Nocturnal - released July 2006
Produced by Martin Taylor
“David has been known as a respected teacher,
writer and journalist for many years, but in many ways his great
talent as a guitarist and composer has remained obscured - until
now. Here at last, after four years of me badgering him, is his
first solo CD.”
Nocturnal producer, Martin Taylor
An album of acoustic guitar instrumentals…
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Nocturnal
track by track…
Time Together
A tune written in an attempt to sum up what it’s like when
the hustle and bustle of modern life quietens to the point when
you get the chance to spend some ‘quality time’ together
with someone special.
Waltz For Debby
I love Bill Evans’ music and have quite a vast collection
of his recordings at home, including an iPod which is practically
bursting with his albums! One day, I was noodling with a guitar
and found myself playing the first few bars of ‘Waltz For
Debby’ and so I decided to work out the rest of it. When Martin
Taylor heard the demo I made, he decided it should be our duet on
the album and I’m absolutely knocked out with his solo on
the track.
Nocturnal
This is a suite in three parts. It was inspired by a single night
in St Ives, Cornwall, where I was staying with my fiancée
Carol. It was one of our out of season visits to Cornwall and so
I found myself late one February night hanging out of the window
overlooking the harbour, listening to Miles Davis and Bill Evans
on my iPod. The tide was just beginning to snake its way back around
the harbour wall and I was having one of those ‘life doesn’t
get any better than this’ moments. So I tried to recreate
that feeling with three different musical snapshots of the same
point in time - ‘Dark Harbour’, ‘The Moon on Black
Water’ and ‘A Deeping Tide’.
September Farewell
In September 2005, the acoustic guitar world lost one of its brightest
stars - and I lost a friend. I knew Eric Roche for ten years before
he succumbed to cancer and I wrote this after returning from his
funeral. It tries to sum up the mood of that day - sad, obviously,
but a wonderful celebration of an exceptional person at the same
time.
Walking The Warren
Another piece influenced by St Ives. One of the places we stay quite
often is a winding back street called ‘The Warren’ and
this guitar rag is in celebration of many happy days spent there.
It was originally written for a film, but I don’t think the
film was ever finished!
At Her Eventide
This was written at the time when a close family member was very
seriously ill. It started out as a kind of lullaby, but ultimately
it has become something of a requiem. ‘Nuff said.
I Got Rhythm
It occurred to me that this has to be one of the most often played
tunes in jazz, and yet no one ever plays it ‘straight’.
So I went back to the score and decided to include Gershwin’s
original introduction, which is seldom, if ever, heard now - and
just play it as it was originally heard back on Broadway back in
the 1930s in the musical ‘Girl Crazy’.
Sixes And Sevens
The title of this tune came about because I couldn’t decide
whether it belonged on acoustic, archtop, baritone or seven string
guitar! It has a funny, angular little melody that can’t seem
to make its mind up about anything - and I like that.
When It Was Yesterday
This was always sort of a musical autobiography in many ways. It’s
one of the only tunes I actually wrote out for the album - I like
the yearning quality of the melody. I started playing on nylon string
guitar and so it’s basically me looking back at my musical
past…
That Lang Thing
This is a tribute to the pioneering jazz guitar spirit of Eddie
Lang, whose career was cut abruptly short back in the 1930s when
he died after having his tonsils out. I first heard his playing
way back in the early 1980s and loved the feel of it - this track
tries to capture all the bounce and vitality of early jazz guitar.
Satin Doll
The first of two Duke Ellington tracks on the album. I’ve
been messing around with this tune for ages and couldn’t decide
whether to record it for the album or not. What swayed me eventually
was that it was one of the tracks on the very first demo for the
album and when I heard it again by chance, I decided it belonged
here.
A Winter’s Carol
This was originally a piece I put on the CD which accompanied one
of my books. It was intended to demonstrate DADGAD tuning on acoustic
guitar, but I liked the tune so much that I wrote another section
for it and re-recorded it for the album.
In A Sentimental Mood
I heard Coltrane playing this tune with Ellington and it stopped
me in my tracks, which doesn’t happen to me very often. I
decided there and then that I had to include a version of this tune
on the album. I invited two of my oldest friends down to the studio
- Kenneth Knussen and Brian Kettle - for the first ‘Nocturnal’
session back in January 2005, and this is what happened.
Cloud Factory
This came about through me teasing my son Tim when he was about
six. I was driving him up north and we went by one of those factories
with the tall chimneys belching white vapour into the sky. I said,
‘Look, Tim, that’s where they make the clouds - it’s
a cloud factory…’ And, of course, with all the wide-eyed
innocence of youth, he believed me - for a few minutes. So the track
itself tries to sum up that sense of wonder we all have when we’re
kids, before the cynicism of maturity takes over and spoils everything…
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