Waldron's 1969 album "Free at Last" was the first release on the ECM label. This recording was an example of Waldron playing, in his words, "rhythmically instead of soloing on chord changes". Two years later, another Waldron recording session was the first for another label that became firmly established – Enja Records. His 1971 album "The Call" was the first release on the ECM sublabel JAPO; it features Waldron playing an electric piano. In the early 1970s, he collaborated with the German krautrock band Embryo on the albums "Steig Aus!" and "Rocksession". Waldron also wrote the score for the 1972 French film "George Who?"