Terry Jennings (19 July 1940 – 11 December 1981) was an American minimalist composer and performer.Terry Jennings was born in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, in 1940. Coming from a background in jazz, he played piano, clarinet, and saxophones. He played jazz with La Monte Young in Los Angeles in the mid-1950s, and later began to compose in the manner of Young's early sustained-tone style (Garland and Young 2001).