David Torn

[Bach5G]

I’ve got my Alexa streaming David Torn. Wonderful stuff. Not widely known? His name stuck in my mind after reading an article about him years ago but this was the first time I listened to him. I really like what I’m hearing.

[dasein]

He's got a lot of great stuff. Not the first guitarist to experiment with looping or ambient playing, but maybe the most representative.

"Cloud About Mercury" is a classic in its genre. But there's some other gems out there. He was part of a very little known group called the Everyman Band, which was a really fun fusion group that featured some very EVH-ish guitar from Torn.

He was also involved in some of Tim Berne's recent projects, either as a player or a producer.

Just whatever you do, don't pay for his instructional video from the 90's. It's essentially a 90 minute "what's on your pedalboard" interview.

[Doctor Jeff]

Yes Cloud about Mercury is a classic. I had it on endless repeat back in the late ‘80’s. With Tony Levin, Bill Bruford and Mark Isham, plus Torn doing his Robert Fripp on Ativan (or Ecstasy?) thing, what’s not to like?

I kind of lost track of him after that. He was low profile. I do listen to some of his later discography occasionally.

He played on David Bowie’ s next to last album The Next Day and is featured in the documentary about his last albums (think it’s called The Last Five Years).

[Litterick]

He has a new album with Tim Berne and Ches Smith, which was released this week.

[Alter]

Love his playing. He was one of the first jazz players to experiment with loopers, effects and soundscapes. Beside jazz, I've always enjoyed soundscape and descriptive music, soundtracks, etc, so when I first discovered his music (way back in the 90s I think it was), it felt very refreshing and interesting to listen to.

He faced some serious health problems at some point, glad he overcame them.

[Just Fred]

I have a cassette copy of Door X, a 1990 release. It was an interesting foray into "experimental" music but never stuck with me.

[uschmidtguitar]

One of his latest albums, "Sun of Goldfinger," is terrific. It has Tim Berne on the saxophone and Ches Smith on drums. Check it out!

[rictroll]

David is the epitome of a modern musician

[frankl99]

Here's an amazing concert of Torn with Tim Berne, Craig Taborn, and Tom Rainey. So happening!

[grandstick01]

I saw him solo on his "Clouds About Mercury" tour at the Rongovian Embassy in Trumansburg NY. He had a couple of refrigerator-sized racks on stage and a Steinberger GL2T (Transtrem) guitar. Totally mindblowing.

My friend told him that we had his new album. He replied "Yeah? Me too..."

He performed for a TedTalk a few years ago -