1989 TMM / "Quartier Latin"

Bert Noglik (1989)

Continuity and consistency

20 years of Free Music Production

For over twenty years FMP has been presenting and documenting improvised music, has resolved the apparent paradoxes of this process through practical motion: organising unpredictable events, trying to grasp something which in its very essence strives for freedom. Two decades of continuous work cannot be dismissed as a mere episode. The improvised music played and developed in Europe is a musical movement which created its own traditions and whose dynamics are based on continuance and change. FMP has accompanied and encouraged this process. Musical signals have been set and examples have been given. FMP has succeeded by a united, concentrated effort in moulding a profile which can scarcely be put in any stylistic slot but can be seen as a challenge to musical attitudes.

FMP`s goal and direction arose from the musical revolution of the sixties. The aspiration to a European identity for improvising musicians soon resulted in a desire to join forces, organize concerts themselves and produce records on their own labels. The first Total Music Meeting which took place in November 1968 parallel to the Berlin jazztage was an event which was conceived and organized by the performers themselves. At that time, basically, an Internationale of European improvising musicians came into being. Peter Brötzmann, for example, played in a group with Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford, Fred Van Hove and Han Bennink. A musical movement had created its own platform. Since that time the Total Music Meeting along with the Workshop Freie Musik which first took place in the spring of 1969, number among the annually recurring events in Berlin's cultural diary Even if the Total Music Meeting no longer has the outward appearance of a "counter" event, its intention is to introduce music to people- something which often only happens on the fringe of the wide spectrum of big festivals. FMP has carried on the concert series established in 1968/69 without interruption, adding other activities. When Free Music Production was founded in September 1969 the musicians concerned agreed on one thing; it was to be neither a society, nor a company let alone a firm, but rather a cooperative. This collective aim sometimes came into conflict with the diverse interests of the musicians taking part. Right from the beginning, and for a long time to come, the driving force behind FMP was Peter Brötzmann and Jost Gebers. Even after the structure had been changed and Jost Gebers became FMP`s autonomous representative, the basic principle of involving the musicians in the preparation and production of individual projects remained.

FMP is on the one hand active as a promoter for concerts, workshops and other series of eventsand on the other as a record producer, documenting these various activities. Live presentation would appear to be a prerequisite for documentation, just as the ensuing record release is an echo of and an incentive for new encounters with improvised music. The first record on the FMP label which was released in 1969 was the album "European Echoes" featuring the Manfred Schoof Orchestra. Over a period of twenty years one can discern three main branches of FMP work. It was and is concerned with presenting or documenting the founder musicians, i.e. those centred around Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Irène Schweizer as well as Rüdiger Carl, Hans Reichel and others. Furthermore, FMP has always been careful to let young musicians also have a say. In the third sector of its work, FMP presents international musicians and groups - Steve Lacy, or Marilyn Crispell or Cecil Taylor, to name but three. Finally, I would like to mention one more exceptional feature of FMP`s long-standing activities; its contacts with improvising musicians from the German Democratic Republic which go back as far as the beginning of the seventies. FMP has had a far-reaching influence on a particular phase of development of Jazz in the GDR, and has documented it by purchasing tape licences and later by releasing its own record productions. From 1978 FMP was able to present such musicians as Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Conrad Bauer, Ulrich Gumpert and Günter Sommer again and again on stages in the West.

A new dimension of FMP`s activities can be seen in its concerts and workshops featuring Cecil Taylor, which took place in June and July last year. Cecil Taylor`s music was thus made accessible over a longer period of time and joint ventures with European improvisers were initiated. Right from the beginning, FMP`s main concern was to relieve musicians of pressures of "delivery" and to make musical development comprehensible for the listener. Cecil Taylor worked with European Musicians and together they interwove different traditions to create new music with its own vitality and sensitivity. Even if "European Echoes" (1969) is viewed as an answer to the challenge of American Free Jazz, the process of finding its own identity has nevertheless now opened up possibilities for an international dialogue. FMP`s work has contributed considerably to this development.

Consistency is an unmistakable FMP characteristic. Being consistent may mean neglecting the importance of other issues. This neglect is sometimes even a necessity. One of FMP`s releases is called "For Example". FMP has set an example, has set new signals. And it always wanted to incite others to do the same, or something similar, or different. Improvised music, as promoted and developed by FMP is, historically speaking, still very young. If, however, you use the life-span of a human as a yardstick, you can see that it is no longer an experiment, but has become a plan for a lifetime and a life's work. And as is always the case with improvisation; work in progress. As far as FMP`s financial viability is concerned, it is no different to that of most improvising musicians. Right from the beginning and up to the present day FMP has moved on economically dangerous ground. This makes the endeavour's continuity all the more remarkable. In the meantime the musical content can be regarded as sound, the musical process as lasting and unpredictable.

Translation: Margaret Neuendorf

from: Program Folder TMM 1989

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