Elements
When Mark Egan left Pat Metheny's group in 1981 he started playing with drummer Danny Gottlieb in the group which would, by 1983, become known as Elements. Egan is an educated musician and technically accomplished bassist who varies the sound of his playing through his fascination and skill in the use of electronic devices. Gottlieb is a skilful drummer who had wide experience playing with Eberhard Weber's Colours, the Gary Burton Quartet and Pat Metheny's band before working with Egan in Elements. Egan was already fascinated by ethnic music and had spent some time studying music from Bali, south India, Africa and Brazil but with Gottlieb he spent time in Hawaii ‘playing music in nature in valleys, during very extreme weather conditions (wind, rain, etc.)’. All of these influences are reflected in the music they produced with Elements.