MPS Records
{{Short description|German record label}}
{{Infobox record label
| name = MPS Records
| image =
| image_size =
| parent = Edel AG
| founded = {{start date|1968}}
| founder = Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
| distributor = BASF, Metronome Music
| genre = Jazz
| country = Germany
| location = Villingen-Schwenningen
}}
MPS Records was a German jazz record company and label founded in 1968 by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer. MPS stands for "Musik Produktion Schwarzwald" (Music Production Black Forest).{{cite web|url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=23926|title=MPS: Jazzin' the Black Forest|website=All About Jazz|date=30 November 2006 }}
History
Originally based in Villingen, MPS was founded as the successor to the SABA record label by Hans 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.{{cite news|last=|first=|url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/news/50218/mps-celebrates-50-year-milestone|title=MPS celebrates 50 year milestone|work=The Wire|date=12 March 2018|access-date=13 June 2021}} MPS produced and released albums by American, Canadian, European and Japanese jazz artists. Recordings of the JazzFest Berlin, the Donaueschingen Festival and the New Jazz Meeting Baden-BadenCf. list of all New Jazz Meetings with release notes on German wikipedia. were also issued. Besides its own productions, MPS also licensed and distributed recordings from other companies.
Performers under contract to MPS included Oscar Peterson, Hans Koller, Horst Jankowski, George Duke, Erwin Lehn, Volker Kriegel, Albert Mangelsdorff, the Singers Unlimited, Wolfgang Dauner, the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lee Konitz, Charlie Mariano, Alphonse Mouzon, Monty Alexander, Dave Pike and Art Van Damme.{{cite web |url=https://www.mps-music.com/releases/ |title=MPS Releases archive |access-date=25 May 2020}} There is a wide stylistic spectrum, from swing to free jazz, jazz rock and precursors of ethno 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 by BASF from 1971, then by Metronome Music GmbH Hamburg from 1974. In 1983, Brunner-Schwer sold the rights to Philips, which then transferred it to Polydor. In 1993, Polydor subsidiary Motor Music began to release individual recordings on CD. In 1999, Universal Music Group began re-releases. Since 2000, Speakers Corner Records have released vinyl reissues of individual MPS albums with their original artwork.
Universal spun the label off in 2012,{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/sep/21/universal-emi-takeover-approved|title=Universal's £1.2bn EMI takeover approved – with conditions|first=Mark|last=Sweney|date=21 September 2012|website=The Guardian}} with Edel AG acquiring MPS in January 2014.{{cite web |url=http://www.edel.com/de/investor-relations/presse/pressemitteilungen/details/edel-kauft-legendaeres-jazzlabel-von-universal/ |title=Edel AG - Edel kauft legendäres Jazzlabel von Universal |access-date=2015-02-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214060046/http://www.edel.com/de/investor-relations/presse/pressemitteilungen/details/edel-kauft-legendaeres-jazzlabel-von-universal/ |archive-date=2015-02-14 }}
Discography
{{main|MPS Records discography}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{discogs label}}
- {{discogs label|SABA|SABA}}
{{jazzfooter}}
{{Authority control}}