Linernotes: More than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the Beatles burst to global fame with their Liverpoolian distillation of American rhythm and blues. The mop-top youths rapidly became the musical icons for a world generation and for a decade they set the pace and taste for popular music. The 1960 were their time. It was a period of liberation for youth and the oppressed. Rebellion against social and political conventions spread like wildfire in the West. Religion was reappraised and the young turned East to examine the possibilities of other cultures. The Beatles epitomized the freshness of those winds of change which were blowing away many of the cobwebs of hypocrisy. The Beatles were unlike many post-war pop performers up to that time in that the bulk of their repertoire was generated by their own efforts. The writing partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney produced a prolific flow of material including a string of popular hits. As well as strongly rhythmic pieces, McCartney also possessed a talent for creating attractive melodies. In contrast to the great composing teams of the 1930s (Gershwin and Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Warren and Dubin, Fields and Kern), Lennon and McCartney were performers who did not need to rely on others to interpret their songs. But fellow artists in all areas of contemporary music were soon adding Beatles pieces to their concert and recording programmes. Down the years, there have been all manner of interpretations of McCartney's tunes - by singers, groups, jazz and rock instrumentalists, choirs, brass bands and symphony orchestras. Most jazz musicians have been fairly circumspect in their acceptance of the 'Beatles book', and there were relatively few jazz versions of McCartney melodies in the 1960s. Possibly because at that time, jazz was on a radical course of its own as a caucus of musicians led by John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor was busily rewriting the rules and questioning the accepted need for orthodox melodies and harmonics. So far as I know, the prodigiously talented Klaus Ignatzek is the first jazz pianist to assess a Beatles programme in the concentrated context of solo improvisation. In such a sparse and exposed format the true worth of McCartney's melodies is tested as never before. The results are intriguing, provocative and above all stimulating. In his most recent previous solo venture for Nabel - Records, Klaus explored ten Gershwin songs that were composed a generation before his birth. The set showed his love and respect for the classical works of the Gershwin brothers, and the durability of their show and film music. So you certainly need a copy of that album, GERSHWIN SONGS PERFORMED BY KLAUS IGNATZEK (NABEL 4631). But in his latest Nabel assignment, Klaus was dealing with melodic strands he grew up hearing. He was eight years of age when the first Beatles hits started to appear in 1963. It was impossible to escape records like Can't Buy Me Love, Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby in his childhood. The melodies lingered even if the performances were not regarded as essential as Klaus became absorbed in the astonishing scope of jazz and the endless possibilities for expression within the wide latitudes of improvisation. Now in his musical maturity, Klaus is well equipped to test and taste those strains from the past - to probe and excavate the structures which were disgorged with seemingly facile ease by Lennon and McCartney in the era of Flower Power. Ignatzek's sharp intellect, great jazz feeling and formidable keyboard technique combine to ensure another winsome recital. The songs themselves, of course, are springboards for intense and beautiful extemporization. Who can doubt, though, that Klaus finds the melodies appealing and inspirational. He could not contrive passionate and peerless playing of such high order if the underlying root substance was either trivial or fragile. The pianist is far too intelligent - and busy - to waste his time on recycling trite trash. Even so, he opens up unsuspected perspectives and avenues with the wholly original treatments. Who would have believed that the late Sonny Clark's feeling could have been projected in an interpretation of Hey Jude? Or that Eleanor Rigby could gain such polish and sophistication in the ebb and flow of modality' Who but a jazz player with a razor-sharp mind could conceive the glittering single-note lines that cascade over the chord contours of Can't Buy Me Love? It's a long way from relative simplicity of what was first set down at the Abbey Road Studios in 1964. Norwegian Wood should maybe have been retitled Norwegian Woodshed for Klaus guides the piece into uncharted territory. You see, it's what happens between the melody statements that really counts. I must confess that I never envisaged Yesterday as much of a vehicle for improvisation, but Klaus goes inside and outside the tune in a magnetic performance filled with dynamic pedal power and acute observation. Some of the other compositions may not have endured quite so strongly as popular works, but were chosen for their melodic content - Penny Lane, Fool On The Hill, Lady Madonna and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Each is accorded an imaginative exposition, free of cliché but laden with emotion. Ignatzek's interpretation of Beatles songs is not without some ironies. He was born in Wilhemshaven which is not far removed from Hamburg, the North German port where the Beatles played in 1961-63. Neither is it a secret that the Beatles disliked jazz. They probably would not enjoy Ignatzek's treatments. But it matters not. Once music has been written it challenges reappraisal or, in this case, positive extension. This album is aimed at those who appreciate improvisation and enjoy a musician who redefines and celebrates compositions that attract him. If some old Beatles fans hear these solos they could be pleasantly surprised and may find their appetite whetted for further albums in varied contexts recorded by one of Europe's finest jazz pianists. His series of dates for Nabel, of which is the eighth, has reflected different facets of his musicianship, on his own or in the company of such excellent musicians as Joe Henderson, Bobby Watson and Dave Liebman. What I like about him is that you never know what he will tackle next. Every record is filled with surprises but with the certainty that it will contain good music to refresh the ear, mind and spirit. Klaus Ignatzek is in his prime, yet still developing and receptive, aware of the most significant seams of thought in jazz and popular music, past and present, confident of his own ability and technique which is ever subservient to the emotion he wishes to convey. His ongoing progress will assuredly yield many more delights in the future, but for the present he gives us another superb solo recital in which further challenges are negotiated with wit, wisdom and no little panache. Mark Gardner (1990) (Contributor, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz)