Jon Hassell

Jon Hassell (born March 22, 1937) is an American trumpet player and composer. He is known for developing the musical aesthetic known as "Fourth World," which unifies ideas from minimalism, various world music sources, and his unusual electronic manipulation of the trumpet. He has collaborated with artists such as Brian Eno, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Talking Heads, Farafina, Peter Gabriel, and Ry Cooder.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Hassell received his master's degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. During this time he became involved in European serial music, especially the work of , and so after finishing his studies at Eastman, he enrolled in the Cologne Course for New Music (founded and directed by Stockhausen) for two years. Hassell returned to the U.S. in 1967, where he met Terry Riley in Buffalo, New York and performed on the first recording of Riley's seminal work In C in 1968. He pursued his Ph.D. in musicology in Buffalo and performed in La Monte Young's "Dream House" (a.k.a. Theatre of Eternal Music) in New York City.

On his return to Buffalo in the early 1970s, Hassell was introduced to the music of Indian Pandit Pran Nath, a specialist in the Kiranic style of singing. Hassell, Young, Marian Zazeela (Young's wife), and Riley went together to India to study with Nath. His work with Nath awoke his appetite for traditional musics of the world, and on the album Vernal Equinox, he used his trumpet (treated with various electronic effects) to imitate the vocal techniques to which Nath had exposed him. He stated: