Photo © Mephisto

DAVID S. WARE Contact / Booking Information

US & UK:
Steven Joerg - AUM Fidelity
tel: 718 854 2387
email: aum@aumfidelity.com

European Booking : Anne Dumas - Musique en Jeu
tel: +33 5 65 11 44 29
e.mail: mejmej@orange.fr

updates:
http://davidsware.blogspot.com

website:
http://www.davidsware.com/

Biography (updated 5/2011)

David S. Ware was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on November 7, 1949. His early love of music was nurtured by some dedicated teachers at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. He began his saxophone career on alto, and then switched to baritone, before finally settling on the tenor as his musical voice. "I had played in all the school bands, the whole way through junior high and high school : marching band, concert band, dance band and orchestras." As a teen David was an ardent admirer of Sonny Rollins and struck up a relationship with the elder tenor player after seeing him countless times in the mid-'60s at the Five Spot and the Village Vanguard. The two practiced together intermittently in the '70s in Rollins' Brooklyn apartment; it was Rollins who taught young Ware the art of circular breathing in 1966.

By the late-'60s, David was attending music school in Boston and playing on the local scene with Stanton Davis, Cedric Lawson, Art Lande, and Michael Brecker, the latter of whom later recalled: "I remember how completely wowed I was when I heard David play – we were about 17 or 18 – here was a tremendously gifted artistic and creative presence – an inspiration to all of us."   While in Boston, David met drummer Marc Edwards and pianist Cooper-Moore (né Gene Ashton), and together they formed a group called Apogee.

By 1973, David had moved to New York and became part of a circle of musicians, including Sam Rivers, David Murray, Butch Morris, Arthur Blythe, Don Pullen, Rashied Ali, and Frank Lowe, who were creating and cultivating their own loft-and-studio performing circuit at that time.  Word of David’s potent voice on tenor spread quickly, resulting in a flurry of crucial work.  He became a member of the Cecil Taylor Unit in a group that included Marc Edwards, trumpeter Raphe Malik and the great alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, and performed with Taylor’s legendary Carnegie Hall large ensemble.  “Ware's distinct sound and Holy Roller fervor were already evident when he was 25, performing in Cecil Taylor's unforgettable 1974 Carnegie Hall big band.” (Gary Giddins, Village Voice, August 1/7, 2001).  Ware toured with the Cecil Taylor Unit throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada, and recorded one album with this group, Dark To Themselves (Enja).  Subsequently, Beaver Harris replaced Edwards on drums, which led to Ware joining Harris' 360 Degree Music Experience ensemble.  It was also at this time that David joined master drummer Andrew Cyrille's group Maono.

By 1981, David had toured Europe a half-dozen times: with Maono, the Cecil Taylor Unit, and even once with his own group, which included Beaver Harris, Cooper-Moore and bassist Brian Smith. He had recorded three albums with Maono, including Metamusicians' Stomp and Special People for the Italian label Black Saint.  1981 was also the year that Birth of a Being was released, David's first album under his own name, an Apogee trio date with his compatriots Marc Edwards and Cooper-Moore, for the Swiss label Hat Hut.  In the early ‘80s, he collaborated with drummer Milford Graves.  He toured Europe in 1985 with his own group, a trio with bassist Peter Kowald and drummers either Louis Moholo or Thurman Barker.  In 1987, David served briefly in trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah's band, the Solomonic Quintet, and recorded one self-titled album with them for the Swedish label Silkheart.

During the '80s, David's concerns as a saxophonist shifted away from the rush and fury of extended improvisations, and into the area of concentrated thematic development.  David formed a trio in 1988 with Marc Edwards and the astonishing bassist William Parker (also well-known in astute quarters by this time for his stellar presence in various Cecil Taylor groups), and recorded Passage To Music in 1988 for Silkheart.  In 1989, Ware put out the word that he was looking for a pianist. William Parker and Reggie Workman both recommended Matthew Shipp: "David got in touch with me and we started playing together. I was a big fan of Ware's work. Playing with Ware is like being at home. My style of piano really fits his compositions. He gives me freedom to be me. He doesn’t put any restrictions on me."

In 1989, the David S. Ware Quartet was born. From that time forward, the only personnel changes have been the drummers: Whit Dickey replaced Marc Edwards in 1992, followed by Susie Ibarra in 1996, and finally Guillermo E. Brown in 1999.  "I'm seeing more and more the value of keeping a group together," said Ware at the time. "Rather than freelance with 14 different bands, you make the group an institution. Looking at jazz over the decades, I feel this is how the music grows the most. Musicians get a chance to be thorough, to know the material and be involved instead of skimming over the surface." Rather than compromise his musical vision, Ware chose to be patient. "I drove a cab for 14 years. I stayed out of the scene until I was ready to do my thing."  He also refused to do sideman gigs. "Working with other musicians doesn't work for me. Philosophically, I find it difficult to be under someone else's umbrella."

The '90s saw the full-on actualization of this group and the recognition of David S. Ware as a true saxophone colossus.  A series of ground-breaking albums by the David S. Ware Quartet were released in steady succession: Great Bliss Vols. 1 & 2 on Silkheart; Flight of i, Third Ear Recitation, Earthquation, and Godspelized on the Japanese label DIW; finally, Cryptology, DAO, and Wisdom of Uncertainty on the American labels, Homestead and AUM Fidelity. One of the greatest bands in jazz history and one of the most highly acclaimed musical groups of the decade, David's efforts were partially rewarded by being among the very few jazz musicians of the modern era whose work was appreciated by listeners both inside and far outside the typical jazz audience. In an unprecedented coup, the Cryptology album garnered the coveted Lead Review slot in Rolling Stone Magazine.

In 1997, David was signed to the Columbia Jazz label by Branford Marsalis. "Branford caught my show (Vienne –France 1995) and he really dug what he heard. He was sincerely moved by the music, which he hadn't heard before. He really flipped." Two years later, when Branford was named the new creative director of Columbia Jazz, he made David S. Ware his first signing. David again, "Musicians worry that once they get a deal with a major label they'll have to water down their music. But Branford said 'don't change a thing, just keep playing like yourself.'"

The first album for Columbia, Go See The World, was released in 1998, and it was indeed as unrelentingly powerful as any Quartet record that had come before, meeting with great critical acclaim. The second album for Columbia, Surrendered, was recorded in October 1999 and released in May 2000. It featured interpolations of Charles Lloyd's "Sweet Georgia Bright" and Beaver Harris' "African Drums," as well as four beautiful new compositions by David S. Ware. Overall more gentle in spirit than any previous release in his deep and wide oeuvre, Surrendered fully showcased the deep sense of swing that had always been at the root of the Ware Quartet's music.

After making the two albums for Columbia Records, and in the wake of their Jazz department's dissolution, ways were parted in December 2000. Wasting no time, AUM Fidelity brought David and the Quartet into the studio in February of 2001. These sessions were the first showcase for David’s interest in expanded sonic templates for the Quartet, and featured Matthew Shipp on synthesizer (on record) for the first time ever.  The epic Corridors & Parallels album was the result, released in September 2001.

Shortly thereafter, the SFJazz organization commissioned Ware to prepare a new arrangement of Sonny Rollins' “The Freedom Suite,” especially for the David S. Ware Quartet to perform at their 2002 Spring Season.  A studio recording of this beautiful new arrangement was made for AUM Fidelity in July and released in October 2002. "This is a perfect opportunity to show the link between me and Sonny," explained Ware, "an opportune time to show how one generation is built upon another and how the relationships work in the whole stream of music that's called jazz."

David carries forth the DNA of the greatest that have shaped the art of jazz, with an original sound and advanced concept that continues the further development of the art form. His formidable artistic skills go beyond being an impeccable saxophonist and improviser. Matthew Shipp had expressed a strong desire to produce a record for his label The Blue Series that would more explicitly showcase David’s talent as a composer. This came to fruition with the recording of Threads in 2003. The resulting music, built on delicate, cinematic rhythms and melodic fragments, reveals a classical sensibility, and sounds like a new form of jazz chamber music. On some tracks, Ware's sax is nowhere to be heard; his artistry is fully presented through his distinct compositional approach. David explains. "I'm interested in using different techniques to get to a place of transcendence. The thing that makes music great is that it's an infinite thing, an endless thing. Personally, I'm interested in going down more than one path, as far as the form, the melody are concerned. I don't want to restrict myself as to what area or style of music I can deal with."

After more than 15 years of performing with his quartet across Europe and the U.S., garnering a tremendous amount of critical acclaim along the way, the David S Ware Quartet had not yet released a live recording. As if making up for lost time, Live in the World, released in 2005, was a three-disc offering taken from three different concerts, and representing different phases and selections of material. On performing live and touching on the transcendental, Ware says, "This is one of the ultimate things in musical experience, to touch upon that universal, that cosmic reality, that makes us all related. That makes us, all human beings on this planet, truly brothers and sisters."

In September of 2005, on the occasion of Sonny Rollins' induction into the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center, Mr. Rollins invited David and the Quartet to perform a section of "Freedom Suite" as part of the ceremony.

By the Spring of 2006, David had a new set of compositions prepared for the Quartet, and it was decided to record these pieces live in concert as well.  That exquisite concert was the main headlining event at Vision Festival XI (NYC) in June; it was also the last time that the Quartet has performed in the U.S. The resulting album, Renunciation, was released by AUM Fidelity in April 2007 and was met with yet another round of acclaim from critics and fans alike.  The DSWQ embarked on one final tour of Europe in Spring 2007 and the awesome penultimate concert of that tour was recorded and later released as the vinyl-only Live in Vilnius by NoBusiness Records.

Even before Renunciation was released, David was conceptualizing other group concepts and beginning to compose for same.  In July 2007, a new group featuring guitarist Joe Morris made its debut at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC. This group's membership was solidified with the addition of David's stalwart musical companion William Parker on bass, and fellow master musician Warren Smith on drums; they embarked on a European tour in November 2007, and continued working toward a studio recording which took place in May of 2008.  The gorgeous resulting album, Shakti, was released in January 2009.

2009 was David S. Ware's 50th year of playing saxophone. He had planned to celebrate this momentous occasion by recording a special project in the Spring with the resulting album to be released in the Fall on AUM Fidelity.  However, his health reached a critical state in December 2008.  David had been on dialysis since being diagnosed with kidney failure in 1999 and though he had been incredibly productive since that diagnosis, the prospect of living on dialysis had finally reached its outer limits.  A call was put forth on AUM Fidelity's email list in January 2009 for a kidney donor.  Laura Mehr, the wife of a long ago acquaintance of David, responded to this call and on May 12, 2009 one of her kidneys was successfully transplanted.

Only five months later, on October 15, 2009, David S. Ware made his triumphant return to the stage in a solo performance at Abrons Arts Center (NYC).  This luminous concert – displaying an undiminished playing ability rich with new invention – was recorded and released in March 2010 as Saturnian (solo saxophones, volume 1).  This performance prompted features in The New York Times and on NBC Nightly News.

In December 2009 Ware returned to the studio, fulfilling the original idea of marking his 50th year of singular saxophone artistry with a special recording date.  The session featured David on three different saxophones (saxello & stritch in addition to his customary tenor), along with William Parker on bass and Warren Smith on drums and tympani (the latter instrument as requested by David).  The session was not preceded by group rehearsals (unlike most of his albums from the past 20 years) as the intent was to let the forms of this new music express themselves; trusting in the collective skill of the assembled musical masters to manifest the majesty.  This session was of the godhead and was released as Onecept on September 14, 2010.  This trio made their live debut at Vision Festival XV, NYC on Sunday, June 27th and performed a stellar(!) pair of sets at the Blue Note, NYC on October 4, 2010.

It must be stated plain and clear: David S. Ware's capacity for awe-inspiring invention and elocution thereof is stunning anew in this present stage of his creative life. His presentation of solo concerts continued with dates in Brooklyn (March 2010) and Chicago (Umbrella Festival, November 2010).  Both of these were captured in full glory and shall be released in September 2011 as the second installment in his planned series of solo recordings.  Additionally in November 2010, a monumental new group communion took place at Brooklyn's Systems Two Studio: David S. Ware, Cooper-Moore, William Parker, and Muhammad Ali performed together for the first time ever.  Planetary Unknown is the name of this group; the album release will be celebrated with their worldwide live debut at Vision Festival on June 10, 2011.

–Steven Joerg

Update: David S. Ware's health!

Photo © Mephisto

Complete Discography as Leader

DAVID S. WARE
ORGANICA (solo saxophones, volume 2) AUM Fidelity 2011
PLANETARY UNKNOWN
(w/ Cooper-Moore, William Parker, Muhammad Ali) AUM Fidelity 2011
ONECEPT (Trio w/ William Parker & Warren Smith) AUM Fidelity 2010
SATURNIAN (solo saxophones, volume 1) AUM Fidelity 2010
SHAKTI (w/ Joe Morris, William Parker, Warren Smith) AUM Fidelity 2009
THREADS (David S. Ware String Ensemble) The Blue Series/Thirsty Ear 2003
LIVE IN THE NETHERLANDS (Solo) Splasc(H) 2001
PASSAGE TO MUSIC..(Trio w/ William Parker & Marc Edwards) Silkheart 1989
THE BIRTH OF A BEING..(Apogee w/ Cooper-Moore & Marc Edwards) Hat Hut 1981
FROM SILENCE TO MUSIC ..Palm 1978

DAVID S. WARE Quartet
LIVE IN VILNIUS NoBusiness Records 2009
RENUNCIATION AUM Fidelity 2007
BALLADWARE The Blue Series/Thirsty Ear 2006
LIVE IN THE WORLD   The Blue Series/Thirsty Ear 2005
FREEDOM SUITE   AUM Fidelity 2002
CORRIDORS & PARALLELS  AUM Fidelity 2001
SURRENDERED    Columbia/Sony 2000
GO SEE THE WORLD  Columbia/Sony 1998
WISDOM OF UNCERTAINTY   AUM Fidelity 1997
GODSPELIZED.. DIW 1997
OBLATIONS AND BLESSINGS ..Silkheart 1996
DAO Homestead 1996
CRYPTOLOGY Homestead 1995
EARTHQUATION ..DIW 1994
THIRD EAR RECITATION.. DIW 1993
FLIGHT OF i ..DIW/Columbia 1992
GREAT BLISS / Vols. 1 & 2.. Silkheart 1991

This is David S. Ware's discography as a leader. For an intensively detailed, and historical listing of all the many recordings that David has appeared on over the years, consult Rick Lopez' The David S. Ware Sessionography