German producer and contrabassist, born 9 July 1943 in Lindau.
Studied music at the Academy of Music in Berlin. Co-founded, with Karl Egger and Manfred Scheffner, the German label Edition of Contemporary Music (ECM Records) in 1970 for which he is recording producer, publisher and editor. Received the honorary "German Record Critics Award" for his achievements in 1986. Other awards for outstanding productions include the "Grand Prix du Disque" (France), the "Edison Award" (Holland), "Grammy Award" (USA) and DownBeat Producer of the Year ten times. Since 2018, he is an Honorary Fellow of the London Royal Academy of Music.