Manfred Eicher

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Manfred Eicher is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records. He was born in Lindau in 1943 and studied music at the academy in Berlin. At first he was a classical double bassist, later he became a producer. In 1969 he founded ECM, the Edition of Contemporary Music, in Munich.

Music and breakthrough

Many jazz musicians have appeared on the label, among them Paul Bley, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert from 1975 became the best-selling solo piano jazz album ever. In 1984 Eicher started the sublabel ECM New Series for classical music, with work by Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, John Adams, Gavin Bryars, Meredith Monk and the medieval composer Pérotin. Officium from 1994, a meeting between Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble, was a great success. Eicher directed the film Holozän in 1992 and wrote the music for the film Kedma in 2002.

Influence

Eicher produced most of his label's records himself, more than a thousand albums. A jazz record took on average two days to record and one day to mix, usually with the sound engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug in Oslo. He lets musicians follow their own instinct and himself plays a directing role. The result is a recognisable, spacious and calm ECM sound, which has strongly shaped European jazz. For his work he received, among other honours, DownBeat's Producer of the Year title in 1976 and in 2007 the Bundesverdienstkreuz.

Listening

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

• ECM sound GenreECM, Edition of Contemporary Music, was founded in Munich in 1969 by the producer Manfred Eicher.