Siggi Loch receives Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

ACT president and music producer Siggi Loch has received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from the German head of state Bundespr?sident Joachim Gauck. Press release attached.

We have received the following press release;

Siggi Loch receives Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

ACT president and music producer Siggi Loch has received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from the German head of state Bundespr?sident Joachim Gauck. Siggi Loch received Germany’s highest national award ?in recognition of his merits for the country and the people? on November 3rd in Berlin.

For his work with ACT Siggi Loch has already garnered a number of awards in the past. In 2010 he was given the knighthood of the Royal Order Of The Northern Star by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden for his work for Swedish Jazz. During Jazzahead Bremen 2012 Siggi Loch received the Skoda Jazz Award and in 1998 the lifetime achievement award from the German Record Critics’ Award Association. The German jazz fans elected ACT label of the year four times in a row at the ECHO Jazz, Germany’s most important music prize.

SIGGI LOCH BIOGRAPHY from http://www.actmusic.com

August 6th, 1940 Siegfried Loch is born in Stolp/Pomerania, now Slupsk, Poland.
He lives in Merseburg ? East Germany, until 1951, when his family resettles in the west of the country (Hannover)

In 1955 he experiences his first encounter with jazz, a concert with Sidney Bechet in Hannover

From 1956 to 1960 Loch works as an amateur drummer leading his own band Red Onions

In 1960 he enters the music business as a representative for the ASD (Auslandssonderdienst ? foreign special service) of EMI Electrola

From 1962 to 1966 Loch works as label manager jazz and producer for Philips Ton (Phonogram) in Hamburg. His first release as a producer is in December 1962 with Klaus Doldinger. In 1963 the American Folkblues Festival, George Gruntz, Ingfried Hoffmann, Klaus Weiss, Attila Zoller and first commercial success with the Star-Club productions featuring The Searchers, Rattles, Spencer Davis Group, Jerry Lee Lewis and others follow

In 1964 Siegfried marries Sissy Loch

From 1967 to 1970 he works as founding managing director of Liberty/United Artists Records and Metric Music Publishing in Munich.
Continues to work as a producer for (among others) Klaus Doldinger, Jean-Luc Ponty for Pacifc Jazz. He becomes commercially successful with Katja Ebstein and Sigi Schwaab

In 1971 Loch becomes founding managing director of WEA Music Hamburg (later WARNER Music Germany) and MUZ Music Publishing Munich. There is no further activity as a producer except Doldinger Jubilee 1975, Coryell/Catherine (for Elektra) und Dave Brubeck/Gerry Mulligan (for Atlantic)

In 1975 he is appointed vice-president of WEA International

From 1973 to 1982 Loch is founding member and board member of the Deutsche Phono Akademie (German phonographic academy)

From 1975 to 1982 chairmain of German IFPI (German Record Industry Association)

From 1983 to 1987 president of WEA Europe Inc. in London

In 1988 Siegfried Loch founds ACT Publishing ltd. in London and the music production company ACT Music+Vision in Berlin (with his partners Annette Humpe and Jim Rakete)

The year 1989 sees the disbandment of the partnership with Humpe and Rakete

1992 foundation of the ACT Jazz + World-Jazz Label in Hamburg.
Continuation of his activity as a producer with ?Jazzpa?a - The Mendoza-Mardin Project? (2 Grammy nominations in the USA)

1993 foundation of ?emoción?, a label for ?The Art Of Flamenco?

In 1998 Siegfried Loch is awarded a lifetime achievement award by the German Association of Record Reviewers (Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik)

1998 Loch moves from Hamburg to Feldafing / ACT office to Munich

2000 joint anniversaries: August 6th: 60th birthday / 40th anniversary in the music business

2007 Loch moves to Berlin / ACT office remains in Munich

2010 50th anniversary in the music business / ACT receives ECHO Jazz for “label of the year” / Siggi Loch receives Knighthood (“Knight 1st Class of the Order of the Nordstj?rneorden”) for his services to Swedish culture in Germany

2011 ACT receives the Echo Jazz audience choice award for “Label of the year” for the second time in a row

2012 ACT celebrates its’ 20th anniversary with a series of concerts with the ACT Family Band in Germany, France, Sweden and Turkey, several “ACT Piano Summits” and a concert in the chamber music hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. Germany’s jazz fans choose ACT for the third time in a row as label of the year at the Echo Jazz. Siggi Loch receives the Skoda Jazz Award at the Jazzahead fair in Bremen

2013 ACT receives the Echo Jazz audience choice award for “Label of the year” for the fourth time in a row

On November 3rd, 2014 Siggi Loch receives the “Order of Merit on ribbon” of the Federal Republic of Germany for his achievements that served the nation.

Highlights as photographer:
2007 Book ?Love of my Life? Edel / earbooks
2007 exhibition ?Love of my Life? at Museum Weserburg, Bremen
2007 Exhibition at Cubus Kunsthalle, Duisburg
2008 Exhibition Deichtorhalle / Haus der Fotografie, Hamburg
2014 Exhibition “Love of My Live” Haus der Fotgrafie, Burghausen

THE ACT STORY from http://www.actmusic.com

?After nearly twenty years as a top executive for Warner International, I finally decided to realise my biggest ambition of all - to form my own record company recording the kind of music I loved ? jazz!? With this statement, Siggi Loch ended his high-flying career as an executive within the international music business, and started again as boss of an independent record label. At the age of fifty it was a major mid-life career change, but with the launch of the ACT label it was the realisation of a dream that had taken him into the music business in the first place.

The establishment of ACT took place at a time when the internet was beginning to take-off. In the subsequent decades the international music business would be eroded by CD burning and later illegal downloading, and the market would shrink by half. In contrast to this trend, ACT has become one the most ?most critically acclaimed and internationally respected independents of the current era? (Jazzwise).

More than twenty years later, the project that started in 1992 is a huge success story: ?Music for people with open ears and an open mind,? says Siggi Loch and with this guiding principle in place, he set off on his chosen path. The beginning was a truly an adventure, as working with innovative and unconventional music is always a challenge and of course a big financial risk. But it is only when artists and listeners are open to new sounds that ?magic moments’ are born, of which there are many in the twenty years of ACT history with artists like Nguy?n L?, Esbj?rn Svensson, Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Viktoria Tolstoy, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner and Youn Sun Nah inspiring and changing the music world. Twenty years of magic musical moments across more than 350 releases. Twenty years in which European jazz became a major force in the world of music, with the ACT label playing a major part in this process. And twenty years in which ACT also became one of the most popular European jazz labels, which the people’s choice award for Jazz Label Of The Year at the German ECHO Award in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 proves.

Jazz is equally at home in Europe as it is the USA, and European jazz is certainly no less rich in musical talent. Yet in order to unearth the depth and breadth of its potential the casual listener might need a navigational aid, and ACT has proved itself to be a reliable compass for audiences who are searching for new jazz, as well as those with an ear for exciting music influenced by European folk music, classical music or other cultures. A good example of this is the very first ACT recording ?Jazzpa?a? (ACT 9212-2). In 1992 in Cologne’s WDR studio, Siggi Loch and Wolfgang Hirschmann brought together some of the best Spanish flamenco players with jazz greats such as Michael Brecker and Al Di Meola. ?Jazzpa?a? was arranged by Vince Mendoza, and resulted in a wonderfully multicultural musical statement; flamenco meets jazz, blues from old Europe combined with blue notes from the new world. The album turned out to be a great success ? it was nominated for two Grammys and received a German Jazz Award, and a further collaboration between ACT and Vince Mendoza, 2008’s Blauklang, proved yet again to be a winning formula with another Grammy nomination.

During the live recordings for ?Jazzpa?a? Siggi Loch met guitarist Nguy?n L?, who became the first artist signed exclusively to ACT. Raised by Vietnamese parents in Paris, his musical biography developed into an exciting search for identity between Jimi Hendrix, the ethnic melting pot of Paris and traditional Vietnamese music. L?‘s debut album ?Million Waves? (ACT 9221-2) was released in 1995 and right up to the present day he has stayed true to the ACT family with a substantial discography of 14 albums.

Another critically acclaimed ACT success was the jazz symphony of ?Europeana? (ACT 9804-2) which combines the rich tradition of European music with the language of jazz. This 1995 release was written by the English composer and arranger Michael Gibbs and won the annual German Record Critics’ Award. The album featured Joachim K?hn, Jean-Fran?ois Jenny-Clark, Jon Christensen, Django Bates, Klaus Doldinger, Richard Galliano, Christof Lauer, Albert Mangelsdorff and Markus Stockhausen ? the cream of contemporary European improvised music, accompanied by the Hannover NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

ACT’s releases are often an antidote to the idea many people have of jazz ? that it is intellectual and inaccessible. Take Bugge Wesseltoft’s ?It’s Snowing on My Piano? (ACT 9260-2) for example. This 1998 solo piano album of traditional Christmas songs was the biggest commercial success in ACT’s history. One reason for its popularity maybe is its timelessly beautiful melodic structures that work like a soothing balm against the pushy, abrasive kitsch of modern times.

?My philosophy has always been to find not merely musicians, but rather figures in art, who are extremely independent. In addition, they have to possess the absolute will to captivate the audience,? says Siggi Loch. This credo also applies to Nils Landgren, the trombonist, bandleader, and singer from Sweden, who has been a part of the ACT family from the very beginning. Nils embodies the spirit of funk, but he also sings ballads with real emotion, and is equally at home with big band projects and playing cool Scandinavian music. In addition to his own projects (the latest his exquisite vocal album ?The Moon, The Stars And You? (ACT 9505-2)), he also acts as a producer and a source of inspiration for the people he works with. Talking about his close friendship to Siggi Loch, Nils says, ?Siggi has given me strength to outdo myself. A lot of the energy I put in is also floating back to me.?

Thanks to this rich association with Sweden and its artists, Siggi discovered the talents of Esbj?rn Svensson, who was the keyboardist of Nils Landgren’s Funk Unit at the time. With e.s.t. Svensson became one of the most highly regarded young pianists in jazz. The 1999 e.s.t. debut on the ACT label ?From Gagarin?s Point of View? (ACT 9005-2) astonished the jazz world with a vision of jazz piano trio jazz that was fresh and vital. Due to their intense, genre breaking performances the Esbj?rn Svensson Trio reached out to audiences beyond the usual jazz constituency. One of the trio’s early successes was to be the first European band to appear on the cover of the American Downbeat magazine, and with the phenomenal rise of e.s.t. Siggi Loch’s vision became reality ? ?jazz is cool!? Jazz wasn’t necessarily being relegated to a mere footnote in the music world, but was filling big venues, and as if to underline this the concert recording ?Live in Hamburg? (ACT 6002-2) became a modern milestone, chosen as the best jazz album of the decade by the London Times in 2009. Although Svensson’s tragic death in 2008 left a huge gap that was almost impossible to fill, his pioneering work in the field of contemporary European jazz continues to live on.

In addition to Landgren and Svensson, several other established jazz stars from the north have turned ACT into the most successful label promoting Swedish jazz artists, including Lars Danielsson, Viktoria Tolstoy and Rigmor Gustafsson. In recognition of Siggi Loch’s far sighted vision in promoting Swedish jazz, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden conferred a knighthood (Knight 1st Class of the Order of the Nordstj?rneorden) on Siggi Loch for his services to Swedish culture in Germany in 2010.

?Jazz made in Germany? has also been very close to Siggi Loch’s heart. In 2005 he heard the young pianist Michael Wollny on a demo tape and was extremely impressed. Wollny’s debut on ACT ?Call It ? (ACT 9650-2), the trio with Eva Kruse on bass and Eric Schaefer on drums collectively dubbed , was the first album released in the ?Young German Jazz’ series. In addition to , Wollny performed in critically acclaimed duo recordings with Heinz Sauer and Joachim K?hn as well as solo projects. The British jazz writer Stuart Nicholson named their latest album ? Live at JazzBaltica? (ACT 9668-2) ?the best jazz album of the last 25 years?, while The Hamburger Abendblatt called Wollny ?the strongest (jazz) personality in Germany since Albert Mangelsdorff?. Other new jazz talents like Julian & Roman Wasserfuhr, Matthias Schriefl, Jan Zehrfeld’s Panzerballett or the latest discoveries Three Fall and Mo’Blow have all found their way into the spotlight thanks to Loch’s pioneering work with the ?Young German Jazz’ series.