It looks like cellist David Darling has hit his stride again. It’s been 15 years since he released Eight String Religion, which continues to be one of my favourites.

In the liner notes to Prayer for Compassion, David says, “The creation of this CD has taken many years,” and he goes on to thank the many, many who helped along the way to birth this bottomless gem.

David Darling’s unconventional, playful teaching style has helped open the world of music and improvisation to thousands of people. Darling is a classically trained cellist who began his career as a school teacher and conductor of band and orchestra, specializing in cello and bass. He later taught music and served as orchestra conductor and faculty cellist at Western Kentucky University. In 1969 he joined the Grammy Award-winning Paul Winter Consort, an extraordinarily progressive band for its time whose sound blended jazz with Brazilian, African, Indian and other world music, and at times even the voices of animals. During his eight-year stint as soloist, composer and vocalist with the Consort, Darling was immersed in ensemble and solo improvisation. Since he left the Consort in 1978, he has dedicated himself to a solo performing and recording career, and to teaching music and improvisation.

The music on Prayer for Compassion is many timbres and resonances and at times layers of cello, along with voices from the Ars Nova singers at times, a flute by Joseph Firecrow on one song, piano and birdsong here and there… It flows with lovely depths of feeling. Among the track titles are “Stones Start Spinning,” “As Long as Grasses Grow and Rivers Run,” and “Music of a Desire.” If you love masterful cello tuning, this CD is a real treat.

“There is such tenderness here, and majesty and strength.  This music is simply a magnificent gift to civilization, one that will outlast us all.” ---Coleman Barks, translator, The Soul of Rumi