Jean-Michel Jarre (b.1948)
I admire the electronic arranging skills in Jean-Michel Jarre’s early albums: Oxygène (1976) and Chants Magnétiques (1981). In the latter, Jarre took what were basically stock, attractive Baroque chord sequences, and layered these with rich, synthetic timbres: bubbling, dancing, soaring, clicking and mechanical turning.
From his early work I learned sensitivity to and delight in electronic textures. Jarre first opened the doors to timbre and sound symbol for me. He is the son of the film composer Maurice Jarre.