David Lyttle (born 21 June 1984) is a jazz drummer, hip hop producer, composer and record label owner from Waringstown, Northern Ireland. He has released four solo albums and received nominations in the MOBO Awards and Urban Music Awards.

Performing career

Lyttle began performing under the direction of his parents with the Lyttle Family and in his teens was active as a drummer, DJ and studied classical cello. He began his jazz career in the band of Louis Stewart in 2007 and released his debut album ''True Story'' the same year. He has featured notable jazz artists in his groups, including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Seamus Blake, Terell Stafford, Greg Osby, Jean Toussaint and Tim Warfield, and appeared in the groups of Jesse van Ruller, David Kikoski and

Soweto Kinch Soweto Kinch (born 10 January 1978) is a British jazz alto saxophonist and rapper. Biography Born in 1978 in London, England, to a Barbadian father, playwright Don Kinch, and British-Jamaican actress Yvette Harris, Soweto Kinch began playin ...

. Lyttle was nominated in the 2015 MOBO Awards for Best Jazz Act. He is the first Irish musician to have been nominated for a MOBO. He was also nominated for an Urban Music Award in October 2015. In April 2017 he carried out a 5000-mile, coast-to-coast residency in the U.S., performing for unusual audiences in an attempt to understand more about the public's connection with jazz. The tour included performances at the Bagdad Café on Route 66 in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily i ...

, the Little A'Le'Inn' in Rachel, Nevada near Area 51 and at the site of jazz drummer

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the ...

's childhood home in the

Hill District The Hill District is a grouping of historically African American neighborhoods in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, "the Hill" was the cultural center of black life in the city and a major cen ...

, Pittsburgh. Lyttle received the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Major Individual Award, worth £15,000, for the project and vlogged for the MOBO Awards YouTube channel. In October 2018 Lyttle collected tape recordings of New York City residents speaking about change in the city, creating "Tapes & Drums, New York", a solo show which features his improvised drumming. Lyttle's 2022 tour included dates in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Canada and throughout Europe.

Artist residencies

In 2015 Lyttle was

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. Th ...

's Musician In Residence as part of the city's legacy program following its designation as UK City of Culture. From January to March 2016 he was Musician In Residence at the Metropolitan Arts Centre,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

, where he mentored up-and-coming jazz musicians from Northern Ireland. In September and October 2017, Lyttle was the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh la ...

and

PRS for Music PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

's Musician In Residence in

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trad ...

, China. He collaborated with traditional Chinese musicians and released a weekly podcast called ''Tapes From China''.

Studio projects

Lyttle's studio projects and output as a producer are usually centred around hip hop, using live drums or the Akai MPC 2000XL, and often feature the

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

. Lyttle's second studio album '' Interlude'' was released on 2 January 2012. Its guests include

, Pino Palladino, Jason Rebello and members of his family. It received its first radio airing on BBC Introducing on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

, and received positive reviews in Ireland and Britain. MOBO described it as "an exceptional album" and

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...

said it was "a rare sort of treat to come out of Ireland". Lyttle's third studio album '' Faces'' was released on 16 March 2015 and featured collaborations with

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

, Duke Special and

Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarin ...

. It was well received by critics with Dave DiMartino of

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

calling it "one of the best, robust listening experiences you’re likely to have all year" and Colm O'Hare of

describing it as "one of the most inventive Irish releases of the year." Other media champions included Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music and Jazz FM. On 20 November 2015 Lyttle released ''Say & Do'', a collaborative album with Northern Irish singer/songwriter

VerseChorusVerse VerseChorusVerse is the musical moniker of the Irish musician, writer and actor Tony Wright. He is the founding member of And So I Watch You From Afar. Background Born Michael Anthony Wright, he began learning the guitar at age eight, taught ...

. It reached No. 1 in the Amazon UK blues chart. In August 2020 Lyttle collaborated with Liam Neeson, reimagining

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in ...

's "On Hyndford Street" for

magazine's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

celebration of Morrison at 75. Lyttle plays

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

, organ and

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

on the recording which he also produced. In December 2022 Lyttle released ''Christmas At Home'', a beat tape which samples obscure Christmas albums.

Outreach and charity

Lyttle is the artistic director of Jazzlife Alliance, a non-profit jazz talent development organisation whose principle funder is the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He is the founder of its youth programme, Jazz Juniors, which is based at the Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast. Since 2018 he has been the Northern Irish ambassador for UK charity Live Music Now.

Lyte Records

As owner and founder of Lyte Records, Lyttle has released albums by notable jazz, blues and roots artists, including Ari Hoenig, Jason Rebello,

Nigel Mooney Nigel Mooney (born 12 August 1963) is a blues and jazz singer, guitarist, and songwriter from Ireland. He came to prominence on the Irish blues scene in the 1980s with his Gripewater Blues Band, which opened for B.B. King and backed Dr John in Du ...

and Jean Toussaint. He has also produced debut albums for young talents such as Israeli classical pianist

Ariel Lanyi Ariel Lanyi (born 10 October 1997) is an Israeli classical pianist. Biography Ariel Lanyi was born in Jerusalem. He studied piano at the Conservatory of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance with Lea Agmon and Yuval Cohen, as well as violin, ...

and Slovakian jazz guitarist

Andreas Varady Andreas Varady (born 24 July 1997) is a Slovak Hungarian jazz guitarist managed by Quincy Jones. Regarded as a child prodigy, he has been influenced by guitarists Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, and George Benson and has been performing interna ...

, who was managed by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

and was discovered by Lyttle in 2010.

Solo Discography

* ''True Story'' (2007) * '' Interlude'' (2012) * '' Faces'' (2015) * ''David Lyttle & Phil Robson'' (2022) * ''Christmas At Home'' (2022) * ''Trailer Sound, Vol. 1'' (2023)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyttle, David 1984 births Living people People from Waringstown Jazz musicians from Northern Ireland Musicians from County Down Alumni of Ulster University British jazz drummers Drummers from Northern Ireland 21st-century drummers