MPS: Jazzin' the Black Forest (2005)

Elke Baurs' documentary MPS - Jazzin' the Black Forest is an affectionate portrait of the MPS label and its founder Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer who died tragically in a car crash two years ago. The Label MPS (Musik Produktion Schwarzwald) is known as the German "Blue Note." From the label's beginnings in the early 1960s up to its sale to Polygram in 1983, more than 600 records were put on the market by one of Europe's pioneering jazz labels. Brunner-Schwer's exceptional recording technique and the sheer musical quality of MPS records made the vinyl discs sought-after rarities. In addition to the most important German artists such as Albert Mangelsdorff, Wolfgang Dauner, The Kühn Brothers, Volker Kriegel and others, many of the international greats made their way to the Black Forest, too: Oscar Peterson, George Duke, Jean Luc Ponty, Duke Ellington, Monty Alexander, Baden Powell, Dizzy Gillespie -- to name only a few. MPS received an excellent reputation for its high-quality progressive recordings, and their "jazz meets the world" series is considered as fundamental to world music. This film was mainly produced by legendary "pope of jazz" Joachim-Ernst Behrendt who played a decisive part in moulding the image of MPS with his avant-garde-orientation and occasional flights into almost all areas of jazz. In the last 15 years, DJs like Oliver Korthals (Mojo Club) and Rainer Trüby made their younger audience aware of the MPS originals -- a generation not even born when the records first came out. Interviews with musicians and former MPS staff plus rare live and archive documents give an inside account of an era and the "Most Perfect Sound."
- forcedexposure.com
ast:
Musicians recording for MPS:
Monty Alexander
Wolfgang Dauner
George Duke
Rolf Kühn
Joachim Kühn
Lee Konitz
Charlie Mariano
Albert Mangelsdorff
Jean Luc Ponty
Chistoph Spendel
Eberhard Weber
Others:
Hans Georg Brunner- Schwer
Matthias Brunner- Schwer
Marlis Brunner- Schwer
Kathrin Brunner- Schwer
Lisa Boulton
Rolf Donner
Willy Fruth
Gigi Campi
German Hasenfratz
Mike Hennessy
Oliver Korthhals
Rainer Trüby
Toni Schifer
a.m.o.