JAPO Records

JAPO Records
Founded	1970
Genre	Jazz Jazz fusion Improvisational
Country of origin	Germany

JAPO Records was a West German record company that existed from 1970 until 1985, and produced 41 jazz fusion and improvised jazz records for international jazz artists - the majority of them European. It was based in München, Bayern, Germany.

History

Sporting an eclectic line-up of musicians and projects, JAPO saw avant-garde records produced for such noteworthy artists as Mal Waldron, Dollar Brand, Barre Phillips, Alfred Harth, Herbert Joos, Bobby Naughton, Edward Vesala, Jiri Stivin & Rudolf Dasek, Tom Van Der Geld, Enrico Rava, Manfred Schoof, Stephan Micus, Globe Unity Orchestra, Lennart Åberg, George Gruntz, Barry Guy, Elton Dean, Peter Warren, Heiner Goebbels & Paul Lovens, and others.

Production

Production for the label was overseen by musicians and established producers, and included work by: Steve Lake, Jack DeJohnette, Manfred Eicher and Håken Elmquist - with a majority of the projects being overseen by Thomas Stöwsand.

Engineering

The engineering for the recording sessions was carried out by established German recording engineers. Some of them, like Martin Wieland and Jan Erik Kongshaug had already worked extensively with Manfred Eicher at ECM Records, which was one of Germany's most progressive jazz record labels at the time and had musicians like Jan Garbarek, Dave Holland, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett on its roster. Other engineers include: Klaus Bornemann, Carlos Albrecht, Lars Vester Petersen, Eddie Korvin, Biff Dawes, Harry Bergman, Tom Mark and Jean Deloron

Legacy

Most of the JAPO catalogue was originally released on LP and many of the titles have yet to be re-issued on cd or any other format, although re-issues have been seen as recently as 2006.

External links

• JAPO Records discography [1]