Peter Protschka writes: “The history of Hammond organ jazz is very closely connected to my personal musical biography with my good friend and musical companion...

Peter Protschka writes: “The history of Hammond organ jazz is very closely connected to my personal musical biography with my good friend and musical companion Clemens Orth - and with two important places for us in Cologne, where we have both been living for some years. Clemens had only recently returned from New York City, where he had studied and lived for three years, when we met in Cologne in 2006. I had also traveled to New York many times since 2003 after studying in Mannheim to take lessons, go to sessions and listen to great music. I had also toyed with the idea of living there for a while. In the end though, I had moved my center of life back to Cologne in the mid-2000s. Clemens and I played our first gigs together here and in the region, and it came to my attention that amongst other things, he was also a terrific organist. I already had a connection to the great church organ, as did Clemens, because we both grew up with church music and took our first professional steps in these sacred spaces…”