ECM Records
ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres. ECM's motto is the Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence, taken from a 1971 review of ECM releases in CODA, a Canadian jazz magazine.
The label was distributed in the USA by Warner Bros. Records, PolyGram Records, BMG, and, since 1999, by Universal Music, the successor of PolyGram.
Its album covers have been profiled in two books thus far, Sleeves of Desire and Windfall Light, both published by Lars Müller.
History
The first ECM release was Free at Last in 1969 by American pianist Mal Waldron. For some years the label specialised in jazz, releasing recordings by pianists Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Egberto Gismonti and Art Lande; saxophonist Jan Garbarek, vibraphonist Gary Burton; drummers Jon Christensen and Paul Motian; guitarists Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, Bill Connors and Terje Rypdal; bassists Eberhard Weber, Arild Andersen, Charlie Haden, Barre Phillips and Dave Holland; and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
