Q&A with Markus Müller ~ The Free Jazz Collective

Markus Müller. Photo by Cristina Marx/Photomusix

In 2022, Markus Müller, released a fantastic book about the history of FMP. Working closely with Jost Gebers, owner and founder of the important and influential West German record label, Müller provided a expansive and engaging history of the label in its effort to document and promote the creative music developing on the border between the former East and West Berlin. We covered the FMP: The Living Music here and interviewed Müller at the time, here. 

After Geber’s passing in 2023, Mueller became the owner of FMP (which he discusses below) and has been quietly working on starting a new chapter in the label’s history. Martin Schray and I pooled a set of questions for Müller, who in between trips to the US and opening the new FMP office with a series of free concerts (see below), took the time to answer. Enjoy!  -Paul Acquaro

FJB: You were recently in Chicago at the Corbett v Dempsey gallery, can
you tell us about this event?

MM: It was my privilege to be invited to present my FMP book and specifically
FMP’s collateral relationship to Chicago and it was an honor that Ken
Vandermark introduced this presentation with an Albert Ayler composition,
Love Call and joined our discussion afterwards. An extra perk was being
able to see the Albert Oehlen Kim Gordon exhibition as well as the Sun
Ra-Covers group show.

What is the connection between FMP and the Chicago scene?

Well, initially there was an FMP fest in Chicago in 1995. I
called the relation collateral because the real relation was built on John
Corbett organising the possibility of Brötzmann’s Chicago Octet/Tentett
experience starting in 1997. That in itself was obviously a monumental
achievement: a European starts a large-scale ensemble of international
colleagues and this continues to be on the road until 2011, incredible. It
eventually led to John Corbett licensing FMP recordings for Atavistic
Records etc. etc. etc. I believe it is fair to say that what Ken Vandermark
and others have established with Catalytic Sound and Catalytic Soundstream
or what Mike Reed is establishing with the Hungry Brain and Constellation,
“his” two venues in Chicago, is next generation continuation of some of
FMP’s ideas. And when you think of AACM’s obvious influence on FMP, you
suddenly have a full circle Chicago – FMP– Chicago roundabout. Anyway,
there are a lot of people in Chicago who think that FMP is a worthwhile and
interesting model. And the city has the music to back it up. I had a great
time at Peter Margasak’s Frequency Festival, and I loved David Rempis and
PT with Joshua Abrams and Mike Reed at the Brain. And don’t get me started
about Fridays at the Green Mill (thank you, again, Ken Vandermark).

CvD reissued FMP recordings over the years on CD, is this something
you will continue?

Yes, the collaborations with both CvD and Trost will continue never change
a winning team.

You also work with Trost, re-releasing authentic versions of the
classic recordings on LP, also can we expect to see some more of these? (I
have almost all of the Trost/Cien Feugos reissues, they’re a treat!)

See above…

Back to Berlin… how did the move from Jost Geber’s store
house in the western side of Germany back home to Berlin in the far eastern
side go?

Oh, it is still going on. Technically we have offices in Borken and Berlin
and I am very thankful that Anna Maria Ostendorff, Jost’s wife, is still
supporting FMP. I have the good fortune of being allowed to tap into her
knowledge and to move things step by step.

Do the many recordings that were stored with Jost Gebers’ still have musical significance beyond a historical one?

Jost had a full studio in Borken, a fully
functioning office and a full storage and he was preparing recordings to be
mastered by Olaf Rupp basically non-stop until the very end. Given the
interest in seminal historical recordings we see right now, let us say
recordings by Milford Graves for example, I would say that yes there are
still quite a few unpublished recordings that have musical significance. It
is all about making things available that are here, were there, and are
underrepresented by the mainstream. It was John Corbett who found the
alternate take to Pakistani Pomade by the Schlippenbach Trio in Borken. Who
knows what I am to find?

If so, which ones do you think are particularly exciting?

I do not want to cherry-pick. But there is something for everybody. And I
will also publish new old recordings that are not in the FMP vaults. I am
looking at material by the wonderful Hans Schneider for example that was
brought to my attention by Stefan Keune, or King Übü Orchestrü recordings
that Erhard Hirt found etc. etc. by the end of April (25/26/27), when Wolke Verlag and FMP will celebrate moving into their new offices at FMP1 (no
joke), I hope to have all the details for the first releases ready, they
will drop in the Fall of 2025.

Can you discuss some of the developments since the
The Living Music was published and FMP moved back to Berlin? Perhaps a bit more about
the new location and your connection with Wolke?

Yes indeed. The new location is the former Neues Deutschland building,
which was the GDR state newspaper, now FMP1 at Franz-Mehring-Platz 1,
located between Ostbahnhof and Berghain and it gives us the opportunity to
have offices as well as storage as well as quite a handful of different
size venues that we will be able to use for our Spring Fest. Plus, there is
a paternoster and, yes, we will perform Sven Åke Johansson’s “Paternoster”
twice on Saturday the 26 ^th (something for all members of the
family!). Thanks to Takako Suzuki and Hannes Lingen, who have both worked
on the piece before, and specially to Takako, who was able to recruit and
work with the required dancers. We are honored that quite a few old and new
friends will join us, just to name a few: Alexander von Schlippenbach and
Aki Takase, Georg Graewe, Olaf Rupp, Michael Wertmüller, Marino Pliakas,
Erhard Hirt and Stefan Keune but also Burkhard Beins and Andrea Neuman,
Silke Eberhard and Harri Sjöström and many more, the program is in the
works. We will soon communicate all the details so please forgive me for not
mentioning all involved. It will not be a generic festival, but rather a
kaleidoscope of short and beautiful interventions, musics, discussions and
performances: free of charge. This is all without any funding, so let us
hope that our pockets are deep enough to survive this. 

Photo by Cristina Marx / Photomusix

First and foremost: we are honored and privileged to get this
extra-ordinary support from the community, we will try to pay back! Wolke
and FMP I believe share a similar DNA, in both their histories and in the
simple fact that Wolke published a lot of Brötzmann, and Hans Reichel,
Cecil Taylor, and Sven Åke Johansson, and last but not least my book. Plus,
it is a beacon of working outside the box, it is a multi-dimensional
publishing house and I think it is exemplary in it’s practice. “Es wächst
zusammen, was zusammen gehört”. Just joking, I think it is a very good fit
and I am enthusiastic about this.

Photo by Cristina Marx / Photomusix

Does the future of FMP only include the management of historical
recordings or are new releases also planned? If so, would this also happen
under the FMP label or under a new name that could then be associated with
FMP (such as Uhlklang)?

Yes, we will do both, we will “complete” our download-site on bandcamp and
we will dig in the vaults and publish new new musics. But it will be only
download and CD and as such it will continue the FMP CD catalog, meaning
after FMP CD 148, STRETTO by Honsinger & Rupp, we will do FMP CD 150 in
the Fall. We might continue the OWN Series as well as the FMP Special
Editions and these will be very special indeed.

In an earlier interview with us, you said that everything about FMP
was political and that it was very much about self-empowerment. To what
extent does this also have significance for the future of improvised music?

I think there is no improvised music without self-empowerment. As far as
the political is concerned I think we will have to talk about possibilities
and strategies of resistance and survival, and these will become more
crucial than ever.

In this context, cultural promotion is at stake, especially in view
of the rise of populist and anti-democratic parties. Is the continuation of
a brand that always sees itself as a left-wing label also to be understood
as a sign in this context?

I think we are past these labels. I am for the empowerment of minorities
and cosmopolitanism. But that is just me. And I will do project specific
albeit sometimes extremely multifaceted and even contradictory
potentialities based on FMP’s music legacy. I hope people will continue to
be interested in hearing that in the future.

And to come back to now, what can we be expecting from FMP in the
coming months?

Spring Fest on April 25/26/27 and new downloads and physical products in
the Fall. 

Finally, could you explain how you became the new
curator of FMP? What do you think is the importance of the label to this
day?

I am not the curator, I am the owner of FMP and it is quite a
responsibility to carry. Jost Gebers wanted me to take on that role and
Brötzmann agreed. I am standing on the shoulders of giants and time will
tell if I can contribute to the legacy in any meaningful way, shape or
form. It certainly is worth trying, especially in times like these.