Dwight Ashley

Dwight Ashley's path to a recording career has been a long and sometimes circuitous one - but his commitment to making the sounds he wants to hear has never changed.

Music was little more than personal amusement for Ashley - until 1976, when he heard the Robert Fripp / Brian Eno recording, Evening Star, an experience which quite literally changed the course of his life. Inspired by the synthesis of classical form and rock instrumentation in Fripp and Eno's work, Ashley returned to composition in earnest. Within months, he had acquired a Freeman string ensemble, Fender Rhodes electric piano, an Arp Odyssey, a Mini Moog, along with assorted effects pedals and two TEAC 1/4" two-track tape units and a TEAC 4-track to record his earliest works.

In 1981, Ashley experienced a major setback in his recording career. Lightening from a freak thunderstorm struck his recording studio - a facility so new, it had yet to be insured. Virtually nothing was left after the fire that ensued, and it took Ashley the better part of the '80s to recover financially.
Now, more than twenty years after the devastating loss of his first recording studio, Ashley has released two solo recording projects - Discrete Carbon and Four - on his own label, Nepenthe Music. Another solo album, Ataxia, is targeted for release on Nepenthe in late 2006.

Influences

On the whole, I have been less influenced by individual artists than I have been by particular works.

In the spring of 1976, I was a junior in high school and I happened to hear Evening Star by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. Robert Fripp's guitar work on this album changed everything for me. It is by far the single most important musical influence I can point to; Evening Star was the music that made me want to make music.

Maurice Jarre's soundtrack to Jacob's Ladder also comes to mind. It is possible to find that influence on the Ashley/Story album, Drop, on the track "Laughter." Another major influence would no doubt be Gavin Bryar. His recording, After the Requiem, is one of the most profound pieces of music that I have ever heard.

And finally, I would have to credit Tim Story as having a significant influence on me in many ways. I have learned much from him about craftsmanship; in particular, the effort required to go the distance with the last 10% of a project. I must also credit Tim with improving my understanding of melody and timing. This has been particularly helpful, for I fear my material would be a good bit more amorphous without his affect.

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Projects

Ataxia, Dwight's latest release will be out October 10th, 2006

At the moment Dwight is finalizing the score to Bell Street, which will be recorded in November and December of 2006.

Look for Water Melon Sugar in January of 2007. Watermelon Sugar is a collection of solo material Dwight recorded between 1990 and 1992. This represents his most audible or musical output from that time frame. This was the same period in which he and Tim Story completed two collaborative releases, A Desperate Serenity and Drop. A Desperate Serenity was released in March 1991; however Drop, though finished by late 1992, was actually not released until November 1997.

Current top 5

Tim Story - Buzzle (pre-release)
Human Being - Human Being Live at The Zodiak (pre-release)
K. Leimer - The Useless Lesson (pre-release)
Lustmord - Rising
Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar

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