Claus Ogerman is a pseudonym of Klaus Ogermann (b. 29 Apr 1930, Ratibor, Prussia - then Germany, now Poland), who began his career with the piano. He is definitely one of the most prolific 20th century arrangers and has worked in the Top 40, Rock, Pop, Jazz, R&B, Soul, Easy listening, Broadway and Classical music fields. The exact number of recording artists for whom Ogerman has either arranged or conducted during his career has still not yet been determined.
In the 1950s, Ogerman worked in Germany as an arranger-pianist with Kurt Edelhagen, Max Greger, and Delle Haensch. An interesting tidbit to note here is that Claus (then Klaus) also worked as a part-time vocalist and recorded several 45 rpms under the pen name of "Tom Collins", duetting with Hannelore Cremer - and he also recorded a solo vocal with the Delle Haensch Jump Combo as well. In 1959, he moved to the United States and joined the producer Creed Taylor at Verve Records, working on recordings with Antônio Carlos Jobim, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Kai Winding and Cal Tjader - among countless others. Verve was sold to MGM in 1963. Claus Ogerman, by his own admission in Gene Lees' Jazzletter publication, arranged some 60-70 albums for Verve under Creed Taylor's direction from 1963-1967. In 1967 he joined Creed Taylor on the A&M/CTi label.
Ogerman arranged and conducted Diana Krall's 2001 album The Look of Love, and conducted on her DVD "Live in Paris".
Ogerman also arranged and conducted the orchestra on George Benson's 1976 album, Breezin', as well as on two other Benson albums.
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