THE SHORT STORY

Described by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of the best, robust listening experiences you're likely to have all year" and by The Independent as "the best in jazz coming out of Ireland today", MOBO Award-nominated David Lyttle shifts seamlessly between the personas of jazz drummer, composer, producer and record label owner. Starting out as a child performer at the age of four 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 music world's upper echelon, from jazz giants Joe Lovano and Kurt Rosenwinkel to hip hop visionaries Talib Kweli and Soweto Kinch. He has received nominations in the MOBO Awards and Urban Music Awards, and major radio play on specialist radio and mainstream radio. David has brought his unique performance concepts to the U.S., where last year 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 six weeks as the British Council's Musician In Residence and made a further two visits with his solo drums show this year. David's 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 four in his folk group the Lyttle Family, playing bongos, bodhran and mini lambeg drum. At eight years old he added drum kit and by ten years old he was also studying cello and uillean pipes. At eighteen he began focusing on the drum kit after taking an interest in jazz. Over the next three years David received scholarships to study at Skidmore Jazz Institute (New York) and the Banff Centre (Canada), whilst also studying for a BMus at the University of Ulster. After graduating, David was offered a government grant to write a PhD thesis at the University of Ulster, becoming a doctor of music in 2009. During this time he also took lessons in New York with Jeff 'Tain' Watts, John Riley, Ari Hoenig, Ralph Peterson and Carl Allen.

David first reached a national audience with jazz guitar legend Louis Stewart in 2006. In 2007 he released his first solo album, True Story, on his newly formed label Lyte Records and would go on to feature a long list of international jazz icons in his bands, including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Terell Stafford, Seamus Blake, Soweto Kinch, Jason Rebello, Jean Toussaint and Tim Warfield. He has performed in twenty five countries and worked with some of the jazz world's most respected artists, including Jonathan Kreisberg, Jason Palmer, Jaleel Shaw, Jesse van Ruller, Jamie Baum, Michael Janisch, Dave Liebman, Gwilym Simcock, Kenny Werner and Liane Carroll. David also has a long association with guitarist Andreas Varady, who he met at 12 years old and he praised by the international jazz press for discovering, before his signing to Quincy Jones Productions at age 16.

In 2012 released his second album Interlude, which was influenced more by hip hop that straight-ahead jazz. First heard on BBC Radio 1's Introducing, it helped earn him an international reputation as a producer and songwriter on the rise. Brought to millions by its Channel 4 album advert campaign with HMV, Interlude featured David on drums, keyboards, bass, cello and vocals, alongside some of his heroes, contemporaries and family, including sister Rhea, mother Anne, Soweto Kinch, Jason Rebello and Pino Palladino. David toured Interlude in Ireland, Britain and the U.S. in 2012 and 2013, with highlight shows at the London Jazz Festival and historic Hollywood music venue The Hotel Cafe. In June 2013 David released the dance music single 'Celebrate' with Interlude vocalist Rhea, Northern Irish recording artist Duke Special and the percussionists of Beat Carnival, a Belfast arts organisation where David was the 2013 Musician-In-Residence. The track was playlisted by the majority of Ireland's radio stations.

David's third album Faces was released in March 2015 on Lyte Records under the label's new distribution deal with Universal. It featured his collaborations with hip hop visionary Talib Kweli, Grammy winning saxophone icon Joe Lovano, Irish music star Duke Special, British vocalist Cleveland Watkiss, family members Rhea Lyttle and Anne Lyttle, and jazz artists Jason Rebello, Jean Toussaint, Michael Buckley and Tom Harrison. It was recorded in New York, London, Dublin and Lyttle's country studio in Co. Armagh and quickly commanded diverse international attention in the media from Rolling Stone in the U.S. to 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 and Faces quickly became David's most critically acclaimed album to date. Following live dates in Ireland and the UK he was nominated for a MOBO Award for Best Jazz Act in September 2015 and in October 2015 was nominated for an Urban Music Award.

Also during 2015 David was Musician-In-Residence at the Nerve Centre, Derry, as part of the city's legacy initiative following its designation as UK City of Culture in 2013. The residency was primarily about collaboration and included the roots album Say & Do with Northern Irish singer/songwriter VerseChorusVerse, formerly of And So I Watch You From Afar, which went to No. 1 in the Amazon UK blues chart in November 2015. David also collaborated with previous Derry Musician-In-Residence Neil Cowley during this time. David's nomination in the MOBO Awards for Best Jazz Act was a major breakthrough and led to his busiest touring year in 2016 with his trio, including dates throughout the UK and Ireland, and in Austria, Germany and Holland. He was also Artist-In-Residence at the MAC, Belfast, with Moving On Music, for three months, acting as a mentor to emerging Northern Irish jazz artists.

In 2017 David carried out an ambitious coast-to-coast U.S. artist residency funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Major Individual Award. Traveling 5000 miles road trip in his red Cadillac DeVille, he performed for cowboys, UFO tourists, bikers and the unsuspecting public in an attempt to understand what people really think of jazz. The project was sponsored by Yamaha drums and Donegal craft soft drink McDaid's Football Special, which David chose as his official tour drink. He also vlogged exclusively for the MOBO Awards' YouTube channel and had coverage from NPR, BBC and KUNV Las Vegas, who interviewed him at various stages of his journey. Later in 2017 David's spent six weeks  in Suzhou, China, as the British Council and PRSF's Musician-In-Residence. He collaborated with Chinese tradional musicians, produced the studio track 'Summer Always Passes' and released a weekly special edition of his Arts and Recreation podcast called Tapes From China.

2018 is set to be David's busiest touring year, with appearances in eight countries, dates with his original trio featuring Scottish pianist Steve Hamilton and standards trio featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel and Michael Janisch, performances with European guitar icon Jesse van Ruller and a residency in New York funded by the Jerwood Foundation. He will also make three visits to China with his 'Tapes & Drums' show, which features solo improvised drums alongside a taped Mandarin account of his experiences in China in 2017.