Trance Mission

Trance Mission is a world fusion ensemble co-founded in San Francisco by American clarinetist and composer Beth Custer and British-born didgeridoo player Stephen Kent in 1992, with Canadian musician Kenneth Newby and American percussionist John Loose. Their music incorporates elements of jazz, fourth world and ethnoambient music styles. In the 1990s, the group recorded four albums on the ambient label City of Tribes.

After spending time in Africa, England, Spain, and Australia, Stephen Kent settled in San Francisco in the early 1990s after finishing a European tour with his band Lights in a Fat City. He first met Beth Custer while playing with Lights in a Fat City at a party for Mondo 2000. Custer, who had been playing with the Club Foot Orchestra ensemble, began playing with Kent on Sundays at the (now defunct) Radio Valencia cafe in San Francisco's Mission District. They soon invited percussionist John Loose of the Blue Rubies to join them. Canadian composer Kenneth Newby, who had previously played with Kent in Lights in a Fat City and had known Kent since 1985, joined the band after the trio had played only a few times together. The newly formed quartet solidified in April 1992 with a trip to the Wine Country region where they completed their first recording.

Trance Mission's self-titled debut album was recorded later that year in December 1992 at Mobius Music in San Francisco. In the studio, the band recorded only live performances, with the entire session lasting just one week. Produced by Alex Stahl and Oliver di Cicco, the album was released in 1993 featuring special guests Will Bernard on guitar, Eda Maxym on vocals, Dan Reiter on cello, and Jai Uttal on dotar and kartals. Upon its release the album sold 10,000 copies with minimal marketing, and became, according to music critic Craig Harris, "a staple of college radio world music shows".

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