Creative Works Records is an independent Swiss

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

History

The label ''Creative Works Records'' was founded in 1983 by Mike Wider in

Root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

(

canton of Lucerne The canton of Lucerne ( ; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. It is located in the country's central, German-speaking Switzerland, German-speaking part. The population of the canton (as of ) is . , the population included 57 ...

). Wider, who at that time had helped build up a recording studio in

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

and was active as a music producer, recorded the American alto saxophonist

Marion Brown Marion Brown (September 8, 1931 – October 18, 2010) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, writer, visual artist, and ethnomusicologist. He was a member of the avant-garde jazz scene in New York City during the 1960s, playing alongsi ...

on his first album. With the solo LP he then travelled to record stores and also to a trade fair in Paris, where he was personally welcomed by the French Minister of Culture Jack Lang for his commitment.Tom Gsteige
''Der Mäzen ohne Goldesel'' (2006)
Since then the label has released between two and four productions a year. In particular modern and contemporary

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

avant-garde music Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term "avant-garde" implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original elem ...

are released. The label is run by Wider on a part-time basis and is not profit-oriented: All profits made are always fully invested in the next productions.

Concept of the label

Musicians released on the label include

Corin Curschellas Corin Curschellas (; born 2 July 1956) is a Swiss singer-songwriter, vocalist (jazz, folk music, world music, chanson), free improvisation, actress (theatre, film, musical), voice actress in (radio drama and Audiobook, audio books) as well as vo ...

, ,

John Wolf Brennan John Wolf Brennan (born 13 February 1954) is an Irish pianist, organist, melodica player, and composer based in Weggis, Switzerland. Career Brennan was born in Dublin, Ireland. His family moved to Switzerland when he was seven years old. He b ...

Christy Doran Christy Doran (born 1949) is a jazz guitarist born in Dublin, Ireland, and raised in Lucerne, Switzerland. Doran founded OM with Fredy Studer, Urs Leimgruber, and Bobby Burri in the 1970s; this ensemble recorded for ECM. He and Studer also work ...

Urs Leimgruber Urs Leimgruber (1 January 1952 in Lucerne) is a Swiss saxophonist. He lived in Paris from 1988 to 2005. Then he came back to his home town, Lucerne. His fields of activity are improvisation, Jazz and 20th-century classical music. Discography ...

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

Alfred Harth Alfred Harth, now known as Alfred 23 Harth or A23H, is a German multimedia artist, band leader, multi-instrumentalist musician, and composer who creatively mixes genres. Career Harth founded a free improvisation band, Just Music (band), Just M ...

, ,

Peter Schärli Peter Schärli (29 May 1955) is a Swiss jazz trumpeter. Biography When he was ten years old, he started to learn trumpet. He continued his studies at the Lucern jazz school while working as a clerk. He joined the blues band Exodus as a singer ...

Ned Rothenberg Ned Rothenberg (born September 15, 1956) is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer. He specializes in woodwind instruments, including the alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, and shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). He is known ...

, , , and

Franz Koglmann Franz Koglmann (born 22 May 1947) is an Austrian jazz composer. He performs on both the trumpet and flugelhorn in most often in avant-garde jazz and third stream. An award-winning composer, Koglmann has performed or recorded with Lee Konitz, Paul ...

. Albums by the late musicians

Klaus Koch Klaus Koch (October 4, 1926 – March 28, 2019) was an Old Testament scholar. Koch first studied in the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and later at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. He did his doctoral dissertation at the Ruprec ...

and

Werner Lüdi Werner Lüdi (April 22, 1936 – June 21, 2000) was a Swiss jazz musician (alto saxophone, alto- and baritone saxophone) and author. Biography Lüdi was born on April 22, 1936 in Poschiavo. He spent the early years of his life in Val Poschiavo ...

were also published by the label. Both records and DVDs have been released. Currently the focus is on Swiss musicians of the jazz and

Free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

scene, such as , Christy Doran and , and the Swiss composers who work around Marianne Schroeder and Brennan in the Groupe Lacroix (for example in collaboration with the Moscow Rachmaninov Trio from Russia and the

Ensemble Sortisatio Ensemble Sortisatio is a quartet (viola, oboe/cor anglais, bassoon and guitar) founded by violist Matthias Sannemüller in 1992 in Leipzig, Germany. Its members are mostly soloists at the MDR Symphony Orchestra. They have specialized in contempora ...

from Germany). Today, it is part of the label's philosophy to "accompany a band or an artist over several years and to offer them the opportunity to introduce themselves with different projects at different intervals." Thus, the label has developed among others John Wolf Brennan's five solo albums for piano as well as his exhibition were published by the label ''I.N.I.T.I.A.L.S.''This exhibition goes back to 1991, se
Interview with Brennan
Concerto 4/2006 In doing so, the label focuses on building up the musicians over a longer period of time without restricting their artistic freedom. Quote Wider: "In certain productions I'm already involved in the creation process, but I'm not one to talk up everywhere. But it is important for me to find a personal connection to the musicians." Unlike many other labels, the rights remain with the musicians.

Literature

* K. D. Zeh: ''20 Jahre Creative Works Records: Wider den seichten Pop.'' 5/2004: 28

References

External links

Website of Creative Works Records
(engl.)
Creative Works Records on Discogs
{{Authority control Swiss independent record labels Classical music record labels Jazz record labels Companies based in the canton of Lucerne