Cellist David Darling, whose work encompassed both jazz and new age has died. He was 79.

ECM in an online tribute describe him as ''A unique improviser and creative spirit'' and relate how he ''first came to wider attention as a member of the Paul Winter Consort, whose line-up at the beginning of the 1970s included Ralph Towner, Glen Moore, Collin Walcott and Paul McCandless, all future members of the group Oregon. Darling’s ECM debut was on Towner’s Old Friends, New Friends, recorded in the summer of 1979, where he joined a cast featuring Kenny Wheeler, Eddie Gomez and Michael di Pasqua. It was soon followed by the influential solo album Journal October which sensitively mapped out some of the musical areas Darling would investigate in detail in the years ahead.''

Darling during his career was nominated for four Grammys, and won in 2009 in the New Age album category for the beautiful Prayer For Compassion.

Click here for the full ECM tribute.