BYG Actuel

BYG was a French record label in the fields of jazz and progressive rock, which was founded in 1967 and published until the early 1970s.

The label was founded in March 1967 by Fernand Boruso, Jean -Luc Young and Jean Georgakarakos (in short " Karakos " ) was founded. The name of the label was formed from the initials of the founder's last name. While Boruso had previously worked for the label Saravah, the filmmaker Claude Lelouch had founded, and Young for Barclay Records, Karakos had previously operated in the sale and import of vinyl records. The label initially released singles by British musicians such as Aynsley Dunbar and Alexis Korner, but also of Otis Redding and Ike & Tina Turner, as well as from the French Underground ( Alan Jack Civilization, Daevid Allen's Gong ). But there also Wilma Landskroon was published with her hit Tulips from Amsterdam as well as songs by François Wertheimer; Vangelis also appeared there a single under the pseudonym of Alpha Beta. Some of these artists from the underground and from the Chanson area, the label put on even LPs; also was (probably under license by Charisma Records) sold an LP from Pacific Gas & Electric.

In 1972, the company BYG fell into a financial crisis; Georgakarakos and Young founded in the years to their own label, Celluloid ( Georgakarakos, 1976) and Charly (Young, 1974). During this time, the label was mainly used recordings of Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington or the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and some blues and blues-rock sessions (about Sonny Boy Williamson with Jimmy Page or the Animals ) to market.

BYG Actuel

BYG Actuel was a sub-label, which specialized in free jazz and psychedelic rock, but also released recordings from the fusion zone and the area of ​​new improvised music. BYG Actuel went from the late 1960s, especially a name with a series of recordings with American free jazz musicians who came for that purpose to Paris in 1969, in which they learned at a time in their home country little attention.

Many of these musicians were currently living longer beautiful in Europe and appeared in July 1969 on the Pan - African Music Festival in Algiers; inter alia, Archie Shepp. The result was a series of recordings under the production of Claude Delcloo and Jacques Bisceglia; BYG Actuel was also responsible for the organization of the Actuel Festival, which took place in late October 1969 in the Belgian town of Amougies in Hainault. It should only be held in Paris, but was stopped by the French authorities. At the festival, leading exponent of free jazz, but also of progressive rock occurred, such as Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Captain Beefheart, Soft Machine, Ten Years After, The Nice and Yes. With 20,000 visitors in five nights, the festival was a great success, but a financial flop. In July of 1970 Georgakarakos organized in Biot on the French Riviera, the Popanalia festival, which was also commercially successful.

In 2002 he released a compilation of recordings of the label, JazzActuel: A Collection of Avant Garde / Free Jazz / Psychedelia From the BYG / Actuel Catalogue of 1969-1971, as a 3- CD set with Charly and at Get Back Records in Italy than 6 - LP set. The compilation was curated by Thurston Moore ( Sonic Youth ) and the journalist Byron Coley

On BYG Actuel published albums of the Art Ensemble of Chicago ( A Jackson in Your House ), the improvisation ensemble Musica Elettronica Viva, the fusion band Gong, the psychedelic bands Ame Son and Freedom, and musicians such as Paul Bley, Anthony Braxton ( This Time ), Dave Burrell, Don Cherry, Jacques Coursil, Andrew Cyrille, Burton Greene, Arthur Jones, Joachim Kühn, Steve Lacy, Jimmy Lyons, Pierre Marietan / Terry Riley Grachan Moncur III, Sunny Murray, Sonny Sharrock, Archie Shepp ( Yasmina, a Black Woman), Alan Silva, Sun Ra, Clifford Thornton and Frank Wright.

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