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Proof that jazz can work with the same sort of supergroup energy as classic rock – especially when the overall sound is as rock-heavy as this! The album presents live material recorded in celebration of Klaus Doldinger's 20 years in music – and although issued as part of his Passport run for Atlantic Records, the album's much more of an all-star jamming affair – with guest work from progressive jazz luminaries like Volker Kriegel, Alexis Korner, Pete York, and Brian Auger – plus American tenorist Johnny Griffin, almost an odd choice for this sort of a record, but a surprisingly good fit – and no doubt chosen because of his work with some of the players in the MPS scene of the time! Tracks are a bit more jazzy than some of the other Passport work – although still quite jamming, with a rock-propelled bottom – and titles include "Freedom Jazz Dance", "Handmade", "Lemuria's Dance", "Rockport", "Rock Me Baby", and "Schirokko". CD

The first album from Klaus Doldinger's legendary Passport – a jamming little group that was one of THE European fusion combos of the early 70s! The sound here is much more fierce and full on than Doldinger's straighter jazz recordings of the 60s – but it's also kind of a nice extension of that work too – one that takes the soul jazz influences of the earlier decade into a more rock-driven sound than many other groups were hitting at the time. In a way, the progression is similar to the move from beat group to progressive styles followed by a fair bit of UK jazzers – but Doldinger tops his style off here with some nice electricity on moog and keyboards! Other players include Jimmy Jackson on organ and Udo Lindenberg on some mighty heavy drums – and titles include "Madhouse Jam", "Continuation", "Lemuria's Dance", "Uranus", "Schirokko", "Nostalgia", and "Hexensabbat". CD

With Hermann Weindorf on keyboards and vocals, Kevin Mulligan on guitars, Dieter Petereit on bass, Curt Cress on drums and percussion, and Klaus Doldinger on saxes, flutes, and keyboards. CD

Rita Reys meets Oliver Nelson – and a host of other great jazz talents, including Lee Konitz, Benny Bailey, Sahib Shihab, and Klaus Doldinger! The tracks on the set are all standards, but they're done in the tightly swinging style of Nelson's best backing work for vocalists at the time – complete with those warm tones and colors that always made his work some of our favorite in this mode. The mode is a bit different for Reys, who we normally know from more fragile settings – but it works especially well here, and almost seems to compensate for a faltering quality in her vocals at the time. Titles include "The Very Thought Of You", "Quiet Nights", "The Second Time Around", "If I Were A Bell", "Ill Wind", and "Wives & Lovers". CD

An incredible meeting of talents – both American and European jazz musicians coming together at a festival that must have been one hell of a event – certainly more exciting than just about any jazz festival we've ever attended in our lifetime! Unlike other festival recordings, this isn't just any sort of rehash of standards, done by all-star groups – and instead showcases some of the best modern jazz talents on both sides of the Atlantic in the mid 60s – all trying to outdo each other with their sense of originality and creativity – stretching out on material that definitely equals their studio recordings of the time, and which may well even show them in a more adventurous mode! The recording quality is excellent – and both the sharpness of the music and the presentation recall some of the best early MPS/Saba Records material of the 60s – which is where we'd definitely rank these gems. This first volume is a bit more inside than the second – and features material that includes "Mobile" and "Plakate" by Albert Mangelsdorff, "Guarachi Garo" by Klaus Doldinger, "Piece For Two" by Don Menza, "Blues In F" by Hans Koller, "Jahrgang 37" and "Nordlicht" by Horst Jankowski with Helmut Brandt, "Warm Up & Swing" and "Jet Set" by Erwin Lehn, "I Remember Clifford" by Benny Bailey, "Salute To Miles" by Max Gregor, "Friday Blues" by Wolfgang Schluter, and "Gemini Waltz" by Rolf Kuhn and Klaus Doldinger. CD

Wild electric work from Les McCann – an album of free, open sounds that's quite a change from his styles of the 60s – and from most of his other work of the 70s too! Side one features an extended 26 minute track titled "The Lovers" – a slow-building number that has Les on sublime Fender Rhodes, as things build slowly with this really spiritual current that comes from the addition of Yusef Lateef on reeds, Cornell Dupree and David Spinozza on guitar, Corky Hale on harp, and both Bernard Purdie and Alphonse Mouzon on drums! The track is loose, but builds into some great funky moments – almost a keyboard version of electric Miles Davis at the time, but a lot more soulful. And side two continues the heavy keyboard vibe – with a killer remake of Les' classic "Beaux J Poo Poo" and a similar "Poo Pye McGoochie", both with the kind of choppy funky grooves Les laid down with Eddie Harris a few years prior! CD features a long bonus track – a live version of "Compared To What", which originally appeared on the Doldinger Jubilee album from 1975. CD

A cosmic leap forward for Passport – a record that's even more keyboard-heavy than some of the group's earlier work, and which stretches out in a spacey sound that's very much in keeping with the cover! The keys here are handled by (yet again) another new player in the group – Kristian Schulze on Fender Rhodes and organ, who seems to play with a tone and a ringing clarity that's a great counterpart to Klaus Doldinger's rich tones on tenor and soprano sax – brighter than before somehow, and with a focused groove that only further intensifies the sound the group explored on their first few records. Titles include "Eternal Spiral", "Rockport", "Looking Thru", "Tarantula", "Ready For Takeoff", and "Things To Come". CD