G. Fritze Margull (1994)25 Years of Improvised Music 1969-1994FMP has made a name for itself by advancing the development of a new and independent music world, and by the exemplary manner in which it presents this music. This name no longer needs to be defined or introduced. After a quarter of a century of FMP the early years have become part of history, of both their own history and also the history of European improvised music. FMP’s credo is: Free Music Production is a business venture which has made it its job to present record and make improvised music public by organizing concerts and producing records and CDs. When the FMP was formed by Jost Gebers, Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald and Alexander von Schlippenbach in 1969 as a music venture, and with this in mind started to unite the hitherto isolated activities and initiatives of some musicians, it seemed doubtful whether their own demands could be realized. However, the concept remains flexible and holds good to this day. As far back as the year in which FMP was founded the first “Workshop Freie Musik” was organized in conjunction with the “Akademie der Künste” (Academy of Art) in Berlin. This series of concerts, five days in which music is put to the test and presented, is an experience for both musicians and audience right from the beginning. Access to and understanding of this music, which at the time was new and unexplored, is made easier by demonstrating the creative process – in some years this took the form of public rehearsals. One year earlier (1968) the “ Total Music Meeting” – brought into being as an “alternative festival” to the official ”Berliner Jazztage” (Berlin Jazz Festival) – presented itself. This was to become the second focal point in FMP’s future programme of events. Here too, the idea of initiating a event with a difference, lasting several days, has become exemplary. The TMM presents the current developments in Free Jazz/Improvised Music. Both series of events proved successful and pointed the way world wide for some of the most important festivals. And what is more – the concept behind them is still in the hands of the original small circle of musicians. The first FMP record (FMP 0010, “European Echoes”, Manfred Schoof Orchestra, recorded in June 1969) symbolizes the first step beyond the geographical borders of Berlin. We can reed about the network of contacts, mutual awareness and musical exchanges resulting from this record production in the FMP catalogue. In autumn 1972 informal contacts were made with jazz musicians in East Berlin. This led to the first production on the FMP label featuring musicians form the GDR (FMP 0140, “Just For Fun”, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky Quartett). More recordings were made in this series, most of which were made under difficult administrative conditions. These document the break up and rebirth of the jazz scene in the GDR. From 1978 the state border had an “FMP-Door” – albeit a creaking one – which over the years became a swing-door in both directions. The FMP made the first attempt a summarizing the development of Improvised Music in western Europe with its documentation “For Example – 10 Jahre Workshop Freie Musik, 1969 bis 1978” (a book of photos and texts and three LPs in a slipcase. In a similar vein there followed “Snapshot/Jazz aus der DDR” (double LP with textbook, 1981). In August 1979 twenty-three musicians present facets of the GDR jazz scene in the Academy of Art. “Improvised Music II/88” 1988, presented Cecil Taylor with European musicians (Cecil Taylor – solo – in duos with Günter Sommer, Paul Lovens, Louis Moholo, Han Bennink, Tony Oxley, Derek Bailey and the “Cecil Taylor European Orchestra”, ensemble and piano workshops). In 1989 this series of encounters was published as “Cecil Taylor in Berlin ‘88” (eleven CDs with photo and textbook and a discography of all musicians taking part). This unique edition received world-wide acclaim and recognition and, in 1990, was awarded the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (the German record critics prize). Now that the “Quartier Latin”, which for years served as its autumn residence, no longer exists in its old form, since 1991 the TMM has installed itself in “Podewil” (the former “Haus der jungen Talente” in East Berlin). 1992 – 25 th Total Music Meeting from: Folder of the Free Music Production 1994: An Overview |