David Lyttle: Not Just Another Face in the Crowd

All those years of study and practical application – all those tours: the support gigs, the headliners. All those collaborations and guest slots. All that flip-flopping across styles and genres.

The sense of perpetual motion that made jazz producer, multi-instrumentalist and label boss David Lyttle seem like the most hyper-active musician in the North is actually, as his new album proves, the source of his strength. Because Faces, his remarkably nuanced and contemporary-sounding second album, is a triumph.
“I just wrote some songs and produced them the way I thought would best serve the song,” he says modestly. “People tell me it sounds fresh and contemporary but I’m actually quite old fashioned. When I was making it, I was imagining myself being in the ‘70s, trying to get the kind of spirit that you feel on older recordings. The sonic tone is quite retro. As for the content, I don’t know if it’s contemporary or not. I’ve never really tried to be cutting edge. When people force innovation they can lose the soul and spirit of the music. That takes second or third place way too often these days. When you hear something like that, it’s like meeting someone with no personality. I’d confidently say that most of the true innovators of music didn’t set out to do anything new but instead just did what they wanted. Sometimes innovation comes from copying and failing.”
Good luck trying to locate the source of Faces. Its dizzy-making blend of influences and textures has been expertly marshalled into a coherent whole that really could have come from anywhere. Which, when you think about how David’s early life was saturated in the music played by his family’s trad group, is pretty remarkable.
 “I see my development in different stages,” he explains. “Child performer with my family band, teenage music nerd, jazz drummer, hip hop/soul producer and now, hopefully, David Lyttle. At the end of the day no matter how diverse your career might be, you’re one person. It would be nice if people could just think of the person rather than the output but the problem is that when music became a product it needed categories. I run a label and know the industry, so I understand the sell. But for an artist like me who loves music and has no interest in sticking to a specific direction it can be tough.”
David’s label, Lyte Records, has released work by the likes of Jason Rebello and Jean Toussaint and Andreas Varady. It’s a roster every bit as diverse as Lyttle’s own output.
“I always have my ears open for people who make great music, artists who work hard and show some initiative in an era when you can do a lot unsigned,” he says. “Again it’s about the spirit. Who cares if the performer is amazing, the song is a masterpiece or the production is brilliant, if there’s no spirit or personality? I’ve signed a lot of very different stuff over the past few years. At first I thought I should be thinking about the overall brand of my label but that’s not so important to me now. If people have heard of Lyte Records they’ll know it’s my label and that it’s diverse in its output, just like me.”