Dave Newhouse - Soli (2025)

Trevor Stenson Soli – A gorgeous new release from Dave Newhouse, out today, April 4, 2025 on Bandcamp. Swirling, intricate alt-jazz with strong Americanterbury vibes—think Canterbury scene textures filtered through a Maryland lens. The interplay of layered horns, minimalist cycles, and subtle electronic touches creates something both cerebral and deeply listenable. Newhouse continues to carve out his own path post-Muffins, and this is one of his most immersive works yet.

David Newhouse is an American author, painter and multi-instrumentalist (though primarily known for playing alto and baritone saxophone) located in Maryland. Born in Hawaii in 1953 and having played in several local experimental groups in Maryland during the early 70s such as Tunc and Illegal Aliens, he first came to prominence as the saxophone and keyboard player of the Muffins in 1973, gradually taking up the role of its lead composer. The band's signature Canterbury- and avant-prog sound (with Newhouse pointing out Henry Cow as a particularly significant influence) made a name for the Muffins as one of the first in their home country to adopt such a musical style (nicknamed AmeriCanterbury) and ensured Newhouse of a long and highly productive career in progressive rock circles even after the Muffins' first breakup in 1981.
Throughout the 1980s, Newhouse would go on to collaborate with artists such as Fred Frith, Skeleton Crew and Rascal Reporters before recording his first two solo albums around the turn of the next decade. Newhouse's further solo projects beyond this point have usually taken the form of new bands led by him such as Moon X and, most recently, Manna/Mirage, named after the Muffins' first album and close in style to the band that made him famous. Newhouse's next official solo album Daughter Of Paris wouldn't see the light of day until 2021, after an unyieldingly productive thirty years that saw him reform the Muffins and play with more modern prog giants like Guapo and Nick Prol & The Proletarians, and would reveal a much more musically versatile side of him beyond the avant-jazz rock that had been his trademark.