David Darling
David Darling (March 4, 1941 – January 8, 2021) was an American cellist and composer. In 2010, he won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. He performed and recorded with Bobby McFerrin, Paul Winter Consort, Ralph Towner and Spyro Gyra and released many solo albums.
David Darling
- Name
- David Darling
- Born
- 4 March 1941
- Birthplace
- Elkhart, Indiana, U.S.
- Died
- 8 January 2021
- Occupation
- Musician
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- jazz · new age music
- Education
- Indiana State University
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
David Darling (March 4, 1941 – January 8, 2021) was an American cellist and composer. In 2010, he won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. He performed and recorded with Bobby McFerrin, Paul Winter Consort, Ralph Towner and Spyro Gyra and released many solo albums.
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David Darling (1941–2021) was an American cellist, composer and musician. Born in Elkhart, the cellist died in Goshen. David Darling studied at Indiana State University.
Genres include jazz and new age music. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Authority files
gnd · 1202610234 · museum · 03e7fbb0-024e-423f-bbcd-f8c65aa14b8f · wikidata · Q174479
In this article
Biography
Biography
Among these were 15 recordings for ECM.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — David Darling • Born — 4 March 1941 • Birthplace — Elkhart, Indiana, U.S. • Died — 8 January 2021 • Genre — * Jazz • new-age • Occupation — Musician • Instrument — Cello • Years Active — 1980s–2021 • Label — * ECM • Universal Classics • Hearts of Space • Past Member Of — Gallery • Website — daviddarling.com
Music career
Music career
Darling was born on March 4, 1941, in Elkhart, Indiana. He was interested in music from an early age, beginning piano when he was four, cello at ten, and string bass in high school. He studied classical cello at Indiana State University and after graduating remained there another four years as a teacher. He worked as a studio musician in Nashville, Tennessee and was a member of the Paul Winter Consort until 1978. During the following year, he was part of the chamber jazz group Gallery with Ralph Towner and released his first solo album, Journal October. Darling's performance and composition draw on a wide range of styles, including classical, jazz, Brazilian, African, and Indian music. He wrote and performed music for more than a dozen major motion pictures, the horror film Child's Play (1988), Heat (1995), and Until the End of the World (1991). He contributed music to Nouvelle Vague (1990), Éloge de l'amour (2001), and Notre musique (2004). In 2000, he recorded a collaboration with the Wulu Bunun, a group of Taiwanese aborigines. In 2007 he recorded The Darling Conversations, with Julie Weber discussing his music philosophy. It was issued by Manifest Spirit Records. In January 2009, Darling released the Grammy-winning Prayer for Compassion, a follow-up of his earlier 8-String Religion, both on the Curve Blue label.
As leader
As leader
• Journal October (ECM, 1979) • Cycles (ECM, 1981) • Cello (ECM, 1992) • Dark Wood, (ECM, 1993) • Eight String Religion, (Curve Blue,1993) • The Tao of Cello (Relaxation, 1993) • Musical Massage: Balance (Relaxation, 2000) • Cello Blue, (Hearts of Space/Valley Entertainment, 2001) • Musical Massage: In Tune (Relaxation, 2001) • River Notes, (Curve Blue, 2002) • Open Window (Relaxation, 2003) • Mudanin (Kata World Music Network/Riverboat, 2004) • Balance (Gaiam, 2006) • Musical Massage: Blissful Relaxation (Relaxation, 2007) • The Darling Conversations, Vol. 1 (Manifest Spirit, 2007) • Prayer for Compassion (Curve Blue, 2009) • Where Did the Time Go (CD Baby, 2013) • Gratitude (Curve Blue, 2016) • Homage to Kindness (2019)
As sideman
As sideman
With Peter Kater • Homage, 1989 • Migration, 1992 With Ketil Bjørnstad • The Sea (ECM, 1994) • The River (ECM, 1996) • The Sea II (ECM, 2000) • Epigraphs (ECM, 2000) With Terje Rypdal • Eos (ECM, 1984) • Skywards (ECM, 1995) With Jacqueline Tschabold Bhuyan • Cello & Piano Meditations (Sounds True, 2012) • Improvisations for Cello & Piano (CD Baby, 2012) With others • Introducing Glen Moore, Glen Moore (Elektra, 1979) • Old Friends, New Friends, Ralph Towner (ECM, 1979) • Amber, Michael Jones, 1987 • Until the End of the World 1991 • Window Steps, Pierre Favre, With Kenny Wheeler, and Steve Swallow (ECM, 1996) • Pendulum, with Kevin Keller, 1999 • 96 Years, with Patrick Leonard, 2000 • Refuge, with Terry Tempest Williams, (Curve Blue, 2002) • Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World, 2010) • Return of DeSire: Improvisations, with Eve Kodiak (CD Baby, 2008) • Tympanum, with Jane Buttars, 2013 • "Where Did The Time Go" with Neil Tatar 2013 • In Love and Longing, with Silvia Nakkach, (Sounds True, 2014) • Ocean Dreaming Ocean, Posthumously with Hans Christian (Curve Blue, 2023)
Identity
Identity
David Darling is recorded as composer, cellist and musician.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2021
David Darling died at Goshen.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Elkhart.
Birth place
Goshen.
Death place
Other activities
In 1986, Darling joined Young Audiences, an organization that seeks to educate children about music and the arts through school programs. In the same year, he founded Music for People, which seeks to encourage self-expression through musical improvisation. His teaching methods are the subject of a book, Return to Child (2008). In May 2008, he became part of a collaboration of music teacher and performers offering a training program in holistic and intercultural approaches to healing with sound and music at the New York Open Center Sound and Music School. David Darling died in his sleep, January 8, 2021.
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- MusicBrainz artist record for David Darling
Scholarly · MetaBrainz Foundation
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1202610234, Cello (Zusammenstellung, David Darling).
Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q174479: David Darling
Unverified · Wikidata
Awards and honors
• Grammy Award, Best New Age Album, Prayer for Compassion, 2010
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.E. C. M. Records. ECM Records.
- 2.Phares, Heather. David Darling Biography & History. AllMusic.
- 3.World Music Network feature: David Darling.
- 4.David Darling Obituary (1941–2021) – Hartford Courant. www.legacy.com.
- 5.David Darling Awards. AllMusic.
- 6.David Darling Album Discography. AllMusic.
- 7.Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The World. Valley Entertainment.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for David DarlingMetaBrainz Foundation
Verifiedauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1202610234, Cello (Zusammenstellung, David Darling).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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