“They just looked at each other like, ‘What the hell are we doing with this bass player?’” The late Mick Karn recalls his first tour with David Torn and Bill Bruford

Mick Karn and David Sylvian of Japan perform on stage at Hammmersmith Odeon on May 17th, 1981 in London, England. .

You might swear that bassist Mick Karn, who sadly succumbed to cancer in 2011 at the age of 52, learned to play bass guitar on another planet. His unusual playing style first took root during the 1980s with British art-rock band Japan, and went on to find full fruition on a half-dozen solo albums and challenging sideman dates with jazz musicians like trumpeter Mark Isham and guitarist David Torn. 

“The first time I toured with David Torn was with Bill Bruford on drums and Mark Isham on trumpet,” Karn told Bass Player in 2006.