The Foreign Correspondent - Stories about German Rock Music # 8

Kraan was a German jazz-rock band and had a great influence to Krautrock. Formed in 1970 in Ulm by Helmut Hattler, Jan Fride and Peter Wolbrandt they recorded songs with a lot of different styles. The tried to combine oriental sounds with jazzy bass figures and hard beats. In this time it was a really new sound and most of the people couldn't categorize them. Them jazz purist was the music to much rock based and the Krautrock audience couldn't agree with them jazzy parts. On stage, the band was particularly impressed by their enthusiasm and musical professionalism. Other records followed and especially the third, recorded live in Berlin, received good reviews. During all the years the played with a different line-up and in the middle of the 1980 Joo Kraus a phenomenal jazz trumpeter joined the band. Kraan split and came together so often times that I didn't count them all. In the early 1990s Helmut Hattler and Joo Krauss formed a two man band called Tab Two (tab means trumoet and bass). Tab Two combined mainly acid jazz with hip-hop, trip hop, drum and bass and other styles, the result is sometimes referred to as hip jazz. I saw Kraan several times live because the were located in my greater era. Tab Two made a superb sound and I saw them also once live and it was fantastic. Helmut Hattler played the bass that well that his name should be spoken with other great bass players like Flea.

Kraan - Nam Nam
Kraan - Sarah's Ritt Durch Den Schwarzwald
Kraan - Vollgas Ahoi
Tab Two - No Flagman Ahead
Tab Two - zzzipp! Live in Ulm - extended medley (2013)