Klaus Doldinger (12 May 1936 – 16 October 2025) was a German saxophonist known for his work in jazz and for his extensive career as a film composer. He founded the group Passport in 1971, a band that performed in various line‑ups for decades and achieved international success. Doldinger composed numerous film scores, including Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot (1981) and The NeverEnding Story (1984). He is also widely recognized for writing the theme music for Tatort, which has been broadcast on German television since 1970. Doldinger was born on 12 May 1936 in Berlin. His family moved to Vienna when he was four years old; later, his mother relocated with him and his brother to Schrobenhausen, Bavaria. There, at the age of nine, he first heard jazz performed by American soldiers. His father was already living in Düsseldorf, where the family was eventually reunited. Doldinger attended school in Düsseldorf and was admitted to the Düsseldorf Conservatory in 1947, studying piano and, from 1952 onward, clarinet. He attended his first jazz concert in 1952, featuring the Lionel Hampton big band. After completing his Abitur in 1957, he studied musicology and Tonmeister training at the Düsseldorf Conservatory. Alongside his studies, he played soprano saxophone in Düsseldorf bars—sometimes performing with Günter Grass—and played clarinet with the Dixieland band The Feetwarmers, recording with them in 1955, two years before finishing school. Before founding the legendary band Passport in 1971, Klaus Doldinger explored rock-jazz and fusion music with his band Motherhood, releasing their second album in 1970.
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Circus Polka
Degeneration
Turning Around
Song of Dying
Devil Don’t Get Me
Yesterday’s Song
Doldinger’s Motherhood 1970 Full Album
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