Formed in Chicago in 1972, Shadowfax were one of the first American bands to pick up on the European electronic music trend, and were playing new age music before it had a name. Their name comes from a horse in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, which tells you a lot about both the band's penchant for flights of fantasy and their dedication to creating musical worlds. An early-'80s signing to Windham Hill increased their profile. Reeds player Chuck Greenberg was also co-inventor of the electronic sax known as the Lyricon, and Shadowfax disbanded after his death in 1995.