ACT is a German

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

founded in 1992 by Siegfried Loch. It is a division of ACT + Music Video founded by Loch and Annette Humpe in 1988. ACT started as a pop music label but folded soon after it started. Loch turned it into a jazz label, at first reissuing music he had recorded for Liberty, Philips, and WEA before turning to new recordings. ACT's first release was the album ''Jazzpaña'' by

Vince Mendoza Vince Mendoza (born November 17, 1961) is an American composer, music arranger and conductor, and six-time Grammy Award winner. He debuted as a solo artist in 1989, and is known for his work conducting the Metropole Orkest and WDR Big Band K� ...

and

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for o ...

and featured

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...

, Al Di Meola, and

Steve Khan Steve Khan (born Steven Harris Cahn; April 28, 1947) is an American jazz guitarist. Career Steven Harris Cahn was born in Los Angeles. His father, lyricist Sammy Cahn, "loved to hear any and all versions of his songs". He took piano lessons as a ...

. It earned two Grammy nominations. ACT was voted Label of the Year in the German

Echo Jazz The Echo Jazz (stylized as ECHO JAZZ) was a German music prize, an Echo Music Prize for personalities and production of jazz. It was awarded annually by the between 2010 and 2018. The awards had been given in 30 categories, including ensemble of ...

online poll four times in a row from 2010 to 2013.

Roster

ACT artists include Marius Neset,

Bugge Wesseltoft Jens Christian Bugge Wesseltoft (born 1 February 1964) is a Norwegian jazz pianist, composer, and producer, son of jazz guitarist Erik Wesseltoft. Career In 1989, Wesseltoft collaborated with the Knut Riisnæs Quartet and was soon after ...

Lars Danielsson Lars Danielsson (born 5 September 1958) is a Swedish jazz bassist, composer, and record producer. Biography Danielsson was born in Smålandsstenar, and was educated at the music conservatory in Gothenburg. He plays double bass, electric bass ...

Viktoria Tolstoy Louise Viktoria Tolstoy (born 29 July 1974) is a Swedish jazz singer of Russian ancestry. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and the daughter of Erik Kjellberg. Tolstoy was a regular studio guest in season one o ...

Vijay Iyer Vijay Iyer (born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, histori ...

Leszek Mozdzer Leszek () is a Slavic Polish male given name, originally ''Lestko'', ''Leszko'' or ''Lestek'', related to ''Lech'', ''Lechosław'' and Czech ''Lstimir''. Individuals named Leszek celebrate their name day on June 3. Notable people * Lestko * ...

, Iiro Rantala, Nils Landgren and Esbjörn Svensson Trio. Also:

Esbjörn Svensson Bror Fredrik "Esbjörn" Svensson (16 April 1964 – 14 June 2008) was a Swedish jazz pianist and founder of the jazz group Esbjörn Svensson Trio, commonly known as e.s.t. Svensson became one of Europe's most successful jazz musicians at the tur ...

, Rigmor Gustafsson, and

Ulf Wakenius Ulf, or Ulv is a masculine name common in Scandinavia and Germany. It derives from the Old Norse word for "wolf" (''úlfr'', see Wulf). The oldest written record of the name's occurrence in Sweden is from a runestone of the 11th century. The ...

. Artists contracted from other countries are the Norwegian saxophonists

Geir Lysne Geir Øystein Lysne (born 9 October 1965 in Trondheim, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz musician (saxophone, flute, composer, arranger) and a famous Big Band leader. Career Geir Lysne is a Norwegian conductor, composer, produser and teacher, educate ...

Tore Brunborg Tore Brunborg (born 20 May 1960) is a Norwegian jazz musician and composer who plays saxophone. He was born in Trondheim but grew up in Voss where a jazz environment was flowering. Known from numerous appearances with international greats includ ...

Frøy Aagre Frøy Aagre (born 8 June 1977 in Tønsberg, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist. Career Aagre is one of the leading saxophonists of Norway, playing tenor and soprano saxophone with an individual sound that builds on inspirations by such ...

, violinist

Henning Kraggerud Henning Kraggerud (born 23 June 1973) is a Norwegian musician and composer. Career Kraggerud was born in Oslo. He studied with Camilla Wicks, Emanuel Hurwitz, and Stephan Barratt-Due, before embarking on a career that has brought solo appeara ...

, the band In The Country, the Danish vocalist Cæcilie Norby, the Belgian guitarist

Philip Catherine Philip Catherine (born 27 October 1942) is a Belgian jazz guitarist. Biography Philip Catherine was born in London, England, to an English mother and Belgian father, and was raised in Brussels, Belgium. His grandfather was a violinist in the ...

, the Austrian pianist David Helbock, the French drummer

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusion ...

. German musicians on the label include Christian Muthspiel, Joachim Kühn, Christof Lauer,

Wolfgang Haffner Wolfgang Haffner (born 7 December 1965) is a German jazz drummer with an extensive discography.Discographyat Allmusic Discography * 2020 - Kind of Tango * 2019 – ''4WD'' (with Nils Landgren) * 2019 – ''The East End'' (with Bill Evans) * 20 ...

, and Michael Wollny (winner of the ECHO Jazz award in 2010 for best instrumentalist, piano/keyboards). ACT has recorded

Nguyên Lê Nguyên Lê (Vietnamese: ''Lê Thành Nguyên''; born 14 January 1959) is a French jazz musician and composer of Vietnamese ancestry. His main instrument is guitar, and he also plays bass guitar and guitar synthesizer. He has released albums ...

and

Youn Sun Nah Na Yoon-sun ( ko, 나윤선; born August 28, 1969), also known as Youn Sun Nah, is a South Korean jazz musician. Life and career Na Yoon-sun was born on August 28, 1969, in Seoul. Her parents are musical: her father, Na Young-soo (나영수) ...

(winner of the Echo Jazz award in 2011 for best singer internationally),

Jasper van't Hof Jasper van 't Hof (born 30 June 1947) is a Dutch jazz pianist and keyboard player. Van 't Hof was born in Enschede, Overijssel, Netherlands, and began studying piano at the age of five. He played in jazz bands at school, and by the age of 19 was ...

, Simon Nabatov, and

Paolo Fresu Paolo Fresu ( sc, Pàulu; born 10 February 1961) is an Italian jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, as well as a composer and arranger of music. Career Born in Berchidda, Sardinia, he picked up the trumpet at the age of 11, and played in the ba ...

Discography

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Jazz record labels German record labels Record labels established in 1992