LARAAJI

hen Brian Eno was walking through New York’s Washington Park Square one day, he happened upon Edward Larry Gordon playing a zither. Laraaji, as he was better known, had been performing in that same spot for several months, enchanting those passing with his tuneful, mesmeric repetitions and cascades of echoing notes. Entranced by what he heard that day, Eno passed Laraaji his phone number and a few weeks later they were in the studio working on what would be the third in Eno’s Ambient series of releases, 1980’s . Since then, Laraaji has released many more, finds Laraaji returning to piano with an album of improvisations recorded in a church.