Christopher passed away on August 22, 2011
44 years to early (1966-2011 RIP)
44 years to early (1966-2011 RIP)
He was 50% of the Thought Guild an improvised musical collaboration with the focus on vintage synthesizers.
Although we had not kept in touch for many years I met Christopher back in 1999 when I moved to Connecticut. I was introduced to him thru Jim Cole and we began a mutual friendship based on our interest and passion for electronic music. He was one of the few people I knew heavily into Jean Michel Jarre, Kitaro and a plethora of odd new age music I was not aware of. He was a very cultured human being and was partially to blame for me finally appreciating Thai food and dark beer!
We were rather close friends for about 6 years when I lived and visted New England and my reflections of our friendship was a creative and positive one.
Christopher was a huge enthusiast of vintage synthesizer’s and had amassed quite a collection in his studio over the years(enough to make most analog synthesizer enthusiast drool). I was always perplexed that his generous love for the new age and electronic styles of music never drew him to release some personal music. After some coaxing we began to make little arrangements and jam at our studio’s while we kept the DAT recorder running. The live spontaneity eventually led to the genesis of the first Thought Guild release “Context” and then many years later the final release “Continuum”.
Not only was Christopher a music enthusiast but he had a great eye for photography(the cover for Context f/b where all his photos). I remember him as peaceful good hearted individual with a quirky laid back personality and a penchant for the philosophy found in Buddhism.
I have some unreleased music from our days recording as Thought Guild as well as some solo material he had always wanted released but never had time to. I hope to release the music in the near future with 100% proceeds going to the monastery he had decided to join.
I also just recently unearthed a radio interview we made(one of the few) which delves into the creative improvisational approach we took in recording the music of the Thought Guild. I plan on releasing this shortly.
Thank you Christopher for touching all of us with your spirited personality during your short time here on Gaia.
Harmonic Resonance Recordings
Alpha Wave Movement / Thought Guild / Open Canvas
Alpha Wave Movement / Thought Guild / Open Canvas
That's sad news Greg. I'm a big fan of both those Thought Guild albums. Good on you for coaxing out his musical gifts during those years.
ReplyDeleteSo he disappeared into a monastery? I always did wonder what become of him.
Analogue ambience is special; always has been, always will be. But listening to those albums now will be tinged with a certain sadness...
Mike G, AmbientMusicGuide.com