David Walcott has been described by one critic as a remarkable musician who plays with great sensitivity, virtuoso technique and full command of the challenging instrument – the steel pan.
At the tender age of 13, ‘Ziggy” as he is affectionately called, began playing with the Pan Revolution Steel Orchestra, and later became the arranger and Musical Director for the group.
However, David’s first taste of the big Pan stage came in 1995, when he performed on the Panorama stage with the Neal and Massey Trinidad All Stars. Four years later, he exploded onto the Barbadian music scene, when he accompanied local calypsonian “Adonijah” on the popular composition “Tenor Pan”, throughout the Crop Over festival.
This rising Barbadian star achieved further success that same year when his arrangement of the Kitchener Classic “Pan in A Minor”, performed by Pan Revolution Steel Orchestra, was awarded Gold at the Barbados National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA).
David is one of a few local and regional artistes, who use the steel pan as his mainstream instrument with unrivalled versatility. He plays mostly up tempo music genres including calypso, traditional jazz and classic R & B.
In 2008 David released his debut album – Jambustin’. This album features all original compositions and has been described by critics as one of the best Jazz albums to emerge out of the Caribbean in recent times.
A tenor Pannist, he has performed with many popular Barbadian and international musicians and calypsonians including Andy Narrell, Raf Robertson, AJA and Boo Hinkson.
He has also appeared on several pan shows namely, “Calypso in Steel” in 1999 with Amoco Renegades and the Barbados Pan Festival in 2001, 2002 and 2003 with Pan Revolution Steel orchestra, Neal and Massey Trinidad All Stars and Exodus respectively.
David featured in the Holders Season in 2003 and 2004 accompanying artistes such as Zoe Rohan and Martin Taylor, as well as in the associated promotional performance in the UK entitled “Holders Goes to London” in 2003. He has also performed and headlined at the Barbados Jazz Festival.
He holds an Associate Degree in Music from the Barbados Community College and a BA in Music from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad, with pan as his specialist instrument.
David, the former Director of the National Youth Steel Orchestra, is currently the Musical Director of Karmic Steel Orchestra (Barbados’ largest steel orchestra) where he is molding and grooming young, up and coming players in the rudiments of the steel pan, as they pursue their careers in music.
