It was the time when beat music bade its farewell, the time when all sorts of musical styles were heard in just one show, loved by everyone, and rock and pop music was born. There were the “progressive” musicians, and those who played pop and disco music. One of the progressive ones was a group initially called “Puppenhaus Kaiser Blumenstrauss”, which had been founded by three school friends – Bea Maier, Helmut Krebs and Frank Fischer. They were joined by other musicians who left again after a little while. Büdi, who had been trying for years to join a band, heard the trio and was so inspired, that he started playing the flute and the saxophone, rather than his usual guitar, in order to perform with them – which he did, only 4 months (!) after buying the instruments. Rehearsals took place on the weekends, in a small factory storeroom in Göppingen. They were getting more and more serious with each concert; Zappa, King Crimson, John McLaughlin, Traffic, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Dauners Et Cetera, amongst others, were their heroes. After moving to Tübingen they decided to look for a place where they could rehearse and live together. Helmut Krebs left the group and went on to study arts. He was replaced by Herbert Binder, an excellent guitarist, who was influenced by Hendrix. An old farmhouse served as their new home, and the old pigsty was converted into a rehearsal room. Their daily routine was very busy and in no way resembled the life of the usual commune dwellers. During the day they would study, work, do jobs, and rehearse every night. Their compositions would become more and more complex, sometimes resembling musical lindworms. Soon it became obvious that the band needed a keyboarder, since their style was moving in the direction of jazz, and hence Thomas Rabenschlag, an excellent pianist, joined the band. They gave many concerts, went on small tours, had radio and TV gigs, with strongholds in Freiburg, Tübingen and the Bavarian Forest. Fans would travel there from as far as Munich to listen to the freaky mixture of progressive music with taunting and humorous inserts. Büdi would do the “original Pete Townshend jump” during the “I am the horny pop star” insert, and in the end Frank would jump to the double switch that sparked the flash for the grand final chord of “We are going to let the pig out.” Eventually Wolfgang Grupp, a proper roadie, joined the group. “We had a Mercedes bus and a decent P.A.. Nobody was quite aware of the fact that we belonged to the avant-garde musicians of Southern Germany and lived in a music commune. We were really only trying to make sure we had what we needed for rehearsing as much as possible and juggle the rest.” With Miles Davis, Weather Report, Soft Machine and Doldingers Passport the interest in rock jazz was steadily increasing, and music became more jazzy and keyboard oriented. Hence guitarist Herbert Binder left the band, and Puppenhaus continued as a mere quartet, until Büdi and Thomas, inspired by the political atmosphere of the 70ies, decided to turn their back on “imperialist” mass culture in order to make music with a meaningful content, whatever that meant. The group split up, which must have been one of the very few split ups for political reasons. Frank Fischer became bassist with Release Music Orchestra, and Bea Maier played with various local bands such as Zomby Woof from Reutlingen, Nill samt Dill (Mössingen/Tübingen), Granny Smith (Tübingen) as well as Moira from the Nürtingen area. Also, he spent more and more time working in his job as chemical engineer and performing the fine arts. Büdi and Thomas both went on to study music in Stuttgart and founded the “Brokdorfer Kantate” released on the Cologne based label Eigelstein. Thomas moved to Switzerland and became the musical director of the Theater am Neumarkt in Zurich. Büdi joined the Eigelstein label, where he produced Bap’s first successful record, amongst others.


BÜDI SIEBERT
Büdi Siebert is one of Germany’s most versatile musicians and composers. He studied saxophone, flute and composition at the music academy in Stuttgart. His oeuvre includes more than 50 compositions for film, theatre and radio drama, as well as more than 20 productions. He has worked as a tutor and teacher, and as a studio musician in over 100 productions, has toured all over Europe and the USA, and has received many record prizes as well as gold and platinum awards. He plays more
than 40 different instruments and is experienced in all kinds of Western music styles as well as the music of other cultures. During the 1980ies Büdi Siebert worked as producer for the Cologne based label Eigelstein, apart from doing his own productions. This “independent label”, where he produced Bap’s first successful record, among others, as well as his own production called “Herrgottsax” had originally been founded by several musicians and composers with the aim of producing German bands and compositions independent of the norms of the industry. Up to the early 1990ies he produced three more CDs for the Stuttgart based label Biber. In the 1990ies he founded his own label, Araucariamusik, on which he has published his own music since. He even recorded a solo CD within the pyramid of Cheops. Further information on: www.buedi-siebert.de 

FRANK FISCHER
Bassist Frank Fischer was co-founder of Puppenhaus in 1969. In 1975 he went to Hamburg to join the Release Music Orchestra. Later on, Frank Fischer played with the rock band Elephant for five years and toured Europe with international rock and blues musicians. In 1986 he joined the Liverpool rock ’n’ roll band “Juke”, with whom he played 360 concerts in just one and a half years. What followed was an intensive cooperation with south American and African musicians. From 1996 until 2001 he participated in Lou Reed’s successful productions “Time Rocker” and “Poetry” at the Thalia Theater Hamburg and on international stages. In 1989 the first of 6 solo CDs was released on the label IC/Digit. The single release “Café del Mar” was one of the most often played instrumental titles on the international Spanish radio, and was later on used as the cover version for the “Café del Mar” CD-series. Further information on: www.nativesounds.eu 

THOMAS RABENSCHLAG
After leaving school he studied music sciences and philosophy in Tübingen (1969-1975) He spent his jazz-rock years as composer and keyboarder with various music groups. From 1972 on he was band member of Puppenhaus. In 1972 he received the Südwestfunk special award for best rock-jazz-piano. He had his first go at theatre music at the Landestheater Tübingen in 1972. From 1975-1979 he studied music at the musical academy Stuttgart, with a major in piano and minors in composition and music theory. After that he worked as a studio musician. In 1979 he moved to Switzerland. From 1979-1983 he was musical director at the Theater am Neumarkt in Zurich. Since 1983 he has worked as a self-employed composer/musician and teacher. He has composed numerous theatre music pieces in Zurich, Basel, Vienna, Tübingen, Stuttgart. Since 1988 he has worked at the music school Baden/ Switzerland. He has composed music for film and television, industry films, spots, children’s musicals and music for audio books. He also works as a music cabaret artist. His last solo program called “Hoch, Hinaus…” was first performed in August 2008 at the “Vielsaitig” festival in Füssen. Further information on: www.rabenschlag.ch 

BERTHOLD MAIER
Berthold Maier did training as a chemical laboratory assistant and later on as a chemical engineer. He was founding member of Puppenhaus (original crew: Berthold Maier, Helmut Krebs, Rolf Täuber and Frank Fischer) He still works as chemical engineer at the University of Tübingen. He has been engaged in painting and drawing for many years (like his dad, who taught him many techniques). Since the beginning of the 1990ies he has greatly expanded his painting activities, has had several exhibitions, contract works etc. His musical activities are more or less confined to playing with friends at leisure time.

HERBERT BINDER
Herbert Binder has staid true to music. He studied classical guitar in Cologne, plays classical concerts and today works as a music teacher.

Puppenhaus - Jazz macht Spazz

Anfang 10:41
Jazz macht Spazz 07:54
Swingende Elefantenkompanie 10:47
Let the pig out 05:58
Improvisationen 17:08
Bonustrack Fünfmal Schnitzel mit Pommes Frites 11:54
Bonustrack Sabanone 13:04