David Darling

David Darling earned acclaim across the globe as a cellist, composer, improviser, and teacher whose extensive body of work encompassed solo recordings that fused chamber jazz, modern classical music, and new age elements along with film scores and studio contributions for various pop and country performers. Throughout the 1970s he performed with both the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Paul Winter Consort, before issuing his initial solo effort, Journal October: Solo Cello, in 1980. Additional projects paired him with other ECM artists such as Terje Rypdal and Ketil Bjørnstad, while he also produced atmospheric solo recordings for the label, among them Dark Wood in 1995. Entering the new millennium he frequently worked with new age imprints including Hearts of Space, creating material expressly suited for massage and relaxation; notable later releases included the Grammy-winning Prayer for Compassion from 2009 and Homage to Kindness in 2019, both of which conveyed themes of peace and equality.

From an early age Darling demonstrated skill on a wide array of instruments and musical idioms, beginning piano studies at four, taking up the cello at ten, and performing on string bass in his high school ensemble where he also served as bandleader. Following completion of his classical cello training at Indiana State College in 1965, he remained there as an instructor for another four years.

In 1970 Darling relocated to Nashville, where he joined the Paul Winter Consort in multiple roles as soloist, composer, and vocalist while simultaneously acting as principal cellist for the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Session work followed with country and rock figures such as Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Jerry Lee Lewis. He collaborated with Ralph Towner of Oregon on the 1979 album Old Friends, New Friends and later established the chamber jazz ensemble Gallery. ECM issued his debut solo album, Journal October: Solo Cello, in 1980. Further credits included appearances on recordings by Glen Moore, Spyro Gyra, and John Clark, plus several cassettes issued with the group Radiance.

A 1984 collaboration with guitarist Terje Rypdal resulted in the album Eos. That same year Darling established Music for People, an organization devoted to fostering self-expression via musical improvisation. The introspective solo album Cello appeared in 1992. His soundtrack for Wim Wenders’s Until the End of the World, also from 1992, received widespread praise, as did additional solo releases of the period such as The Tao of Cello in 1993 and Dark Wood, which highlighted his celebrated improvisational abilities.

At the start of the twenty-first century Darling began contributing to the Relaxation Company’s Musical Massage series. He also recorded Cello Blue for Hearts of Space in 2001. Mihumisa(n)g, a project uniting him with vocalists and instrumentalists from Taiwan’s Wulu Bunun tribe, first surfaced in 2003 and received broader distribution from World Music Network in 2004 under the title Mudanin Kata. The Darling Conversations, a spoken-word release exploring his musical philosophy alongside Julie Weber, came out in 2007. Prayer for Compassion followed in 2009 and earned the Grammy for Best New Age Album the next year.

Vallisa, a joint effort with Dakota Suite and Quentin Sirjacq, appeared on Glitterhouse in 2010. Throughout the decade he issued further albums alongside Jane Buttars, Neil Tatar, Silvia Nakkach, and additional partners. The solo recording Gratitude emerged on Curve Blue in 2016. Parallel Universe, a fusion of new age and folk styles created with Thomasina Levy, was released by Hearts of Space in 2018, while the solo album Homage to Kindness arrived on the same imprint the following year. Darling passed away in his sleep on January 8, 2021.