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Very groovy stuff – two unlikely gems from mid 70s MPS! First up is Amazing Strings from Svend Asmussen – a set that features his famous jazz violin in the lead, but amidst larger arrangements that feature MPS players like Dieter Reith on keyboards, Sigi Schwab on guitar, and Gunter Lenz on bass! The tunes are mostly classical numbers, but are mixed with fresh arrangements from Christian Schmitz Steinberg – who swings them with a Euro jazzy style that's mighty nice, especially when the keyboards and guitar kick into the mix! Titles include "Golgatha", "Men's Living Joy", "Danse De Jeunes Filles", "Fur Elise", and "Ah Vous Dirais Je Maman". Rockin Bach Dimensions is even cooler – a batch of numbers penned by Johann Sebastian Bach, but taken to groovy new heights by some funky MPS players of the 70s! The album's arranged and conducted by Mladen Gutesha – who you might know from his excellent Und album – and it features Wolfgang Dauner on keyboards, Sigi Schwab on guitar, Herb Geller on flute, Ake Persson on trombone, Ack Van Rooyen on trumpet, and Horst Jankowski on electric harpsichord – all very groovy players who get plenty to do here – breaking out in jazzy inflections that underscore some of the funkier elements in the charts! Much groovier than any other jazz/classical project of this nature – with titles that include "Air", "Fuga In A", "Fuga In D", "Inventio 13", "Inventio 9", and "Inventio 15".

One of the coolest vocal groups of the late 60s – Germany's Gunter Kallmann Choir, presented here in a batch of tracks that includes some of their hippest tracks from the Polydor years! The group's sound is quite similar to that of the Horst Jankowski singers – a large ensemble of mixed male and female voices, often recorded with mod instrumental touches like electric bass, bubbling organ, funky flute, and sweet percussion – an approach that seems especially well-suited to the sorts of groovy 60s tunes presented in this package! Things are plenty sweet, but never sleepy at all – a cool blend of Anglo lyrics and German studio genius – on 24 cuts that include "Windmills Of Your Mind", "Daydream", "One Summer's Day", "Live For Life", "My Cherie Amour", "Wait Until Dark", "The Eyes Of Love", "A Time For Us", "Just A Dream", "Once In Each Life", and "The Colour Of My Love".

The cream of modern jazz in Germany during the postwar years – the kind of amazing music that never made it over to our side of the Atlantic, but which was really marking some great jazz development on the European scene of the time! As Germany picked itself up from the ashes of the war, it also experienced an amazing cultural rebirth – in film, literature, and especially music – music like this, which bursts forth with a freshness and urgency that still sounds as creatively compelling here in the 21st Century as it did back at the end of the 50s! The vibe is very much a precursor to better-known sounds from the Saba/MPS scene, and many of these artists later recorded for that label too – but here, the work is nicely early, and pretty darn great – a selection of titles that includes "Domicile" by Joki Freund & Albert Mangelsdorff, "Minority" by Michael Naura, "Lover Man" by Inge Brandenberg, "Night Bounce" by Attila Zoller, "Ease It" by Albert Mangelsdorff, "Madam B" by Die Deutschen All Stars, "Mike's Blues" by Michael Naura, and "Meeting At The Barberina" by Horst Jankowski & Rolf Kuhn.

Some of the funkiest, grooviest tunes ever from the MPS label – all brought together in one double-length set at an incredible price! These are the tracks that first got MPS re-noticed by a younger generation of groovers a decade or more ago – tunes that offer up an amazing blend of soul jazz, Brazilian, modal, and vocal styles – all done with genre-crossing genius, and some of the best production an artist could ever hope for in the studio! The collection's sort of an amalgamation of the essential (and now-deleted) compilations by Gilles Peterson that appeared on the Talkin Loud label – a filtering down of all the best bits into a 19-track CD that runs for over 75 minutes in length. Titles include "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Ella Fitzgerald, "Color" by Erwin Lehn, "Just Give Me Time" by Mark Murphy, "Little Bird" by Elsie Bianchi, "Waldmadchen" by Gustav Brom, "Espresso Loco" by Francy Boland, "That Ol Bus Smell" by Peter Herbholzheimer, "Get Out Of My Life Woman" by Dee Dee Barry & The Movements, "Big Schlepp" by Dave Pike, "Carmell's Black Forest Waltz" by Nathan Davis, "Upa Neguinho" by Edu Lobo, "Hold Me I've Got To Leave You" by Johnny Teupen, "Volcano's Daughter" by Nelson Riddle, "Monticello" by Monty Alexander, "Scratches" by Charly Antolini, and "Speech Craft" by Horst Jankowski.

Moody vocals from the Jankowski Singers – a hip ensemble led by pianist Horst Jankowski, with a floating dreamy sound that's very much in the best MPS easy mode! The tracks on the set are as haunting as the "nightpeople" in the title might imply – harmonic, yet slightly off-kilter – and easy, yet with an undercurrent of 70s slink that makes everything feel a bit stranger than it otherwise might. The title track – "Nightpeople Only" – is a real gem, and worth the price of the record alone – but the rest of the set is pretty wonderful too, with a cool blend of male/female chorus vocals, Jankowski's piano and keyboards, and some sweetly compressed flugelhorn solos from Ack Van Rooyen. Other tracks include "Didn't We", "Let's Make A Day", "With Two Eyes", "Light My Fire", and "Lady Eve". CD also features lots of bonus tracks too – 9 more numbers that include "Heideroslein", "Ach Wie Ist's Moglich Dann", "Dreamflight", "Pink Balloon", "So Wie Heut", "Like A Ruby In The Street", and "Du Du Liegst Mir Im Herzen".