Biography
Dave Stapleton is a British composer, pianist, producer and photographer. He is the founder and CEO of Edition Records and co-leader of Slowly Rolling Camera.
It was through the late, great pianist and improviser Keith Tippett, whilst studying classical piano at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Daram, that Dave began to immerse himself in Jazz and improvised music. This exposure, without the constraints and limitations that classical music had, provided him the musical freedom to express forge his own musical path through composition.
Between 2004 and 2010, based in Cardiff, he worked exclusively with his quintet, releasing 3 successful albums on his own Red Eye Music imprint, ‘When Life Was In Black and White’ (2005), ‘The House Always Wins’ (2007) and ‘Between the Lines’ (2010).
In 2008 with a renewed sense of vision, he formed Edition Records to release his own music as well as UK artists. Within a 2 year period, Edition was fast being recognised as a creative, digitally engaged label championing both British and Nordic artists including Phronesis, Daniel Herskedal, Oddarrang, Marius Neset and Mark Lockheart. Over the last decade, Edition has evolved from a cottage industry and self-releasing artist based label, into a 21st Century global music company intent on supporting a progressive and creative artist roster, to develop, impact and thrive in the digital age.
To audiences, Edition has become an invaluable resource centre of exciting and compelling artists who abhor complacency and despise predictability yet strive to find new pathways in their own explorations of this music. But, it’s been the labels submarine like effect to punch above its weight and quietly build a vast and eclectic roster including Chris Potter, Dave Holland, Gretchen Parlato, Lionel Loueke, Verneri Pohjola, Phronesis, Pablo Held, Jasper Høiby, Tim Garland, Julian Argüelles, Anton Eger as well as his own Slowly Rolling Camera to name a few, that has seen its growth as a creative, empathetic and passionate label.
In 2012 he released ‘Flight’, featuring Marius Neset, Olavi Louhivuori, Dave Kane, and the Brodowski String Quartet, regarded as his ambitious and impressive work today, received international attention praise for its dextrous blend of contemporary jazz, European Art and classical music.
In 2013, together with long-term friends and collaborators, he formed Slowly Rolling Camera, a band he envisaged for larger, more ambitious soundscapes and production. With three successful album releases an EP, Slowly Rolling Camera has carved a sonic identity of expansive grooves, melodic hooks held together with a strong emotional gravitas.
Today Dave Stapleton continues to work as an accomplished composer, producer, photographer as well as CEO of Edition Records and E2 Music, Edition’s sub-label.