I grew up listening my mom’s vinyl records. She had a serious, few thousand pieces collection, including classic symphonic music, jazz, pop, rock and punk records. I loved simultaneously Bach and The Beatles, Grieg and The Clash, Chopin and Deep Purple, Tchaikovsky and Kraftwerk – and so on. As many times I said, there is no good and bad music, but music which touch you and music which don’t. True, lately too many prefabricated, predictable, tasteless, “fake and plastic to the bone” type of music poisoned the stage and the market.
I write music reviews for more then 20 years now. I ended up at the microphone of a garage band at 16, 17 – a lifetime ago – and for good and bad, I’m “doing” music ever since. Still, I don’t consider myself a journalist or a musician. My uncle is a trained, professional cello player and back in the days when I spent my summer vacations in his hometown, instead kicking the ball with the other kids in the backyard, I was put to play the piano. His wife was a cello player too, sometimes they played together back home, rehearsed, exercised a lot, and I get use to and liked the aggressive sound of that instrument.
So, I’m not a stranger to classic music, to the cello, and receiving David Downing’s “Cosmic Conspiracy” album was actually a nice surprise in a world lately dominated by midi based and exclusively mainstream oriented music. Actually I almost gave up this site, I deleted all the post and I was sick and tired of the music I receive. David Downing’s new album is a challenging journey to the experimental fields of classic flavored music mixed up with cinematic soundscapes, noise and rock elements. Get an exclusive, free promotional track from David Downing album now and then buy the album!
David Downing began playing cello at age 7. His educational background includes: Interlochen Academy of the Arts, University of Nebraska – Omaha, Cleveland Institute of Music under acclaimed cellist Allen Harris, Harid Conservatory under Johanna Perone, Master classes with famed Argentinean cellist and teacher Aldo Parisot of Yale University.
His Venezuelan background and love of world folk music and culture have influenced his extensive musical repertoire, which includes both classical and acoustic pieces of his own original composition.
David recorded with Nazir Jones on Street’s Disciple album, Pi Symphony’s Inventions album, Flowers Forever with Saddle Creek Records, Cher & Gene Klosner’s album Stardust, also Saddle Creek Records, and many others.
His first solo CD titled Cello has sold over 800 copies.
David is presently focusing on solo performances and recording his new original music, as well as performances with fellow artists Carlos Figueroa, Chris Saub, Chad Lee, Michael Fitzsimmons, Soul Rebel, Ragged Company, and others.
“Cosmic Conspiracy” it’s David Downing’s debut album on Russian Winter Records. The five songs are an emotional and soulful journey flavored with darkness and tension, bright moments and sensibility. This is a moment of peace and a refugee in a world gone wild.
Russian Winter Records
David Downing @ Bandcamp
