Klaus Doldinger Ensemble live at NDR Hamburg 1962

Klaus Doldinger, ts
Kenny Clarke, dr
Don Ellis, tp
Jacques Pelzer, sax, fl
Ingfried Hoffmann, org, p
Benoit Quersin, b
Rene Thomas, gt

recorded live at NDR Studio 10, Hamburg, December 7, 1962

1. Open Door (Klaus Doldinger)
2. Quintenzirkel (Klaus Doldinger)
3. Theme For Freddy (Rene Thomas)
4. Signal (Klaus Doldinger)
5. Six Eight Pleasure
6. Crépuscule With Nellie (Monk)
7. Theme (Rene Thomas)
8. Solo (Don Ellis)
9. After You've Gone (Layton)
10. Hasten Jason (Kenny Clarke)
11. For Two Only (Klaus Doldinger)
12. Sweetie's Bounce  (Klaus Doldinger)

Doldinger's probably best remembered for the more dynamic fusion he cut with the Passport group in the 70s, but back in his early years he was full on soul jazz player, steeped in the tradition of Gene Ammons, Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, and others before him – all players that we'd easily rank Doldinger with during these years, given the ultra-high level of his work for Philips. But given his German orientation, Doldinger also picked up on some of the freer influences that were running around the European scene of the 60s – and the tracks here don't just sparkle with American soul jazz sounds, but also show a bit of Brazilian and more progressive jazz influences as well.

Klaus Doldinger´s Passport live at 24th International Jazzfestival Viersen 2010

Klaus Doldinger (sax)
Ernst Ströer (perc)
Biboul Darouiche (perc)
Christian Lettner (dr)
Michael Horneck (keyb)
Peter O’Mara (g)
Patrick Scales (b)
Uwe Ochsenknecht (voc)

recorded live at Jazzfest Viersen, September 25, 2010

1. Riyad El Cadi
2. Djemaa El-Fna

3. Yellow Dream
4. Samba Cinema

5. Sahara Sketches
6. Only One Woman
7. Keep Forgettin´
8. Tatort
9. Fifty Years Later

German saxophone legend Klaus Doldinger is perhaps best known for his film scores to the acclaimed German film Das Boot (1981) and later The NeverEnding Story (1984). His recurring jazz project Passport, started in 1971 (then called "Klaus Doldinger´s Passport"), still enjoys huge success in Germany. In its influence it was sometimes called the European version of Weather Report. Their latest album "Passport to Morocco" is a dynamic and unusual album, not only in Klaus Doldinger's discography, but also in the international jazz scene. At first glance it is remarkable that the Moroccan and jazz styles complement each other so well. In the artist's perspective, this was a homogenous and simple combination, as Doldinger explains: "It is mainly Gnawa music in which I see a strong connection with jazz, as well as to Irish folk music, by the way. It is melodic music, that for example in the piece "Merhba" has an obvious connection to our own notion of sound. And one shouldn't forget that there were always close cultural ties to Europe due to
the proximity of Spain. If we take the mediaeval Gregorian structure and its sound we recognise a connection to the music that exists today in Morocco." Doldinger and his band try out these points of contact and overlapping with as much pleasure as they ocassionally ignite a volcano of fusion. None of which disturbs the flow of the album.