Raised in a home with the Modern Jazz Quartet, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Amad Jamal, and Milt Jackson cascading from the hi-fi; then older bro’s Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochrane, The Outsiders, Beach Boys, and Trashmen. Loved it all: the sounds, the sway, and the signals. Then on to teen adventures: Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Moody Blues, Cream, Traffic, Jefferson Airplane, the Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Joni Mitchell Pentangle, Floyd, King Crimson and all that would sprout from these associations. A family tree began to form. Then, a momentous 1972, the fifth Beatle, George Martin, produced ‘Icarus’ by the Paul Winter Consort, featuring Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, Colin Walcott, leading the Invisibleman to the group Oregon, and the ECM label (Towner’s first solo release). For over forty years the Editions of Contemporary Music label out of Germany has provided the Invisibleman, and the World, an incredible roster of fine international musicians from jazz, classical, world, and contemporary chamber music. Beginning in the 80s and 90s more and more early music and contemporary classical artists were added to the roster, and from early exposure to Airto and Flora Purim to King Sunny Ade, more and more world music began to be added as well. Robert Fripp and Brian Eno’s ‘No Pussyfooting’ opened up new sonic possibilities in the seventies and the branches created by these two artists continue to flourish to this day. By the late eighties and early nineties what was started by Soft Machine, Eno and others took flower in the electronica explosion – especially in Britain and Europe. The Invisibleman took to it at once, assiduously collecting The Future Sound of London, The Orb, Aphex Twin, and other leading lights of this totally new way to create music.
