The David Samuel Project

The life of an artist - in any genre - is characterized by stages of intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth. Creative endeavors of the past are superseded by new developments, influences and experiences. Without this growth the artist stagnates and succumbs to creative death. Risks are a necessary contribution to the creative journey. Moving away from routine and comfortable predictability are often the trademarks of artistic innovation.

The same could be said of guitarist David Samuel. For five years he led the David Samuel Project, a highly rehearsed band whose live Strat-through Marshall Stack rock n’ roll machine recalled the blues, progressive rock, and pop. Samuel’s proficiency as a producer running his own studio meant that all recordings and production were handled at his convenience and discretion in his own studio. The resulting labors were highly produced recordings with crisp, flashy production values on par with anything the major labels were distributing. Eventually however the activity of leading small tours, playing festivals and assuming the simultaneous role of band manager, performer and producer proved physically and emotionally exhausting. Samuel dissolved the band and took a much-needed repose at which point his acoustic guitar, usually a teaching tool, became a prominent musical companion. The acoustic guitar’s sensitive response allowed Samuel to began discovering techniques, textures and voicings that had otherwise eluded him during his electric ventures. The resulting experimentation led to the creation of new songs and updated arrangements of older ones. Simultaneous to this acoustic discovery, a compatriot from Samuel’s musical past re-entered the picture, drummer/percussionist Kevin Van Walk. Jazz-influenced and weary of over-produced, corporate, and increasingly unoriginal indie music, Van Walk was refreshed to see the acoustic minimalism and emotional transparency of Samuel’s new works. The duo set about recording the music. Utilizing an absolutely minimal miking technique – one mic to pick up drum tone and one mic to simultaneously record vocal and guitar – Samuel and Van Walk have returned to old school recording devoid of studio trickery and computer manipulation. The results are beautifully simple and vulnerable; Van Walk’s only equipment: two drums, a cymbal and a pair of brushes and Samuel’s acoustic guitar is free of effects with the exception of his slidework and trademark vibrato. The duo perform with an effortless, unspoken musical communication, relying more upon improvisational intuition than rehearsed perfection, thus bringing a jazz-like progressive flexibility to the musical proceedings. Audiences have consumed the sound with a voracious appetite of curiosity as Samuel and Van Walk present music with no agenda or genre affiliation. The music is earthy and gritty, at times invoking America’s folk and blues roots, then suddenly teetering off balance with tension and suspense, only to skyrocket into a funk stratosphere until Samuel manipulates his slide across the guitar-neck conjuring up dirty blues and the memory of a girl who poisoned his soul with betrayal and distrust.

In this day and age, bands and songwriters are a dime-a-dozen. Popular television and giant music stores have reduced the art of music to gimmick-laced contests. Today’s “point and click” mentality – texting, emails, and digital music players, although great innovations, have nevertheless contributed to the dismantling of attention spans which once absorbed the artistry of musical performance with all its details and nuances whether recorded or live. These issues ensure that making music in the 21st century is an arduous uphill climb wrought with risks and no guarantees of success. Undaunted by these obstacles, Samuel and Van Walk are forging ahead with their own brand of music defying trendy styles and simple categorization. For this duo “success” is an intimate engagement with music-lovers in the context of a small club, drink in hand listening and interacting with their performance in all its brutal intimacy and disquieting vulnerability; It is Samuel and Van Walk’s sincere desire to ensure that what you hear and see is what you get.


















Drummer Van Walk’s first musical memories are as a 3-year-old gathering up his toys and settling in front of his father’s hi-fi speakers, listening with wonderment to Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters album. It was only natural for him to pick up drumsticks after hearing the thick grooves laid down on that album by drummer Harvey Mason, bassist Paul Jackson and percussionist Bill Summers. Van Walk is a self-described “music geek” and his drumming has allowed him to perform and record up and down the West Coast and in Austin, Texas. When not playing music Van Walk digs arguing the superiority of analog versus digital recording, eating his wife’s fine cooking and then obsessing over his (alleged) weight gain. He enjoys a variety of musical genres as varied as Early Music/Baroque, Metal, old-school Honky Tonk and experimental Art-Rock but his first focus is 50s/60s bop and modern jazz. Influenced by the host of great jazz drumming legends that have come and gone, Van Walk is particularly influenced by Billy Higgins, Art Taylor, Alan Dawson, Roy Haynes, Joe Chambers, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, and newcomer Keith Carlock.