Terry Riley

USA, 1959–now

American composer. 'In C' (1964) is the founding work of minimalism: a modular score open to collective improvisation.

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

Who influenced Terry Riley?

• La Monte Young — La Monte Young's drone aesthetics and idea of endlessly sustained sound directly shaped Riley's minimalist language.
• John Coltrane — Coltrane's modal improvisation and spiritual intensity influenced the open improvisational structure of 'In C'.
• Pandit Pran Nath — Riley became Pran Nath's formal disciple in 1970 alongside La Monte Young, accompanying and studying with him for a quarter century — the root of his raga practice.

Which artists did Terry Riley influence?

• Jean-Michel Jarre — Where the repetition comes from. Jarre was an assistant at the Chateau d'Herouville preparing sequences for a Terry Riley album, and the pulsing sequencer figures that carry Oxygene are that idea put through a synthesizer.
• Steve Reich — Riley and 'In C' were a direct catalyst: Reich performed in the work's 1964 premiere.
• Robert Rich — Riley's all-night concerts were the documented model for Rich's sleep concerts — minimalism stretched to the scale of dreaming.
• Brian Eno — Riley's tape-loop and repetition minimalism (A Rainbow in Curved Air) was a documented model for Eno's generative and ambient methods.
• The Who — 'Baba O'Riley' is named for Terry Riley — Townshend built its synthesizer loops in open homage to Riley's repetitive keyboard music.
• Joe Hisaishi — Riley's In C generation of American minimalism was among the models Hisaishi drew on when forming his style.