|
Manfred Eicher is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records and its subsidiaries.
Eicher studied music at the Academy of Music in Berlin. He is a record producer and a double-bass player. In 1969 he founded a record label in Munich called ECM - Edition of Contemporary Music. Some of the famous artists he has recorded over the last 40 years are Keith Jarrett, John Abercrombie, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Jack DeJohnette, Anouar Brahem, Dave Holland, Pat Metheny, Ralph Towner, Terje Rypdal, Steve Kuhn, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
A notable record ECM released in its early years was The Köln Concert, a solo piano performance by Keith Jarrett. Nearly as well known is the early Pat Metheny recording American Garage.
In 1984 Eicher started up a new label, ECM New Series, for written music, or European classical music. Some of the artists whose work was released on the New Series were Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, John Adams, Meredith Monk, and the mediaeval composer Pérotin. Perhaps the most remarkable record was the best-seller Officium, a collaboration between Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble, performing some compositions by Cristóbal de Morales, Pérotin and others.
|
