A label with real kudos among collectors, Germany’s MPS peaked between the early and mid-1970s. The catalogue bulged with recordings by expatriate Americans of the calibre of Dexter Gordon, Slide Hampton, Hannibal Marvin Peterson and Dave Pike, and Germans such as Peter Herbolzheimer, George Gruntz and Albert Mangelsdorff. This compilation by DJ-producer Nicola Conte provides a smart overview of the period, with the artists investigating post-Trane modalism, Indo-jazz and proto-fusion, and excelling in both composition and improvisation. All the selected tunes are the work of strong personalities who are able to put their own spin on these myriad vocabularies, creating music that has not aged while being very much of its time. In fact, there is stylistic and cultural border crossing that couldn’t be more 21st century. The programme focuses on what could be called the golden years of MPS, but the label has a vast catalogue that could well be mined for at least another volume.