One of the brightest lights for me when I turned to Contemporary Jazz/New Age/Electronic Music in the late 80s was Ray Lynch. The above composition, “No Blue Thing” may be my favorite of all the music I have collected from that genre. It always takes me to my “happy place” and puts the spring back into my step.

Ray started in Utah and moved to Texas as youngster, his musical journey started with the guitar and lute. After spending time in Barcelona, he joined the Renaissance Quartet in New York city, playing with ten for 7 years. He spent some time in Maine, where he had purchased a 125 acre farm but decided to move to California. Several years later he was moved to compose and perform music again. He borrowed the money to buy an ARP Odyssey synchesizer and began to compose music along the lines of the then new electronic music genre. In 1984 he released his 3rd LP “Deep Breakfast’ and independently sold 72,000 copies out of his small apartment. 5 years later, now under contract with Music West, he released “No Blue Thing”. The album would reach the top of the New Age charts, and Ray would be Billboard’s Top New Age Artist for both 1989 and 1990.

A lot of Ray’s music draws from his spiritual journey surrounding the teachings of Ali Da (an American spiritual teacher, writer and artist. He was the founder of a new religious movement known as Adidam). The other of Ray’s compositions I want to share is from the Deep Breakfast album – “Celestial Soda Pop”. This one reminds me of Blondie’s “Call Me”, see if you agree.