Manfred eicher biography graphic organizer

Born on July 9, 1943, in Lindau, Germany. Education: Graduated from Berlin's Academy of Music. Addresses: Record company--ECM Records, Postfach 600 331, 81203 Munich, Germany.

Manfred Eicher is the founder of Edition of Contemporary Music (ECM) Records, a label he formed in 1969.

At ECM, Eicher became the label's producer, helping to create an eclectic style of music that drew from European chamber and classical music traditions but was played in an improvisatory fashion by jazz musicians from around the world.

While the fusion of classical and jazz music had been attempted prior to ECM, the albums initially released on Eicher's label made a significant impact by adhering to the improvisational characteristics of jazz.

The music released on ECM also helped to reinvigorate the jazz world with recordings by such previously little-known or unknown North American and British musicians as trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, bassists Dave Holland and Charlie Haden, saxophonist Char