Michael Brook

The innovative guitarist and producer Michael Brook was born and raised in Toronto. While studying electronic music and the arts at the University of Toronto, he met trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:5kNZV33crEsk2IMZMJ8bOQ">Jon Hassell</a>, with whom he later toured; through <a href="spotify:artist:5kNZV33crEsk2IMZMJ8bOQ">Hassell</a>, Brook also was introduced to minimalist composer <a href="spotify:artist:5h2yl4fuAyztOOBgMRyQhE">LaMonte Young</a>, under whom he studied Indian music. A period working as the house engineer at producer <a href="spotify:artist:5S0AJvE9NB1kGrXRfYh690">Daniel Lanois</a>' famed Grant Avenue recording studio led to a tenure playing guitar with the Canadian pop band <a href="spotify:artist:5nWbdgU2jcFSbrPV7EAoLK">Martha & the Muffins</a> during the late '70s; at the same time, Brook also met <a href="spotify:artist:7MSUfLeTdDEoZiJPDSBXgi">Brian Eno</a>, guesting on the 1980 <a href="spotify:artist:7MSUfLeTdDEoZiJPDSBXgi">Eno</a>/<a href="spotify:artist:5kNZV33crEsk2IMZMJ8bOQ">Hassell</a> collaboration Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics. In 1983, he also played on <a href="spotify:artist:3uOCouLFR4bVx0XeiQJSbl">Harold Budd</a>'s Magic Realism.

In 1985, Brook made his solo debut with Hybrid, an influential ethno-ambient work recorded with <a href="spotify:artist:7MSUfLeTdDEoZiJPDSBXgi">Eno</a> that explored the middle ground between Western and Indian musical aesthetics and established his unique, heavily processed "infinite guitar" sound. He spent much of the remaining decade working with <a href="spotify:artist:7MSUfLeTdDEoZiJPDSBXgi">Eno</a>, helping create video sculptures and sound installations across the globe; he also became a sought-after producer, helming records for such diverse talents as <a href="spotify:artist:7JCthCuu5Wmxv2avqVFolo">Roger Eno</a>, Pieter Nooten, <a href="spotify:artist:7d4LXGxrBM99Ayu2MkcMWo">Mary Margaret O'Hara</a>, Balloon, and <a href="spotify:artist:2wzMOQwNT6ZvVB4amvhFAH">the Pogues</a>. In 1990, Brook returned to world music, producing <a href="spotify:artist:77zlytAFjPFjUKda8TNIDY">Youssou N'Dour</a>'s acclaimed Set; more importantly, he began a continuing collaboration with Pakistani qawaali singer <a href="spotify:artist:5HcunTidTUrOaf8V0iJcvl">Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan</a> with the seminal Mustt Mustt, a fusion of Western ambient and pop sounds with the sacred spiritual music of the East.

After producing Khaled, a 1991 project for the Algerian rai vocalist Cheb Khaled, Brook returned to the studio to record his first solo effort in seven years, 1992's stellar Cobalt Blue. A rare concert performance given at a party celebrating the album's release was subsequently issued as the limited-edition Live at the Aquarium. A pair of projects with the Indian mandolin wizard <a href="spotify:artist:4vC2GtOXDzAfthZ4gnFowC">U. Srinivas</a>, 1994's Rama Sreemrama and the next year's Dream, followed; in 1996, Brook reunited with <a href="spotify:artist:5HcunTidTUrOaf8V0iJcvl">Ali Khan</a> for Night Song, trailed by work on the score for the <a href="spotify:artist:3iWBmARhWjEAX8u6fDg1ZD">Kevin Spacey</a>-directed crime noir Albino Alligator. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi