This came up on DrumForum.org and I thought I would paraphrase my response in order to share this with those at the Drummer Cafe.
Someone at DFO noticed these videos of my performance in 1980 at the Montreux Jazz Festival with Klaus Doldinger's group, Passport and asked me to fill him in on some details.
I think it's cool that these videos has surfaced after all these years - even though there was a live album released of this concert - unfortunantly for me here in the states it was released only in Germany. So not many people here heard (or saw) any of this. So how did I, living in California at the time, even land the gig with Germany's premier fusion ensemble?....
Well I met a guy at a bar... actually the bar was the musician's lounge, backstage at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1977 - right after my performance there with the Don Ellis Orchestra. The guy at the bar was, of course, Klaus Doldinger - who was there to perform with the Atlantic All Stars the next night. "Hi - liked your playing...good show... blah, blah, blah" and that was it. Cool. I met Klaus Doldinger and he liked my playing. Like I said... cool, but I met a lot of people at Montreux that year...
Anyway, cut to the fall of '79, and I get a call out of the blue from Klaus' US manager asking if I would like to come to Munich to do some sessions for the next Passport album. Uhhhh....OK.
So a few weeks later, I get on a plane, fly to Munich where I'm picked up by Klaus and head to this little village hotel near his home (where he had a great little studio). Anyway - I later learn, Klaus was wanting to make a change drummer-wise, but needed to get going on this album. So his thought was he'd bring me and the band in for a week, we'd record part of the album - and then he could decide before recording the second half to continue with me or return to the guy he'd been using.
I think he was looking for a more controlled, pop-ish approach than he'd had previously - the whole Tom Scott- "New York Connection" - the CTI stuff - LA Express - along with the rest of the fusion Mahavishnu/Weather Report/Return To Forever thing, of course... but the whole, cleaner pop thing was certainly a good part of what he was looking for.
Which I guess I was able to give him. Anyway things went well - great players - fun, not-really-difficult jazz rock music... we finished the whole album in a day short of the week he'd scheduled to do half of it in. That was the "Oceanliner" album.
The next spring - I was invited to do a 5 week tour (which was supposed to continue in the states, but didn't - bummer) - which we ended with recording a couple of concerts. These were safeties for the album that would be recorded at Montreux 4-5 weeks later.
Kind of cool - playing virtually everyday with a band like this for 5 weeks (2 days off the whole time) - 2+ hour concerts everyday - then getting a little time off, then hitting it again - kind of itching to play. This was what happened at Montreux. For me, real fun - the edge of being there was off a bit (a good thing!) having played the same stage three years earlier. So just get out there and play. Fun!
Anyway after Montreux - we went back for a week in the studio to start the "Blue Tatoo" album. Which we finished in Oct. of '80 connected to another short tour of Germany and Austria.
And that was it - 3 albums, two tours, the Montreux festivals and four trips to Europe - all in 11 months. And then Klaus was focused more on film composing than Passport for awhile, then was later back at with some of the old guys and some new faces and on and on.
Musically - what was required? Being a quick study certainly helped. Of course, all the knowing how to play - styles, references, having listened, etc. But the new material came from Klaus as sketches or lead sheets - never a drum part - but no one was looking to spend all afternoon looking to teach the drummer the form, the breaks, the hits, etc.
Of course, none that means anything if it doesn't feel good, but let's say everyone was real pleased that "the new guy" was able to adapt, try new ideas, change the arrangements around, as quickly as everyone else.
After that, live, it was about reading just how much more "intense" than the records were we interested in playing - finding that place where everyone (particularly the leader obviously) felt both supported and excited by what was going on behind them.
Anyway that's my whole Passport story...
here's the link to the You Tube videos -
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/p/DD1C8FCE2A2CAEF1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/p/DD1C8FCE2A2CAEF1</a>]]>have fun,
David
