David Darling

Pianist Ketil Bjørnstad's quartet set with cellist David Darling, guitarist Terje Rypdal, and drummer Jon Christensen is almost a stereotype of an ECM release. His ten originals all set an introspective and mostly somber mood, their themes are less important than the atmosphere that they form, and the individual solos of the musicians are less significant than the ensemble sound. The general mood is a bit sleepy and the development from song to song is quite slow, although there are a few fiery and rockish solos from guitarist Rypdal.

The Recording Academy has announced the 2024 nominees for the Grammy awards in 91 categories. In the category New Age/Ambient/Chant Hans Christian’s latest CD release Ocean Dreaming Ocean (CurveBlue Records) was nominated for a Grammy, along with four other nominees, out of over 175 entries. The 66th annual Grammy Awards will take place February 4th, 2024 where the winner will be announced.

This is a collaboration between Rypdal (on electric guitar & synth), and David Darling (cello). If you think electric guitar & cello is an odd combination for a band, you're right! If you think it couldn't possibly work, you're wrong!! Moody and compelling, and definitely not for everyone.Worth it just for the track "Mirage", which lives up to its title sonically. The track "Laser" does the same also… a blistering solo electric guitar kills any semblance of peace and silence, and after it's over, sets up the hot-summer-day-let-me-lay-and-listen mood for the rest of the CD. All are well worth the listening effort.

Cellist David Darling, best known at the time for his long stint with Paul Winter's Consort, mostly performs spacy ballads on this ECM release. Teamed up in different combinations (three unaccompanied solos, a duet, two trios and a quintet number) with Collin Walcott (who doubles on sitar and tabla), pianist Steve Kuhn, Jan Garbarek (on tenor and soprano), acoustic guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves and bassist Arild Andersen, Darling and his sidemen give the music a wide variety of sounds. However, the sleepy mood is very much in the stereotypical ECM mold, making this set mostly of interest for selected tastes.

David Darling continues his extraordinary solo cello voyage launched on Journal October (1979) and continued with Cello (1992). The cinematic qualities of Darling's solo music has led to its use in films by Jean Luc Godard and Wim Wenders. Dark Wood inspires a different art form: the CD booklet contains a short story, 'Disturbing the Night', specially written to accompany the music by Barry Lopez, American author of the acclaimed Arctic Dreams. Lopez wrote the story as a literary counterpoint to the evocative music of Dark Wood. The music experiments further with the unique multi-tracking techniques used on Cello, creating haunting harmonies and rich textures.

This CD from pianist Ketil Bjornstad fits the ECM stereotype. The music is generally mournful, full of space, floating and very much a soundtrack for one's thoughts. The 12 parts of "The Sea," which find Bjornstad joined by cellist David Darling, guitarist Terje Rypdal and drummer Jon Christensen, set somber moods rather than introduce memorable themes and the only real excitement is supplied by Rypdal's rockish guitar.