JAPO Records was a West German record company that existed from 1970 until 1985, and produced 41 jazz fusion

Jazz fusion

Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

 and improvised jazz records for international jazz artists - the majority of them European

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. It was based in München, Bayern, Germany.

History

Sporting an eclectic

Eclecticism

Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...

 line-up of musicians and projects, JAPO saw avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 records produced for such note-worthy artists as Mal Waldron

Mal Waldron

Malcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...

, Dollar Brand, Barre Phillips

Barre Phillips

Barre Phillips is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has been based in southern France....

, Herbert Joos, Bobby Naughton

Bobby Naughton

Robert "Bobby" Naughton is an American jazz vibraphonist.Naughton was born in Boston; he played piano from age seven. In the 1960s he played piano in rock and lounge outfits before a stint in the Army, where he played organ...

, Edward Vesala

Edward Vesala

Edward Vesala , born Martti Vesala, was a Finnish avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader and drummer....

, Jiri Stivin

Jirí Stivín

Jiří Stivín is a Czech flute player and composer.He graduated from the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague . He also studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music as well as at the Prague Academy of Music .Stivín performs music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and...

 & Rudolf Dasek

Rudolf Dašek

Rudolf Dašek is a Czech guitarist.Dašek studied at the Prague Conservatory from 1962–1966. While there he formed a trio and became well known as a guest soloist with Karel Velebný’s group SHQ. In 1964 he established a trio which included George Mraz, and from 1967–1968 he played with Ladislav...

, Tom Van Der Geld, Enrico Rava

Enrico Rava

Enrico Rava , is a prolific jazz trumpeter and arguably one of the best known Italian jazz musicians. He originally played trombone, changing to the trumpet after hearing Miles Davis. His first commercial work was as a member of Gato Barbieri's Italian quintet in the mid-1960s; in the late 1960s...

, Manfred Schoof

Manfred Schoof

Manfred Schoof is a German jazz trumpet player.He studied music in Kassel and Cologne.He is a founder of European free jazz and collaborated with Albert Mangelsdorff, Peter Brötzmann, Mal Waldron, and Irène Schweizer...

, Stephan Micus

Stephan Micus

Stephan Micus is a German musician and composer, whose musical style is heavily influenced by his study of traditional instruments and musical techniques from Japan, India, South America, and other countries around the world...

, Globe Unity Orchestra

Globe Unity Orchestra

The Globe Unity Orchestra is a free jazz ensemble.Globe Unity was formed in autumn 1966 with a commission received by Alexander von Schlippenbach from the Berlin Jazz Festival...

, Lennart Åberg, George Gruntz

George Gruntz

George Gruntz is a Swiss jazz pianist, organist, harpsichordist, keyboardist and composer most noteworthy for his work with artists such as Phil Woods, Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin and Mel Lewis.From 1972 to 1994 he served as artistic director for...

, Barry Guy

Barry Guy

Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...

, Elton Dean

Elton Dean

Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....

, Peter Warren

Peter Warren

Peter Warren may refer to:*Sir Peter Warren , British naval officer*Peter Warren , Canadian investigative journalist and radio host...

, Heiner Goebbels

Heiner Goebbels

Heiner Goebbels is a German composer, music director and professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland....

 & Paul Lovens

Paul Lovens

Paul Lovens is a musician. He plays drums, percussion, singing saw and various selected and unselected cymbals. He has also performed with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra....

, and others.

Production

Production for the label was overseen by musicians and established producers, and included work by: Steve Lake, Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...

, Manfred Eicher

Manfred Eicher

Manfred Eicher is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records and its subsidiaries.Eicher studied music at the Academy of Music in Berlin. He is a record producer and a double-bass player. In 1969 he founded a record label in Munich called ECM - Edition of Contemporary Music...

 and Håken Elmquist - with a majority of the projects being overseen by Thomas Stöwsand.

Engineering

The engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 for the recording sessions was carried out by established German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 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

Jan Garbarek

Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...

, Dave Holland

Dave Holland

Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....

, Chick Corea

Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...

 and Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as...

 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.