Robert Quine

Robert Wolfe Quine (December 30, 1942 – May 31, 2004) was an American guitarist. A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown. Critic Mark Deming wrote that "Quine's eclectic style embraced influences from jazz, rock, and blues players of all stripes, and his thoughtful technique and uncompromising approach led to rewarding collaborations with a number of visionary musicians."

His collaborators included Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Lou Reed (notably on The Blue Mask), Brian Eno, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Marc Ribot, Marianne Faithfull (Strange Weather), Lloyd Cole, Matthew Sweet and Tom Waits.

Lester Bangs wrote that he was a "pivotal figure" and "the first guitarist to take the breakthroughs of early Lou Reed and James Williamson and work through them to a new, individual vocabulary, driven into odd places by obsessive attention to On the Corner-era Miles Davis." Quine was ranked 80th by Rolling Stone magazine's David Fricke in his list of "100 Greatest Guitarists".

Early life

Quine was born in Akron, Ohio, the son of Rosalie (née Cohen) and Robert Cloyd Quine. He was a nephew of philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine. After graduating from Earlham College in 1965, Quine earned a law degree "out of inertia" from Washington University in St. Louis in 1968. Although he never practiced law and failed the California bar exam on several occasions, Quine wrote tax law textbooks for Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey–based publisher Prentice Hall for three years after moving to New York City in 1971 by virtue of his admission to the Missouri bar in 1969. Quine also enrolled at the Berklee School of Music at an indeterminate point without taking a degree.