excerpts from the book: GUNTER HAMPEL "MY GUNTER LIFE" page 2				>> next page
	"In the beginning ,it was the need for the documentation.I am working on more advanced concepts of artistic expressions within the concepts of jazz and human experience.My personal findings ,inspirations and my growing experience as a composer,instrumentalist and bandleader, my huge output of everydays new material needed it's own record company to publish the music "as is" One thing I learned from John Coltrane: Whenever my group was tight and had experienced new material long enough on the road to be <together< I went into a studio and taped the band. Or I saved "live"tapes from concerts,Radio or TV-broadcasts.. Back in the 6oies I had a Quartet with John McLaughlin on the guitar, Arjen Gorter on bass and Laurie Allan dm. We were performing for 2 years on the festival circuits in Europe, Germany,Holland,Belgium,France etc.We were playing on this huge Essener Songtage, with 8ooo people in this hall. Festival.We played right in front of the MOTHER's of INVENTION ,Frank Zappa's Superband There were all major european labels, hunting for groups to put under contract.We had a huge success.Zappa's musicians were sitting on our stage and were amazed about the sounds and the music  we got out of our accustic instruments, they were late for their own performance., because we took them away... I mean we had success on all levels: 8ooo cheering people, and the producers stood right there, but they didn't offer us a contract. I didnot get a record deal from anyone for that group.... (Today I hear sometimes some producer say things like : If we only had listened to you, what you were offering us...) I already then had decided to start my own record company, but I was travelling with 2 other main ensembles continuously		my own GUNTER HAMPEL GROUP with Jeanne Lee voc,Willem Breuker saxes,Arjen Gorter bass and Pierre Courbois or Han Bennink drums and the MARION BROWN QUARTETwith Marion Brown,Barre Phillips,Steve McCall. I had so much work, that sometimes I played 3 gigs on one day : In the morning a concert in Paris, in the afternoon a concert in Antwerp and in the night a gig in Amsterdam. Now, where should I find the time to settle down for establishing a record company ? Meanwhile I kept on recording for companies, I had actually planned to produce <The 8Th of July 1969< for this label Wergo in Germany. Only, they didn't have the money and time available, when I was ready. They wanted me to wait... And that is one thing, which sometimes cannot wait.On this particular day, the 8th of July I had the band together : Jeanne Lee,Anthony Braxton,Willem Breuker,Arjen Gorter,Steve McCall. What did I know, where all these  people would be, when that record company was ready to give the green light. So I decided to go into the studio and pay everything out of my pocket and record it at the day I was ready. Up till then I already had produced a couple of recordings and often was wondering, how it came that another producer put his name on my records for being the producer ? I had written the music, rehearsed the musicians, arranged the pieces, set up and booked the studio, selected the engineer, recorded the material, mixed it, cut it. Arranged the order on the LP, selected the photos and mostly made the graphic design of the cover.Only one mor step had to be done, to become a published LP : the pressing and printing and mastering and the selling. Since I had done all the other steps, this time I continued the process and had		a 1ooo copies manufactured, and had initiated a record company, a new concept of music,a new style of music. I had officially become a producer. A producer of my own creation. From that moment I started to carry my LPs and later my CDs with me. From stage to stage.Offering my audiences something to take home, something authentic and honest and filled with the total involvement of the participating members of my units. Real artistic,creative and fresh. Little did I know, back then, that 3o years later I am still doing the same thing. Constructing monuments of music. Visions of sounds, architecturs of collective love. Because that is what we are doing : We love to play music, and through BIRTH RECORDS we can share our stuff beyond any concert hall limitations with the rest of the world through our CDs ,on the air and now through the internet " Gunter Hampel : excerpts from MY GUNTER LIFE (upcoming book) At the 3oth anniversary mark BIRTH RECORDS has 1o CDs,23 LPs,+7 Lps as collector's items available through the MAILORDER channels. NEW BIRTH RECORDS, the connected label with the same concepts of collective NEXT GENERATION music features incredible talented young shooting stars,has 3 CDs and 2 Videos (PAL) out
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