Michael Brook

Michael Brook, an innovative guitarist and producer, came into the world and grew up in Toronto. During his time studying electronic music and the arts at the University of Toronto, he crossed paths with trumpeter Jon Hassell and later joined him on tour; Hassell also connected Brook with minimalist composer LaMonte Young, with whom he pursued studies in Indian music. A stretch serving as house engineer at producer Daniel Lanois' renowned Grant Avenue recording studio paved the way for Brook to perform guitar alongside the Canadian pop band Martha & the Muffins in the late '70s; concurrently, he encountered Brian Eno and contributed to the 1980 Eno/Hassell release Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics. He further appeared on Harold Budd's 1983 album Magic Realism.

Brook launched his solo career in 1985 via Hybrid, a groundbreaking ethno-ambient recording made with Eno that bridged Western and Indian musical aesthetics while introducing his signature, heavily processed "infinite guitar" tone. Much of the rest of that decade found him collaborating with Eno on video sculptures and sound installations worldwide; he simultaneously emerged as a producer in demand, overseeing projects for an array of artists including Roger Eno, Pieter Nooten, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Balloon, and the Pogues. Returning to world music in 1990, Brook produced Youssou N'Dour's well-received Set; even more significantly, he launched an ongoing partnership with Pakistani qawaali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan through the landmark Mustt Mustt, merging Western ambient and pop elements with Eastern sacred spiritual traditions.

Following his production of the 1991 Algerian rai vocalist Cheb Khaled project Khaled, Brook reentered the studio for his first solo album in seven years, the acclaimed 1992 release Cobalt Blue. A uncommon live set captured at a celebratory event for the album later appeared as the limited-edition Live at the Aquarium. Two ventures alongside Indian mandolin wizard U. Srinivas came next—1994's Rama Sreemrama and the subsequent year's Dream—before Brook rejoined Ali Khan in 1996 for Night Song and turned to scoring the Kevin Spacey-directed crime noir Albino Alligator.