Klaus Doldinger Quartet

Since the 1950s, German saxophonist Klaus Doldinger had led multiple bands, most notably The Feetwarmers and Oscar's Trio. After an inspiring trip to the United States in the early-1960s, Doldinger was influenced by American jazz and wanted to pursue his passion for modern jazz. This future path enabled him to craft his own musical language in jazz; he wanted to develop his own unique sound without simply copying his role models out of the respect he had for them. Doldinger wanted to lead his own quartet that he could use to create his own style of modern jazz based on his influence from America whilst grounding it in European traditions and culture.^[4]

Doldinger decided that Oscar's Trio was not suitable for this new path due to it being too musically limited for what he wanted to achieve. To obtain his fourth musician, he contacted German jazz pianist and Hammond organist Ingfried Hoffmann, who had been performing in US Army officers' club for three years^[5] and was good friends with Doldinger, and asked if he wanted to join his quartet, to which Hoffmann immediately agreed. Hoffmann's compliance pleased Doldinger due to his musicality, knowledge, and open-mindedness. He believed that there was "no better organist in Europe" for the music he wanted to make, and that the Klaus Doldinger Quartet was "born with his acceptance". The quartet's first ensemble featured musicians from Düsseldorf, including bassist Helmut Kandlberger and drummer Klaus Weiss, and it was agreed that the band would run under Doldinger's name as he was in charge of the musical direction and that the band was his idea.^[6]

In October 1962, the Klaus Doldinger Quartet performed at the Deutsches Amateur-Jazz-Festival held in Düsseldorf. The same night, record producer Siegfried Loch, who worked for Philips Records at the time, approached Doldinger after the concert to enquire about recording an album with him, an offer that Doldinger accepted. Before they could record an LP, Loch was advised by his boss to record a 7-inch EP with Bossa Nova tracks first. Doldinger was initially reluctant as his quartet mainly played modern jazz, however after some persuasion from Loch, they recorded the EP in December 1962, which was subsequently titled Bossa Nova. This release also featured guitarist Bert Helsing and percussionist Rolf Ahrens.^[7][8][3]

Their first LP was recorded in January 1963 and titled Jazz Made In Germany by Loch, who felt that it was important to convey that, as a German jazz band, they wrote and performed their own music and had a unique independence in this form, and to appeal to international audiences.^[9] This album was released in October of the same year as part of Philips' Twen series, and was also the first German jazz album to be released internationally, including countries such as the Netherlands, America, and the United Kingdom.^[10][11] Jazz Made In Germany received international acclaim and led to international tours for the quartet around Europe. Notably, they performed at the Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival in July 1963, where they met jazz legend Miles Davis, who was performing there with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams on the same day. Doldinger and his band thought of Davis as a "kind of God" to them. In September, the band provided musical accompaniment for the German-language production of George Gershwin's Girl Crazy.^[12]

In December 1963, the Doldinger Quartet held two concerts at the Blue Note jazz club in Berlin. Both concerts were recorded and released as a live album titled Live At Blue Note Berlin, which also featured bassist Peter Trunk in a duet between him and Doldinger. Kandlberger left the band in 1964, with Trunk replacing him as the quartet's new bassist. This year brought more concerts in many countries including Italy, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.^[3][13] After these European concerts, there were tours of the Middle East and North Africa scheduled with the Goethe-Institut, which included countries such as Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey.^[14]

For the spring and summer of 1965, a three-month-long tour of South America was prepared for the quartet and commissioned by the Goethe-Institut.^[15] Before the tour, they recorded the album Doldinger In Süd Amerika (Doldinger In South America) in March of that year, which featured Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller. The band had another change in lineup earlier in the year, with Weiss leaving and being replaced by Dutch drummer Cees See for the album's recording.^[3] Their performances in Brazil were successful for them as audiences were crowded, and one of their performances was televised on Brazilian television, which reached around half a million viewers.^[16] However, the tour had been disrupted on numerous occasions. Their Buenos Aires performance was delayed by the manager, resulting in a lack of audience members. They also formally requested not to have the performance recorded, however the sound engineer retaliated by disrupting the concert with electronic interference from his systems. Doldinger's wallet and soprano saxophone reeds were stolen from his dressing room during their performance in Santa Fe. Rumours were also spread that the band members were taking drugs, however formal preparations before the tour proved that they were not drug addicts. Their flight to Santiago was delayed due to poor weather conditions, however another date was arranged for them to perform there. The tour had become dangerous when they arrived in Colombia. Due to high crime and unrest in the country at the time, their first concert had to be cancelled, however the second one took place with difficulty as audience members had to pass through high security. Their next concert in Medellín was cancelled, and the entire city center was closed off, resulting in the band members not being able to leave or enter the hotel they were staying in. After performing in Guatemala, Panama, and Mexico City, the quartet also performed in New Orleans. In June 1965, they came back to Düsseldorf after 37 concerts^[17] across South America, Central America, and the United States, with Doldinger In Süd Amerika releasing in time for their return.^[18] Later that year in November, there were more concerts planned in Ireland and in London at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, which was once again financed by the Goethe-Institut. Due to strict requirements for foreign musicians at the time, such as only being able to perform if there were British musicians in the band, this was the only instance the band ever performed in England.^[19]

In April 1966, the quartet provided recordings for Will Tremper's Playgirl, a film released in the same year with a soundtrack written by Peter Thomas. Rafi Lüderitz briefly replaced See as the drummer for these sessions.^[20][21] After some performances in France, Doldinger's final Philips album was recorded in March 1967 and titled Doldinger Goes On. This album was recorded with the usual quartet lineup of Doldinger, Hoffmann, Trunk, and See, with the addition of guitarist Volker Kriegel, percussionist Fats Sadi, and the return of Kandlberger, this time also playing bass guitar. After its release, readers of Twen magazine voted Doldinger as "Musician of the Year", the Klaus Doldinger Quartet as "Band of the Year", and Doldinger In Süd Amerika as "Record of the Year".^[22][23] The quartet also performed at the Jazz Am Rhein Festival in September 1967.^[24]