DAVID M. EDWARDS, Memories of You

While David M. Edwards is truly one of the most thoughtful and sensitive composers and elegant and insightful solo piano artists in today’s new age genre, he is also something of a medical miracle, overcoming countless physical setbacks and life threatening illnesses to continue to fulfill his creative destiny with Memories of You, the long awaited follow-up album to his first solo piano collection Still The River Flows, released in 2019.

Blessed with the opportunity to review that recording, I wrote at the time that the “majestic and expansive, multi-faceted debut as a solo pianist. . .opens a fresh door on his long eclectic career – finding a beautiful and organic new musical vibe after two impressive piano based ensemble recordings under the name Dave Edwards.

The story at the time was that marked shift in focus from his well receive Elusive Dreams (2011) and The Illusions of Time (2014), which were essentially stepping stones “toward the present moment, when the truest expression of his artistic identity can emerge unadorned.” The Little Rock, AR native brought a long eclectic musical history to his emergence as an instrumental artist, including stints in jazz, rock and country – the latter with a band that in the 80’s opened for Garth Brooks and Chuck Berry. His ability to overcome (via special exercises, massage and technique adjustments) a crippling problem with the joints and tendons in his hands was an important part of his journey as well.

The dramatic story of Edwards’ challenges in the years since Still the River Flows, and his almost super-human ability to push through them all to create the richly soulful, exquisitely composed and performed 15 pieces of Memories of You could seriously be turned into a documentary (or docudrama) on the healing power of music – not just for the listener but for the creator. But even without the visuals, the magic we hear is testament to Edwards’ resilience and dedication to his deeply intuitive artistry – and ability to see and reflect in music the beauty of nature and the deeper mysteries surrounding us.

Here's a tip for listeners as they immerse in Edwards’ infectious flow here. As you journey from the meditative, relaxed and cautiously hopeful opener “Saturday Morning” through the exuberant and joyful, life affirming closing gem “Dolphins Swimming Underwater” (whose unique title was inspired by a screensaver that popped up when he was listening to it!), close your eyes and ponder just what it took for Edwards to get back to a point where he could once again use his graceful touch on the keys to caress your senses. Of course, listeners can use the music as meditation, an opportunity to relax and set the clutter and chaos of their own lives free. But there’s something powerful about realizing what it took for Edwards to get those fingers back on the ivories – so for one of those listens (because you’ll definitely want to dive in more than once!) is to use these charming pieces as a soundtrack as we think about the realities of his life between albums.

If Edwards were still performing country music, his ongoing tales of woe could make an amazing song. Just as Edwards was working on new material after the release of Still the River Flows, he started having sharp pains in some of his fingers, accompanied by cyst-looking bumps on the joints of two fingers. He was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, had surgery and was recovering nicely when he realized he had a major hearing problem which was affecting his ability to hear high frequencies. The hearing aid he got created a phasing effect on the piano that made it sound like an out of tune barroom instrument. Again, not hard to solve – until the next sensory setback, a detached retina in his right eye, an emergency surgery to reattach it and several follow-up surgeries. Doctors were able to save the vision in his right eye, but he had trouble reading sheet music. This was followed by problems with the index finger on his left hand, more surgery, more pain and then a sepsis infection that almost killed him.    

“At this point,” Edwards says, “I was sure I’d never be able to play again, and it was emotionally devastating to me. But gradually, I started getting better and by spring of 2023 I was able to start playing again, very softly and carefully. I started recording some new pieces and gradually got better. By late 2024 I had enough material recorded to start to put together a new album. Memories of You is the result of all that trauma.

“One of the first pieces I composed after starting to play again was the one that became the title track,” he adds. “It seemed to fit so many things in my life at that point, especially people and places that existed only in memory for me, and it was suggested by the melody that came to me. As I completed the album, it seemed a fitting title, because of so many things in my life that had either passed away, or came near to doing so.”

What’s fascinating is that, despite including the slightly darker reflective piece “Melancholy Mood,” Edwards’ outpouring of emotion on the album is not sad and somber but cathartic,  liberating and spirit-filled, reflective of a man and artist who has found peace through his trials and now embraces life from a fresh, hopeful perspective. One of the factors contributing to the collection’s alternating aesthetics of tranquility and possibility is the move he made just before all the medical madness started (Fall 2019) to a beautiful property in the Rocky Mountains. It looked like a place he dreamed of long before, a setting which offered great inspiration for his musical muse to get to work. He took the compelling album cover photo of a stunning double r rainbow backed by lush hills from the front deck of his house.

If the aforementioned “Saturday Morning” feels like a resource for peace, that’s intentional, as Edwards perfectly captured the chill feeling of sitting on the deck with a cup of coffee, enjoying the surrounding beauty. Ever willing to create impressions of his environment, he follows that with the lilting, sweetly whimsical “Swallows in Flight,” tapping into the swell of emotions he felt watching the nearby swallows catching insects in mid-air. Further capturing what he calls “some aspect of that time in my life, the good and the bad,” the pianist follows the lighthearted, brightly dancing melody of “The Mountains Were Calling” with a mystical reflection of the larger mystery of the universe on the hypnotic ballad “Pale Blue Dot” – a reference to a 1990 photograph of Earth by the Voyager 1 space probe that inspired Carl Sagan’s legendary 1994 book of the same name.

Allowing us to experience his freewheeling stream of consciousness, Edwards returns from those higher minded contemplations to another gentle musing on the regional beauty of Colorado via the charming, seductive “Aspen Leaf Waltz” and the emotionally intense, fast paced and ultra-passionate “Tempest,” perhaps reflecting the convergence of nature’s power in creating storms and the just concluded chaos of this chapter of his life. The tune is emotional artistry at its rawest and most vulnerable fused with breathtaking beauty.

From there, Edwards’ colorful titles draw us into life’s most quiet, intimate and contemplative moments with cherished people (the ballads “The Way You Smile,” “Come Take My Hand” and “Lovely Lady”) as well as grander thoughts of nature’s profound mysteries (“Canopy of Stars,” “Rainbow in the Mist”) and the simple, spritely pleasure of “A Walk in the Park. Not everyone can emerge from a time like Edwards experienced where it must have felt like his life was falling apart, his body betraying him. Taken literally or metaphorically, pieces like “Rainbow in the Mist,” “A Walk in the Park” and “Dolphins Swimming Underwater” reflect the reality that when you break through the darkness, light will follow. That’s the story of Memories of You, and it’s a privilege to hear it manifested so wonderfully on Edwards’ new album.

The pianist says, “After all the emotional turmoil I had been through during the time the music was created, the fear that I had lost the ability to play, which was central to my self-concept, it’s about the joy and relief of being able to emerge from the darkness and come up with something that seemed to me to capture that emotional roller coaster. I hope listeners will feel the emotion flow through them and connect it with their own life experiences. It’s something very special to me, and I hope it will be to those who hear it as well.”