Jazzwerkstatt

Jazzwerkstatt is a Berlin music label for contemporary jazz and improvised music. Since its founding in 2007, the label has stood for an uncompromising artistic stance beyond the mainstream, high design quality, and the sustainable documentation of jazz — especially of protagonists from the former GDR. With roughly 250 CD releases, several LPs, DVDs, and book productions, Jazzwerkstatt has established itself internationally as a fixture in the free music scene. The label emerged from the aim of making free, independent music visible and giving it a high-quality publishing framework, focusing not on the market but on artistic necessity and the sustainable support of musicians. Over the past two decades, Jazzwerkstatt organized more than 1,000 concerts, primarily in Berlin.

Jazzwerkstatt is a Berlin music label for contemporary jazz and improvised music. Since its founding in 2007, the label has stood for an uncompromising artistic stance beyond the mainstream, high design quality, and the sustainable documentation of jazz — especially of protagonists from the former GDR. Early releases include productions with Peter Brötzmann, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Joe Sachse, Uwe Kropinski, Ulrich Gumpert, and Friedhelm Schönfeld. At the same time, the label consistently promoted the young, emerging Berlin jazz scene with musicians such as Silke Eberhard, Christian Lillinger, Jan Roder, Johannes Fink, Peter Ehwald, and Oli Steidle. International jazz greats — including Ornette Coleman, David Murray, Lee Konitz, and David Liebman — also shape the catalog. Jazzwerkstatt emerged from the aim of making free, independent music visible and giving it a high-quality publishing framework. To offer the jazz scene a continuous platform, Jazzwerkstatt organized more than 1,000 concerts over the past two decades, primarily in Berlin, including at the Kammermusiksaal, Kino Babylon, Radialsystem, Kulturbrauerei, and Institut Français / Maison de France am Kurfürstendamm. In 2024, the archives of Jazzwerkstatt were added to the collections of the German National Library in Leipzig.

Uncompromising artistic stance beyond the mainstream, high design quality, and sustainable documentation of jazz.

• JW237 | JAZZ IN DER DDR – 3 CD-BOX

  A 3-CD box release with a greeting from Federal President Steinmeier.

1. 1Jazzwerkstatt Recordsjazzwerkstatt.eu
2. 2Über uns - Jazzwerkstatt Recordsjazzwerkstatt.eu
3. 3Jazzwerkstattwikidata.org