Stephen Kent (musician)

Stephen Kent is a professional didgeridoo performer, percussionist, composer and recording artist. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Forming the band Lights in a Fat City (with percussionist Eddy Sayer & producer/sound engineer Simon Tassano), he made the first contemporary releases of didjeridu music in the northern hemisphere (the landmark LP/CDs Somewhere and Sound Column on These Records, since reissued by City of Tribes) in 1988.

With the band Trance Mission, he joined the ranks of Jon Hassell, Steve Roach, and Robert Rich in exploring a primal, techno-tribal music. Trance Mission was co-formed in San Francisco in 1992 by Stephen Kent (Didjeridu/Percussion), Beth Custer (Clarinets/Trumpet), John Loose (Multi Ethnic Drums/Samples) and Kenneth Newby (Asian Winds/Didgital Atmospheres), making up the quartet which produced 3 globally acclaimed CDs on the City of Tribes label over as many years in the mid-nineties. After several European tours and many live appearances on the West Coast of the USA, Loose and Newby moved on to other projects while Custer and Kent continued as Trance Mission, with Eda Maxym (also of Beasts of Paradise) joining on vocals and Canadian Peter Valsamis on Drums/Samples. This version of Trance Mission produced a live CD, "A Day out of Time", in 1999. Another version of Trance Mission performed at the Starwood Festival in 2006, featuring Stephen Kent, Peter Valsamis, Geoffrey Gordon, Eda Maxym and cellist Rufus Cappadocia. (Kent had performed as a soloist at Starwood the previous year, opening for Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira.)

In the 21st century Stephen Kent released two more solo CDs, Oil & Water and Living Labyrinths, on his own Family Tree label. Recent projects include several years of combining with Tuvan throat singing sensations, Chirgilchin as Karashay, ongoing work with Moroccan musician Yassir Chadly, performing with Malian oriented bluesman Markus James and his group the Wassonrai (who include Kamale ngoni master Mamdou Sidibe), Eda Maxym's Imagination Club, and the Del Sol String Quartet (with whom he plays the work of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe), who recently performing at the Library of Congress in Washington DC.

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