MPS Recordswas a Germanjazzrecord company and label founded in 1968 byHans Georg Brunner-Schwer.MPS stands for "Musik Produktion Schwarzwald" (Music Production Black Forest).[1]
| MPS Records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Edel AG |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Founder | Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer |
| Distributor(s) | BASF,Metronome Music |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Country of origin | Germany |
| Location | Villingen-Schwenningen |
History
editOriginally based inVillingen,MPS was founded as the successor to theSABA record labelbyHans Georg Brunner-Schwer,Joachim-Ernst Berendt,Willy Fruth, and Achim Hebgen (who also worked as producers). Founded in 1968, MPS was the first German label to exclusively release jazz recordings.[2]MPS produced and released albums by American, Canadian, European and Japanese jazz artists. Recordings of the JazzFest Berlin, theDonaueschingen Festivaland the New Jazz Meeting Baden-Baden[3]were also issued. Besides its own productions, MPS also licensed and distributed recordings from other companies.
Performers under contract to MPS includedOscar Peterson,Hans Koller,Horst Jankowski,George Duke,Erwin Lehn,Volker Kriegel,Albert Mangelsdorff,the Singers Unlimited,Wolfgang Dauner,theKenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band,Jean-Luc Ponty,Lee Konitz,Charlie Mariano,Alphonse Mouzon,Monty Alexander,Dave PikeandArt Van Damme.[4]There is a wide stylistic spectrum, fromswingtofree jazz,jazz rockand precursors ofethno jazz.
The hallmarks of MPS releases were the high quality of the recordings (some of the production was undertaken in the private atmosphere of label founder Brunner-Schwer's living room), the attractive design of the sleeves, and the detail of information about artists, instruments and performances. Some of these recordings have been re-released on CD.
The label was distributed byBASFfrom 1971, then by Metronome Music GmbH Hamburg from 1974. In 1983, Brunner-Schwer sold the rights toPhilips,which then transferred it toPolydor.In 1993, Polydor subsidiaryMotor Musicbegan to release individual recordings on CD. In 1999,Universal Music Groupbegan re-releases. Since 2000, Speakers Corner Records have releasedvinylreissues of individual MPS albums with their original artwork.
Universal spun the label off in 2012,[5]withEdel AGacquiring MPS in January 2014.[6]
Discography
editReferences
edit- ^"MPS: Jazzin' the Black Forest".All About Jazz.30 November 2006.
- ^"MPS celebrates 50 year milestone".The Wire.12 March 2018.Retrieved13 June2021.
- ^Cf.list of all New Jazz Meetingswith release notes on German wikipedia.
- ^"MPS Releases archive".Retrieved25 May2020.
- ^Sweney, Mark (21 September 2012)."Universal's £1.2bn EMI takeover approved – with conditions".The Guardian.
- ^"Edel AG - Edel kauft legendäres Jazzlabel von Universal".Archived fromthe originalon 2015-02-14.Retrieved2015-02-14.
External links
edit- MPS Recordsdiscography atDiscogs
- SABAdiscography atDiscogs
