De-Phazz give Alphone Mouzon’s ‘Do I Have To?’ a jazzy disco rework
The third single from De-Phazz’s upcoming album belooped scheduled for release on November 13th is a reinterpretation of Alphonse Mouzon’s “Do I Have To?”, where producer Pit Baumgartner combines a laid-back groove with a healthy dose of disco, giving the track which originally appeared on Mouzon’s MPS album By All Means an unmistakable De-Phazz touch.
In this remix the timeless elegance of the original meets a laid-back, urban lounge aesthetic. Mouzon, a drummer, composer and producer, was one of the defining musicians of 1970s jazz and fusion, and worked with artists such as Miles Davis, Weather Report and Larry Coryell throughout his career. His groove- oriented playing style made him a distinctive voice at the intersection of jazz, funk and soul.
For the remix, the original has been musically expanded and gains significantly in substance and depth thanks to the new mix. A distinctive, powerfully produced bass line takes centre stage, giving the track a bouncy groove. Over this lies the voice of Sandie Wollasch, which lends the piece an additional, sensual layer and blends organically with Mouzon’s instrumental world.
With belooped, De-Phazz and Germany’s oldest jazz label, MPS, bring together what belongs together. For this extraordinary project, De-Phazz founder Pit Baumgartner has been granted access to the archives of Musik Produktion Schwarzwald. With a keen sense for grooves and melodies, the sound architect has carefully restored the work of global stars such as Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and George Duke, bringing it into the contemporary sound. The result is a musical collage that combines the ‘Most Perfect Sound’ of the 60s to the 80s with the electro-organic vibes of the lounge pioneers, proving that timeless jazz and modern dance floors are no contradiction.
belooped finally brings together what has attracted many hipsters to the dance floors of Hamburg, Honolulu, Munich and Miami over the past decades. On the one hand, there is the tongue-in-cheek playfulness of the lounge export hit De-Phazz, launched in Heidelberg in 1997 by Pit Baumgartner, with its millions of streams on Spotify & Co. On the other hand, there is the archive of the record company MPS, which is cultically revered by DJs and rare groove hunters. Old meets new, digital meets analogue. What remains is the unique atmosphere. As well as the unmistakable sense of grooves and wonderful melodies that connect the MPS productions recorded between the 1960s and 1980s with the electro-organic vibes of De- Phazz.
“Do I Have To?” out digitally on October 2nd 2026 on MPS
