By any of these definitions, guitarist and composer Vernon is a true artist. One whose art is a work forever in progress: from his formative years on the downto New York jazz/funk/punk scene with the Decoding Society, to his leadership of the pioneering platinum rock band Living Colour, to his collaborations with creative spirits ranging from guitarist Carlos Santana to choreographer Bill T. Jones.

Vernon Reid's new 550 Music album, Mistaken Identity, is the product of a decade of musical evolution. He calls it "a full-cycle return to the joy and fun that making music means to me." Mistaken Identity is rock and jazz, hip-hop and soul, symphonies in miniature and snatches of soundbite culture. It's a crafty, stylish blend of musical muscle and intellectual intrigue which reveals new delights with each play.

Mistaken Identity is co-produced by Vernon Reid with the legendary Teo Macero, whose 40-year career includes landmark recordings with Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, and Geri Allen; and with hip-hop innovator Prince Paul, whose credentials include De La Soull's 1989 masterpiece, 3 Feet High And Rising. In talking about his collaborators, Vernon first praises Macero's work on such controversial (and influential electric Miles albums as Live/Evil, In A Silent Way, Agharta, Pangea, and Big Fun. "I thought, 'Wow, it would be great to make music with that vibe and the hip-hop element,'" he recalls. "Teo proved to be as generous as he is knowledgeable."

Working with Prince Paul was "equally great." Reid adds. "3 Feet High And Rising is a landmark. Time does not diminish its stature, and there are only a handful of albums in the history of hip-hop of which that could be said... Paul was on equally important part of our search in his reconfiguration of the beats, in the way he put some of the tracks together."

Vernon Reid founded Living Colour in New York City circa 1985, and piloted the band through a remarkable ten-year career. Among the highlights: a platinum-selling debut album Vivid, released 1988: its gold-certified successor, Time's Up released 1990; two consecutive Grammy Awards in the category of Best Hard Rock Performance: opening for the Rolling Stones' 1989 stadium tour and appearing on the first Lollapaloozo tour in the summer of 1991. Vernon Reid was living his dreams -- or so it seemed, until his dreams actually began to come true.

"In the end, I didn't want to be where I was when they did come true. To some degree, the struggle of Vernon Reid defined my experience in Living Colour. kind of separate from the music. At first that struggle was simply to do what we wanted to do, to make a living playing that music. Then when we were successful, I certainly wasn't prepared for it, and that was another struggle."

This turbulent, self-revelatory period is reflected in the new album's title track, "Mistaken Identify," which Vernon describes as a song about searching for your true self, beyond who you have to be for your parents, who you have to be for your crew, beyond all of that. You hear the great poet Sekou Sundiata recite the lines 'You thought it was me/Mistaken identity.' and then: I thought it was me/Mistaken identity.' In other words, I too was mistaken about who I was."

By the time of Living Colour's official demise in January, 1995, Reid had already begun rehearsing and sporadically gigging with a band he called Masque. This group, whose playing forms the core of Mistaken Identity, includes clarinetist Don Byron: turntable wizard Joy Logic: bassist Hank Schroy; drummer Curtis Watts, and Leon Gruenbaum playing his unique keyboard invention, the Samchillian Tip Tip Tip CheeePeeeee -- "an instrument even stranger than its name." says Vernon.

In all, some 40 songs reached varying stages of completion. Sixteen of those 40 tracks now comprise Mistaken Identity and its eclectic supporting cast encompasses actor Lawrence Fishburne (satirical narration on "Important Safety Instructions"), Chubb Rock (guest rapping on "You Say He's Just A Psychic Friend"), and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier (playing kaba gaida and silijeflote as only he can). As inventive and unusual as it may be, the music of Mistaken Identity is not without pop precedents. Vernon recalls the cross-genre success of such instrumental hits as Herbie Hancock's "Rockit," M/A/R/R/S' "Pump Up The Volume," Weather Report's "Birdland," and the Davis Byrne/Brian Eno album My Life In The Bush of Ghosts.

"I have faith in the possibility of things," Reid told Rolling Stone in a May '96 interview. "Like I can't talk about the way instrumental music can connect with people. It's only possible, not inevitable. But that possibility is enough for me."