Jon Hassell obituary

Born: 22 March 1937, Memphis, Tennessee, United States

Died: 26 June 2021

Instruments: Trumpet, electronics

American trumpeter and composer best known for his Fourth World music and his celebrated collaboration with Brian Eno.

• In his pursuit of something he came to call Fourth World music, the trumpeter and composer Jon Hassell, who has died aged 84, exerted an influence on his contemporaries that went far beyond the immediate popularity of his own work.
  
  
• Others who sought his contribution to their music included Brian Eno, Talking Heads, David Sylvian, Ry Cooder, kd lang, Jackson Browne and Tears for Fears.
  
  
• Hassell’s first album under his own name, Vernal Equinox, released on a small label in 1977, gave evidence of his interest in blending his raga-influenced trumpet lines with backgrounds making use of synthesised and found sounds, including birdsong and water.
  

I for one will be giving Vernal Equinox a spin later on.

Jon Hassell (RIP) fanboy here.
In tribute I'll play: 

"I see music as a lifetime affair." [Rory Gallagher]

LISTENING TO PICTURES