Steve Reich

USA, 1965–now

American composer who developed phase shifting, in which identical patterns move gradually out of alignment, on 'It's Gonna Rain' and 'Come Out'. He is among the central figures of minimalism.

MusicRoots documents 3 artists who influenced Steve Reich and 6 artists Steve Reich influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Steve Reich?

• John Coltrane — Coltrane's modal and rhythmic intensity was what Reich called a direct impulse for his own early experiments with repetition.
• Terry Riley — Riley and 'In C' were a direct catalyst: Reich performed in the work's 1964 premiere.
• Pérotin — Reich has named Pérotin's 12th-century organum a direct model — the augmented cantus firmus under Proverb is his acknowledged homage.

Which artists did Steve Reich influence?

• John Adams — Reich's phasing technique and repetitive structures were the starting point for Adams's own style.
• Julius Eastman — Eastman performed Reich's works as vocalist and pianist, which directly immersed him in minimalist technique.
• Michael Nyman — As a musicologist, Nyman first coined the term 'minimalism' while directly analysing the techniques of Reich and Glass.
• Brian Eno — Reich's phase and process music — It's Gonna Rain — was a direct model for Eno's systems-based approach to composition.
• Joe Hisaishi — Reich's phasing and pulse are part of the minimalist grounding beneath Hisaishi's melodies; the two are longstanding friends.
• Four Tet — Steve Reich's minimalism — and the Gamelan and African music behind it — is at the heart of Kieran Hebden's repetitive, texture-layered Four Tet music.