About
David Lyttle is a MOBO Award and UMA nominated jazz drummer, composer and hip-hop producer described by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of the best, robust listening experiences you're likely to have all year" and the Independent as "the best in jazz coming out of Ireland in recent times." He has released 6 albums and 11 EPs and brought his projects to almost 50 countries.
Starting out at the age of 4 with his family band, he first reached a national audience as a jazz drummer in the band of legendary Irish jazz guitarist Louis Stewart, before going on to perform around the globe and collaborate with the arts world's upper echelon, including jazz giants Joe Lovano and Kurt Rosenwinkel, hip-hop visionaries Talib Kweli and Soweto Kinch and film great Liam Neeson. David has brought his unique performance concepts to the U.S., where he carried out a coast-to-coast residency in his red Cadillac DeVille, performing jazz for cowboys, UFO tourists, bikers and the unsuspecting public; and China where he spent 6 weeks as the British Council's Musician In Residence and made a further two visits with his solo show 'Tapes & Drums'. His work has been written about in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Times, The Independent and The Examiner.
The Long Story
David Lyttle began performing professionally at the age of 4 in his folk group the Lyttle Family, playing bongos, bodhran, mini lambeg drum, cello and uillean pipes. At 18 he began focusing on the drums after taking a serious interest in jazz. Over the next three years David received scholarships to attend Skidmore Jazz Institute (New York) and the Banff Centre (Canada), and a PhD studentship from Ulster University.
David's most valuable early experience in jazz was playing with Ireland's legendary Louis Stewart, starting in 2006. In 2007 he released his first solo album, 'True Story', on his own Lyte Records label and would go on to feature a long list of international jazz icons in his projects, including Joe Lovano, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Terell Stafford, Seamus Blake, Soweto Kinch, Jason Rebello, Greg Osby, Jean Toussaint and Tim Warfield. He has performed in almost 50 countries and shared the stage with some of the jazz world's most respected artists, including Jonathan Kreisberg, David Kikoski, Jason Palmer, Jaleel Shaw, Jesse van Ruller, Jamie Baum, Will Vinson, Michael Janisch, Dave Liebman, Gwilym Simcock, Kenny Werner and Andreas Varady, who worked with David during his early years before signing to Verve Music and Quincy Jones Productions.
David second's album 'Interlude' (2012) helped earn him a reputation as a hip-hop/jazz producer. First heard on BBC Radio 1's 'Introducing', it was brought to millions by its Channel 4 album advert campaign with HMV, featuring David as a multi-instrumentalist alongside his sister Rhea, mother Anne, Soweto Kinch, Jason Rebello, Pino Palladino and others. Highlight live shows included the London Jazz Festival and historic Hollywood music venue The Hotel Cafe. In June 2013 David released the single 'Celebrate' in collaboration with Northern Irish recording artist Duke Special and the percussionists of Beat Carnival, a Belfast arts organisation where David was Musician-In-Residence. The track was playlisted by the majority of Ireland's radio stations.
David's third album 'Faces' (2015) featured a wide range of collaborators, including hip-hop visionary Talib Kweli, jazz icons Joe Lovano, Jason Rebello and Jean Tousaint, and singers Duke Special, Cleveland Watkiss and Anne Lyttle. It received praise from Rolling Stone in the U.S. and Japanese radio giant J Wave. BBC's Laverne Laverne, RTE Radio 1's John Creedon and Jazz FM were among the album's champions closer to home with nominations in the MOBO Awards and Urban Music Awards following. Also during 2015 David was Musician-In-Residence at the Nerve Centre, Derry, with collaborations included the roots album 'Say & Do' with singer/songwriter VerseChorusVerse which reached No. 1 in the Amazon UK blues chart.
In 2017 David carried out an ambitious coast-to-coast U.S. artist residency after receiving the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Major Individual Award. Traveling 5000 miles in his red Cadillac DeVille, he performed for cowboys, UFO tourists, bikers and the unsuspecting public. The project was sponsored by Yamaha drums and Irish craft soft drink McDaid's Football Special. He also vlogged for the MOBO Awards' YouTube channel and received coverage from NPR, BBC and KUNV Las Vegas, who interviewed him at various stages of his journey. Later in 2017 David's spent 6 weeks in Suzhou, China, as the British Council and PRSF's Musician-In-Residence.
2018 to 2020 included live collaborations with guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel in the UK and Jesse van Ruller in Europe. He visited China twice with his 'Tapes & Drums, China' show, which features solo improvised drums alongside a taped Mandarin account of his experiences in China in 2017. He carried out a residency in New York funded by the Jerwood Foundation during which he recorded citizens of the city's thoughts on change for the live project 'Tapes & Drums, New York'. David also performned in Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Jamaica, and brought jazz to new Irish audiences with over 80 rural performances, including many remote island communities. This work led to the development of Jazzlife Alliance, a charity founded under David's artistic direction.
During lockdown, David collaborated with film great Liam Neeson in a much-publicised reimagining of Van Morrison's 'On Hyndford Street', as part of Hot Press magazine's celebration of the music legend at 75.
In 2022 David performed throughout Europe, along with Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Through Jazzlife Alliance he founded Northern Ireland‘s first jazz improvisation youth scheme, Jazz Juniors, which now operates in four national hubs. He also released several hip-hop projects, including his 'Trailer Sound' EP series, his third jazz album 'IN2', with guitarist Phil Robson, and 'I Thought You Knew' with Detroit rapper and J Dilla associate Frank Nitt. David was invited to perform for Irish President Michael D. Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin in June 2023 and a new live collaboration with rising star London guitarist Tom Remon brought him to England, Romania, Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey and Hungary in 2023 and 2024.