Passport - Cross Collateral (1975)
Back in 1970, the accomplished German sax/keyboard player Klaus Doldinger wanted to combine his jazz playing with the rhythms of rock so he put together his jazz fusion band,
Passport. Although there were line-up changes along the way, right through the `70s and into the early `80s,
Passport were pumping out albums at a rate of one a year, so this album,
Cross Collateral, comes in the middle of a sustained creative streak. It is one of their best-regarded albums, and although KD is credited as composer for the whole album, he is helped out here by synthesizer wizard Kristian Schultze. Together they play some dynamic, sparkling leads while the rest of the band occassionally contribute the kind of riffs that a prog-rock band would die for. On other, more subdued tracks they go for a sound slightly closer to pure jazz.
All in all, this is a very accessible, clean-sounding instrumental album, but just how well KD succeeded in fusing jazz and rock would be for us to decide.