German musician and band leader Klaus Doldinger formed Passport in 1970. With a strong jazz base, they were innovative and exploratory, creating a European jazz-rock with pronounced progressive tendencies. In addition to playing saxophone, Doldinger also played piano and was an early adopter of synthesisers in jazz. When pianist Kristian Schultze joined, the keyboard became a more significant part of the Passport sound. Fans of progressive rock, jazz-rock or jazz should check them out. There are a couple of excellent compilation albums; I very much like Passport Control (1997), the cover of which appears as the feature image for this post.
Part of the appeal of Passport is the through-line of their Magritte-influenced album cover art. The covers below were created by Wandrey’s Studio, Hamburg (except for the 1983 LP, artwork by Gerd Huss).
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Second Passport [1972]
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Looking Through [1973]
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Cross-Collateral [1975]
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Man In The Mirror [1983]
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Bonus
Passport and Brian Auger, Johnny Griffin, Alexis Korner, Volker Kriegel, Pete York — Doldinger Jubilee Concert [1974]
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As mentioned in the comments, in addition to his work with Passport and other musical activities Klaus Doldinger wrote the music for the popular children’s film The NeverEnding Story. Sadly, the news has arrived that Herr Doldinger’s story has ended at the age of 89.
Zeit described him as Germany’s ‘King of Jazz’.
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Klaus Doldinger: 12 May 1936 — 16 October 2025
vinylconnection.com.au 
I never realized the common theme of glasses in all these Klaus Doldinger album covers – granted, I never explored any very closely. That said, based on my limited exposure to Doldinger’s music, I generally like what I’ve heard.
One of my favorite Doldinger compositions is the theme music of what by now should be Germany’s longest-running police drama TV series: Tatort (“crime scene”). Intriguingly, the drummer on that 1970 composition was Udo Lindenberg who went on to have a long career as one of Germany’s most prominent Deutsch Rock artists.
Doldinger also composed the cool lead melody of the soundtrack for the excellent 1981 war picture “Das Boot.”
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My sense is that Doldinger is best known (outside Germany) for Das Boot. I didn’t know he’d worked in TV as well, so thanks for that titbit Christian!
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Seems almost unheard of for a band to latch onto a theme for all of its album covers. Can you think of any other bands that have done the same?
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It’s an interesting sequence, isn’t it? Not all the LPs have the spectacle theme (see below) but do follow a design aesthetic.
Some bands do like a stable visual identity—think Yes and Roger Dean, for example. Another example is Cocteau Twins, who have a visual aesthetic running through a number of 4AD albums and 12″ singles in the mid-80s. Would you count Phil Collins’ endless series of mug shot covers?!
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I should check them out. That header art is really cool (literally). Another band I need to explore more is Nektar.
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An interesting set of covers, where interesting means interesting.
Johnny Griffin on the Jubilee album, – reel me in ~~~
Thanks Bruce,
DD
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