Prayer for Compassion,
released January 20, 2009,
represents one of the deepest and most creative experiences of my life.
My long-time producer and colleague, Mickey Houlihan, and I
have patiently worked with this music for ten years.
Each title represents a journey into a way of being that, for us, holds the world together.
We have used the studio as an impressionist painter might use a palette.
Mickey and his wonderful friends at Wind Over The Earth and Immersive Studios have used technologies and techniques both old and new to help each composition find its way into being.
Eight String Religion,
released in 1993,
is one of the all-time
favorite creations of my collaborations with Mickey.
Like Prayer for Compassion, this project also took many years to create.
It also reveals the process of deep listening that has become central to our work together.
This past season has also produced the inspirational duo CD with the gifted Eve Kodiak,
The Return of Desire: Improvisations.
This freely improvised acoustic music for Cello and Piano was created in a few short sessions
of intense listening.
This album nods toward both our classical roots, and our love for extending
these into various styles.
Finally, for those of you who love Poetry as I do, please check out
The Tao of Poetry with my long time colleague
Chungliang Al Hung.
The ancient and modern poetry from China spoken both in English and Chinese is a deep and
philosophical tribute to the great legacy that can guide us in these modern times.
Thank you for your support and love for all these many years!
Please enjoy the music samplers that are on many pages on my site.
Here are some tracks from various recording projects.
For all my recordings, visit the Recordings Page.
... and here's a YouTube video of a solo from the Colin Walcott Tribute Concert, May 12, 1985 - enjoy!
“What I had thought of before as God, I met today in a human being.”
Those were the words of the Persian mystic poet Rumi upon meeting the wild dervish Shams Tabriz. And out of their friendship bloomed many of Jelaludin Rumi’s most inspired verses. On Just Being Here, the acclaimed poet Coleman Barks joins master cellist David Darling in a celebration of friendship—some of Rumi’s most memorable poems on the subject and five of Coleman’s own—illuminated within the interplay of Coleman’s inspired readings and David’s music. Listen in and let them widen and deepen your senses, like a fresh breeze that invites you to breathe freely and surrender to love in all of its changing guises.
The HBO Film 12th and Delaware, produced and directed by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, has been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score in the 2011 Cinema Eye Honors Awards. The original music score by David Darling was done for this film that explores the core of America's most intractable conflict.
This edition of Eight String Religion was undertaken by Winston Ma of First Impression Music. Extreme care was taken to re-master the original recording tapes to DXD Format (24-bit 352.8KHz) for superb sound quality. The package is completed with extensive liner notes.
For more than a decade, Chungliang Al Huang and David Darling have been exploring the development of a series of Chinese poetry recordings. The first in this series of CDs is finally completed with poetry by eleven Chinese poets.
The HBO Film 12th and Delaware, produced and directed by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, has been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score in the 2011 
