Tangier · Paris · Montreux · Nyon
Laser Swing Productions began with three producers, a body of extraordinary film and the conviction that jazz history should remain visible.
Dizzy Gillespie interviewed by Jacques Muyal
Founded in 1987
Jacques Muyal, Norman Granz and Frank Ténot founded Laser Swing Productions at the dawn of consumer optical video. Its central asset was not a format; it was the trust behind the films—relationships with musicians, estates, broadcasters and distributors developed over decades.
Much of the footage was older than the company: Granz and Mili’s film experiments, Duke Ellington’s late performances and the Montreux concerts produced between 1975 and 1981. Laser Swing Productions made that dispersed history identifiable, restorable and licensable.
Founders & custodians
Founders, producers and the second-generation leadership continuing the work after Jacques Muyal’s death in January 2026.
Founder · Producer · Archivist
Born in Tangier, Muyal began broadcasting jazz as a teenager before studying engineering in Lausanne. His technical instinct and unusually close friendships with musicians became a life’s work: finding masters, restoring films, negotiating releases and keeping great performances in circulation. He co-founded Laser Swing Productions in 1987 and later created Groovin’High Records.
Co-founder · Producer · Impresario
The creator of Jazz at the Philharmonic, founder of Verve and Pablo, and manager of Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson. Granz produced the Montreux cycle at the centre of the archive and initiated the films made with Gjon Mili. His insistence on integrated audiences and first-class treatment for Black musicians remains inseparable from his legacy.
Co-founder · Broadcaster · Publisher
A formative figure in European jazz broadcasting and publishing, Ténot connected radio, magazines, concerts and distribution. He was Jacques Muyal’s mentor and long-term friend, bringing deep knowledge of European media to Laser Swing Productions’ founding partnership.
Owner · Co-leader
Jacques Muyal’s son carries the archive into its next chapter through ownership, succession, modernisation and commercial reactivation. His involvement spans recovered audio masters, registered management and the continuing relationship between Laser Swing Productions and Groovin’High Records.
Filmmaker · Producer · Co-leader
The writer and director of Jazz: The Only Way of Life documented Jacques Muyal and the friendships around the archive. Following Jacques Muyal’s death, he co-leads Laser Swing Productions with Hervé Muyal, bringing an established relationship with the company’s film history.
2026 · A shared next chapter
Hervé Muyal and Jacques Matthey now co-lead Laser Swing Productions. Their mandate is both protective and active: preserve the integrity of the archive, clarify its history, build new partnerships and bring the films to contemporary audiences.
Work with the archiveThe related audio label
Created in the early 1990s as Laser Swing Productions’ audio arm, Groovin’High expanded the producer-led model into new recordings, recovered sessions and independent releases. Sources disagree between 1992 and 1995; the archived first-party history supports 1992.
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