His music could be contemplative and atmospheric, darkly suspenseful or abstractly funky.
He played vocalistic phrases that invoked the bluesy intimacy of Miles Davis along with the Indian classical music that Mr. Hassell studied with the raga singer Pandit Pran Nath.
He delved into calm and aggression, reflection and propulsion, serenity and suspense.
He also recorded with musicians from Africa, Brazil, India and Europe; composed a piece for the Kronos Quartet; and played recording sessions with Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, k.d.
He picked up the instrument his father had played in college, a cornet, and studied music and played in big bands as a teenager.
Fascinated by the emerging field of electronic music, he made tape collages and won a grant to study with the avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen for two years in Cologne, Germany.
He also met the composer Terry Riley, who first recorded his Minimalist landmark “In C” in 1968 with musicians at SUNY Buffalo, including Mr. Hassell.
Mr. Hassell performed in concerts with Mr. Riley and in the drone group Theatre of Eternal Music, which was led by another pioneering Minimalist, La Monte Young.
“This record fascinated me,” Mr. Eno wrote in 2007.
In New York City, where in the late 1970s art-rock, punk, pop and jazz shared a creative flux, Mr. Eno sought out Mr. Hassell, and they collaborated on “Fourth World Vol.
He collaborated with the African percussionists and singers of Farafina, from Burkina Faso, for “Flash of the Spirit” in 1988.