»Let’s play the music and not the background«
(Ornette Coleman)
 

»Finally back home«, this album’s low-key title, applies both to the instrument and to the man on keyboards, Klaus Göbel. first, a word about the renaissance of the good old Hammond Organ B3, affectionately called the »mammoth organ« by performers and fans alike. In January 1934 Laurens Hammond received the patent for his unique design. In 1935 Henry Ford ordered the first six instruments, George Gershwin placed an order soon after. Strange but true - in 1937 Hammond was urged not to call his instrument an organ anymore; even worse, he was stopped from claiming that it commanded an indefinite number of sound combinations. Indeed, the exact number is »only« 253 million. And to date no engineer, not even a Japanese engineer, has managed to digitilize the Hammond organ since its sound is absolutely inimitable. Originally designed for use in churches, the Hammond organ was taken up by jazz musicians early on. A rich history of jazz organ began.
 

Being in love with the Hammond B3  myself, I was more than excited when I saw this instrument standing in a little Frankfurt jazz club in December 1995. And then Klaus Göbel entered the scene. Listening all evening to him and his group, I really felt »finally back home«. The Hammond B3 must have been invented with Klaus Göbel in mind! In contrast to other organists, Klaus does not confuse his instrument with an artillery weapon. He is an unusually resourceful and graceful improviser on this powerful instrument. Conscious of dynamics and the force of understatement, he has a disciplined but infectiously pulsating approach to the organ. Klaus is a master of drama, of space, of colour. As an improviser, he is thoughtful, compositional. As an accompanist, he is like an orchestra, creating textures and sonic effects that one wouldn’t think possible on the organ. He listens to others and complements them, instead of swallowing up his colleagues in a torrent of notes and volume. No wonder that Klaus is a musician’s musician - you frequently hear about him from other great musicians.
 

I tracked Klaus and his group for a couple of gigs, and then I offered him various opportunities to perform at events. Finally we became friends and I summoned up the courage to ask him if I could become his student. Since then I have been enjoying the ultimate way to understand a musician. More than anything else, he is a merciless perfectionist. He is harmonically sophisticated and builds his solos unpredictably and dramatically. He makes music dance at his own pace and following his own dream, »his dream alone«. He delivers danceable rhythms and relentless groove. But like all great jazz musicians, his roots are in the blues. What more can possibly be said about the way he plays the blues, except that it is of remarkable intelligence and utility as well as being a powerful emotional force?

Larry Goldings once explained: »One thing the organ does is make you feel like more of a horn player, since every- one since Jimmy Smith has used a horn-like setting of the instrument’s stops. I always wanted to be a horn player, which may explain why I like the organ so much. You really can control the entire textural and tonal situation« - sounds just like Klaus when he is trying to teach me some of the tricks of the trade. This album is a revival not just for a unique instrument and its sound, but also for a first-rate musician. Klaus and the good old Hammond B3 are fi- nally back home.
 

Klaus is best when he is challenged by other great musicians. In discussing who might best do this, the two of us decided it should be a guitar player, bearing in mind the great combinations made up by Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery, or Larry Young and Grant Green, to name just a few. Having made this conceptual decision, its implementation was easy. Why not ask the best to team up with Klaus? In this case, there was no choice but to invite Michael Sagmeister to join our project, the most impor- tant guitar player, at least in Germany, since the 1980s. He is not easy to characterize, since he is so in- credibly diverse in his playing. Having played and recorded with Billy Cobham, Larry Coryell, Jack De- Johnette, Albert Mangelsdorff and Wolfgang Dauner, Charlie Mariano, Randy Brecker, Volker Kriegel, the late Attila Zoller as well as Miroslav Vitous and Pat Martino, whom he admires most, the self-taught Michael Sagmeister is a firmly established guitar power player on an international scale. To credit him as technically outstanding is stating the obvious. But what is much more important is the wide range of styles he commands with such virtuosity.
 

Since the microcosm of truly great jazz musicians in Germany is not as big as in the US, I found it astonishing that Klaus and Michael had never played together before. So we invited Michael to join an informal session at the end of last year and were more than happy about how well he and Klaus got along from the very first moment. A handful of people witnessed this, and they all got excited about the unique sound that emerged. The pact between Klaus and Michael was signed and sealed that night, and the results are delivered with this album.

In a nutshell, Michael again proved the truth of what has been written about him: »He is the electrical voice with the most intense drive, combined with the most exciting and complex soul any jazz guitarist in Germany can achieve« (Ale- xander Schmitz, 1992). On top of his performance as a musician, Michael demonstrated his ability as a composer by con- tributing his tune »Whisper«, which I personally feel to be a highlight of this album. He also impressed me very much with his productivity during the recording and his ability to contribute to the leadership of the group, without impairing anyone’s ego.
 

This is where Thomas Heidepriem, who has been enriching the German jazz scene for nearly a quarter of a century as one of the most outstanding masters of the bass, enters the scene. He is a virtu- oso on both the acoustic bass and the electric bass, using one of the legendary fretless Fender instru- ments. He has played and recorded with such doyens of jazz as Christoph Lauer and Heinz Sauer, Al- bert Mangelsdorff, Franco Ambrosetti and George Gruntz, Randy Brecker, Roy Haynes, Wolfgang Dau- ner, Carla Bley, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry, Joachim Kühn und Paul Kuhn, as well as many others. His mu- sic is transparent and full of ideas. He successfully avoids the traps which other musicians have fallen into so often. Being part of a group, he allows for pluralism of styles and the individualism of his fellow musicians. Personally, I have the highest regard for his playing economical and relaxed bass lines, while never missing a single note. He is truly a mainstay of the music in this album.
 

The other mainstay is young Michael Ehret, who adds drums to this most swinging music. He is a drummer to whom the words »flexible« and »attentive« fully apply. He lets his band mates do whatever they feel on top of the rhythm. He studied classical piano and drums in Freiburg, before taking up rock and jazz. He says that he owes a lot to the British Drummer John Marschall as well as to Klaus Göbel and Michael Sagmeister, with whom he has been playing for years, even though this album is the first time he has played with both of them together. He plays the drums in the most flexible and jaunty way, with differentiated patterns of great originality. Without any doubt Michael Ehret is on his way to becoming one of the truly important drummers on the German jazz scene.