Tape Loops and Life Loops-Terry Riley turns 90

Terry Riley, along with Philip Glass and Steve Reich, is among the holy trinity of minimalism. His compositions In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air are seminal works of that genre. He was creating tape loops works in the early 1960s, laying the foundation for over 50 years of looping artists. Without Terry Riley, there are no Fripp & Eno albums, ambient music or the legions of looping musicians around today. He was a seminal influence on Eno, Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream, Robert Rich and many others. It was a sound that emerged from the 60s counter culture and mind expansion.

Terry Riley: I think that echo and all these devices which change the ambience of music are drug-like in the sense that they pull the listener in deeper than he would get otherwise.  I mean it goes back to if you’ve ever sung in a cave or gotten in the Taj Mahal and whooped and hollered. I mean those experiences are very deep and moving.

He has continued composing and performing, notably working with Kronos Quartet on several collaborations. We celebrate the incredible, enduring legacy of this new music icon as he turns 90. In the Echoes Podcast we have a mini-documentary featuring interviews with Terry, Steve Reich, Robert Rich, Daevid Allen (Gong), Mike Oldfield, Jon Hassell and La Monte Young. Terry Riley turns 90 and John Diliberto celebrates enduring and continuing legacy of his music in the Echoes Podcast.