mikeweil

It was their best selling release - 100.000 copies, which was enormous for a jazz album in Germany at the time.

Living in Germany I had the opportunity to see many of their artists in person, this band being one of them (without Thompson). Nice jazzrock, but not top league. John Lee and Gerry Brown were hyped by some German critics as being on the level of Stanley Clarke & co., but they really were not. But they worked hard, gave their best.

This thread is dedicated to the memory of its three founders, Volker Kriegel, Albert Angelsdorff, and Wolfgang Dauner - the latter left us just a few days ago. This is what discogs says about the label, which is all correct, AFAIK: "German label co-founded in 1977 by Volker Kriegel, Wolfgang Dauner, Albert Mangelsdorff , Ack van Rooyen, Werner Schretzmeier (a German cabaret artist and radio moderator), and Tonstudio Zuckerfabrik to promote and distribute the new sound of jazz-rock. Their first release The United Jazz+Rock Ensemble - Live Im Schützenhaus became the best selling German jazz record of all times with 100.000 sold copies. Originally promoted and distributed exclusively by the fashionable "Zweitausendeins" chain of book and record mailorder stores via their 1,2 million catalogue subscribers, the Mood Records label soon became a highly acclaimed brand for experimental sounds and quality musicianship. Operations of the label / company have ceased and the company was deleted from the commercial register on 09 May 2016. " Between 1977 and 1987 88 LPs were released if I counted correctly. Then they started releasing CDs, inluding reissues of many titles. 2006 saw their last release, caused by the sale of their disctributor, Zweitauisendeins, to a new owner. In 2010 Inakustik made double CD reissues of 22 albums. Dauner and Schretzmeier operated the company free of charge for many years, so they were able to pay the muscians 25% of the profit, which was enormous compared to other labels. In 2010, Dauner retired from his post as director. . Please tell about the releases you have heard or own or both, and what you think of them. I have only a few as the label did not quite match my tastes; some I know are downright brilliant, some I found a bit over-produced - more later. If you want a complete list here, please let me know. discogs seems to have a pretty much complete listing: https://www.discogs.com/label/42996-Mood-Records

IMO Mood releases were a mixed bag, some brilliant (like the Dauner solo album), others heavily over-produced (like the Voices LP or the Head, Heart & Hands. I'll open a thread on the label.

In memory of a great pianist!

Oh yeah!

That's the reason I order from Jazzmessengers. too. The price is about the same as when ordering from Mosaic (including shipping and customs) and I don't have the hassle to pick it up at the customs office.

No idea - so many musical styles. Perhaps a solo piano album? https://www.discogs.com/Wolfgang-Dauner-Solo-Piano/release/3316155

All the old masters are passing, one by one ..... R.I.P.

His trio made one of the first ten ECM LPs, "Output". Far out and fun. And never on CD. Eicher would not release music of that type any more. The latter has long been on my want list.

R.I.P. He was among the first ten jazz musicians I saw live - his trio with Eberhard Weber and Fred Braceful subbed for the Bulgarian Jazz Quartet to open for the Herbie Mann Quintet in Frankfurt - must have been 1970. He was a true original, perhaps the most original of all German jazz pianists, totally unprejudiced. He could hang with the best of them on any scene. Owned one of the first three synths in Europe. Wolfram Knauer, the Darmstadt Jazz Institute's director, will present his new book on the German jazz scene later this month at the local public library. I'm sure he will adress this on the occasion.