An open letter to FMP
John Corbett
I
am writing to express my admiration for the many years of invaluable work
that has reached American shores from Berlin's Free Music Production,
and furthermore I would like to suggest the centrality of that institution
to the economy and ecology of creative music in general. As a music journalist
(DOWN BEAT, THE WIRE, CODA, PULSE!, OPTION), disc jockey, and university
academic based in the U.S., my understanding of European music was profoundly
influenced by fortunate early encounters with Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald,
Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Paul Lovens,
Globe Unity Orchestra and Irène Schweizer, all of which came courtesy
of FMP. Indeed, that music has played a significant part in my professional
life - case and point: many of the label's musicians appear in my book,
EXTENDED PLAY.
While FMP has remained loyal to ist older musicians (it ist, in the best
sense, a musician's label), it continues to present, record and release
music by new players, often unknown to us here in the States, offering
a glimpse of some of the most exciting European - and particularly German
- music that would otherwise remain totally obscure. Take, for instance,
Bochum-born Georg Gräwe, who recently played to enthusiastic audiences
in North America with his large GrubenKlang-Orchester; Gräwe's first two
records were for FMP. Or consider the King Übü Örchestrü, led by Berlin-based
reedman Wolfgang Fuchs; their 1993 FMP CD Binaurality received a rave
review in the U.S. magazine CD Review from writer Kevin Whitehead, who
rightly called FMP "the hippest European label". FMP has continued to
put out music by Brötzmann, von Schlippenbach, et al., at the same time
keeping abreast of current developments and helping make international
reputations for deserving talent. And FMP was a trailblazer in exposing
the music of East Germany to the West, long before reunification was a
glimmer in anyone's eye.
My point is that so much of what we here in the United States know about
the most adventurous European music has come directly from FMP that it
is impossible, from a critical perspective, to consider that music without
that label. In fact, both as a live-music presenter and as a record company,
FMP has proven itself to be a model for one of the most innovative North
American festivals and record companies, Canada's ‚Festival Musique Actuel
de Victoriaville'. I've had the chance to go to Victo seven times, and
it has always impressed me how much the festival and label both owe in
appearance, programming, and spirit to Jost Gebers and his free music
vision.
Finally, while ist primary function for an American audience may be the
production and promotion of great European music, FMP has taught us some
things about ourselves as well. From the overwhelming critical response
it received and the ongoing influence it exerts (all us Yankee critics
still talk about it seven years later!), a series of Cecil Taylor projects
that FMP put together (especially the lavish 11-disc-box) place the label
on the American jazz history map as well. It goes without saying that
there were no U.S. labels daring and forward-thinking enough in 1988 to
record Cecil's big-band music, let alone numerous duets with European
percussionists, a duet with guitarist Derek Bailey (my number one record
of 1989), or a trio with Evan Parker and Tristan Honsinger. The task was
left to Free Music Production, as it was last year when it came time to
make Charles Gayle's best recording (Knitting Factory had been trying
unsuccessfully for a while now).
FMP is a premier German record label. Beyond this, in my opinion, FMP
represents one of the most important contributions to contemporary music
in the period since the mid ´60s. Free Music Production should be treated
as an indispensible forum for musical experimentation; it should be valued
as a landmark cultural institution. Of course, in the United States that
wouldn't happen, but let's just hope that you Europeans have better sense
than we do!
John
Corbett Music journalist, Author of ‚Extended Play', Producer