Interview with David Lyttle
"David Lyttle began performing professionally at the age of four in his family folk group and has gone on to become an acclaimed figure in the jazz and urban music worlds. In jazz, as a drummer, his groups have featured the global upper-echelon, including Greg Osby, Jean Toussaint and Soweto Kinch. On his new urban album, 'Interlude', he appears as multi-instrumentalist and producer, featuring a host of new and established talent from the rap and vocal genres, including rappers Soweto Kinch, iLLspokinN and Homecut, and vocalist Rhea. He also enlists A-list session guests Jason Rebello (Sting), Michael Buckley and Pino Palladino (Adele), and reveals for the first time his strong personality as a songwriter." -David Lyttle Bio David's album 'interlude' has been released to great critical acclaim, Lyttle proves himself to be a musician of many talents and boasts a rich array of artists who, with Lyttle's guidance, have converged to produce a wonderful album for the jazz and urban scene.
LiveInDie: David, firstly, your new album 'Interlude' boasts an impressive showcase of talent. You have collaborated with artists such as Soweto Kinch, Jason Rebello and Pino Palladino. Just how much influence did these artists have on the making of this album or did they simply follow your direction?
David Lyttle: The guests on the album all affected and shaped the sound of it, though I created the initial template. I just let them do what they wanted to. You don't hire people like that and then tell them what to do. I wanted to feature Pino because of the vibe he brings to all of his recordings. He's my favourite bass guitarist and played on many of my favourite albums. I know Jason from playing jazz but he's also on albums by Sting and is a long-term associate. I'm a fan of Sting too. Jason's been one of my favourite pianists for years - we've played jazz together - and was one of the first instrumentalists I asked to be the album. I've been working with Soweto Kinch for a few years now and have known about him since he got the Mercury nomination. He was the first to show that audiences could accept both rap and jazz. Not many people can rap and play saxophone on that level. Soweto and the others rappers wrote their own lyrics. I just gave them a vague idea of the what the song was about. I wrote most of the sung lyrics so sometimes the vocal lyrics influenced the rap lyrics. Other time the rap came first. It was very organic. Actually it all started out as EP and grew gradually into an album. LiveInDie: Indeed having artists of that calibre in the production process and composing together 'off script' brings about a certain flow to 'Interlude'. David, both producing the album and playing a wide range of instruments on the tracks have lead to some comparisons between yourself and Mark Ronson. Ronson has even posted links to your album on various sites of his. Do you consider it an achievement to be linked with such artists and also can you tell us more about the production of this album in relation to the instruments you play on it.
David Lyttle: I wasn't aware Mark was into it but I'm very happy to hear that. That parallel has been drawn before but
I'm quite flattered by it. He's one of my heroes and sources of inspiration. Obviously Mark is much more experienced
as a producer but his approach to making music is one that I really get. I'm known mostly as a drummer but on the
album I also play keyboards, bass and cello. I sing backing on a few of the tracks and have a vocal feature on
The Road. Michael Buckley, who's known as a seminal figure of Irish jazz but is fast becoming one of our most
in-demand producers, was heavily involved in the album. We recorded most of it in his studio in Dublin. We've played
together live a lot and he's a player I really look up to. Having his creative input was very important too. He arranged
and played some horns on the album and sings a bit on it too. I knew the sound that I wanted and Michael knew how
to get it on a technical level. I wanted a clean, punchy, almost sampled vibe from the drums and wanted the general
sound of the album to be full and vibrant but not too cluttered. I think it has a warm sound because we haven't used
many electronic instruments, though a lot of that is in the production. Because it's not too cluttered every
instrument has its own sonic space in the mix too which I like. LiveInDie: There is a fantastic mix of rap, jazz and soul among other vocal genres on the album, could you tell us more about the vocalists on the album and their specific vocal styles? David Lyttle: Well people are talking a lot about Rhea, who's also my little sister. She was the last child in the family and although she's just twenty she already has a strong vocal personality. She's working on her own music for release by my label this year, and is also studying classical violin. Seek is a short feature for my mother, Anne Lyttle. She's had experience in so many genres and has so much depth and character in her voice. There's a lot of emotion there too. She sadly lost a lot of close family and friends during her life, including my dad. I'm sure that comes out when she sings a song like this. Homecut mostly raps on the album but also sings on a couple of the tracks. I've known about him since I heard the single he brought out with Corrine Bailey Rae and Soweto. After I heard it I asked if he'd be interested in doing a verse and I ended up having him on half the album. iLLspokinN is one of the freestyle heavyweights of New York, plus he's worked with Run DMC and KRS1. He brings a serious vibe to the tracks he's on and also introduced me to R&B singer Jaelle Haze, who's the second singer on The Road. Wile Man is my favourite Irish rapper and he features on Angel. Some of the instrumentalists include teenage guitarist Andreas Varady, Irish bassist Keith Duffy, who's known for his work with The Corrs and Ronan Keating, and trumpeter Linley Hamilton, a great player and a great champion of music in Northern Ireland.
LiveInDie: You have performed with Andreas Varady for the album 'Questions'. Are there any other artists out there who you could see yourself collaborating with in the future?
David Lyttle: Well, you've already mentioned Mark Ronson. [Also] Q-Tip, Pharrell, John Legend, D'Angelo, Sting. There's so many. And there are loads of people in the jazz world who I'd love to work with too. LiveInDie: Given your description as a 'niche-averse' artist by Hot Press, is it important to you as an artist not to be defined by one genre and, if so, what strides do you take to avoid such a fate?
David Lyttle: I think it's just my upbringing. I was raised by musician parents and was one of five children learning music. Imagine the evenings in our house. We all liked different music but we played regularly together as a band. It was a great childhood. I played folk music from a very young age on percussion and was classically trained on cello since I was eight. I got a set of drums around that age too and in my teens got into DJing and dance music production. At university I got into jazz. I know it's a cliche but it's all just music. I'm just following whatever musical urge I might have, plus I like the challenge of not sticking to one particular genre.
LiveInDie: It sounds great to have had such a strong musical bond with your family from such a young age. Are there any words of advice you could give to aspiring musicians out there?
David Lyttle: To young musicians I would say do what YOU think is best, rather than follow others. If you're wrong you'll quickly learn. If you're right then you've succeeded. Either way you'll be happy because you've been true to yourself. At the same time, look up to those who have more experience and be respectable of people's opinions. Think long-term, be pro-active, use all available resources to realise your ideas, but never forget the bigger picture. LiveInDie: Great advice David, finally we'd like to ask you, if you had just five songs to listen to for the rest of your life what songs would you pick and why?
David Lyttle: I've have idea so I'll have to be vague. I'd probably have some jazz like Art Blakey in there, some soulful pop/R&B like Pharrell's 'Frontin'', one of Debussy's piano works and something by my family group to constantly remind me of my roots.
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