happy that these fabulous jazz musicians and soloists were available for this project,” emphasizes a completely happy, proud and mild-mannered Joe Haider. And the fans can be happy about the result: A real Haider with all the familiar nooks and crannies and lots of gems! (press release)

Program and cast

Joe Haider Trio
Joe Haider: piano
Lorenz Beyeler: bass
Claudio Strüby: drums

The Amigern String Quartet
Vincent Millioud: violin
Sebastian Lötscher: violin
Francesca Verga: viola
Valentina Velkova: cello