More than most composers he has remained rooted in the poetic overtones of his native environment -the fringes of Los Angeles. He has often spoken of the importance of his experience of living in the Mojave Desert. He has absorbed salient features of many of the diverse musics that he heard : Mexican Mariachi bands ; the more ruminative forms of free and semi-free jazz ; the film music of Ennio Morricone. From these he has learned the improviser’s sense of space and a kind of musical poise.