The '90s saw the full-on actualization of this group and the recognition of David S. Ware as a true saxophone collossus.  A series of ground-breaking albums by the David S. Ware Quartet were released  in rapid 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 most highly acclaimed jazz groups of the decade, David's efforts were further rewarded by being one of 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, wbich he hadn't heard before. He really flipped." Two years later, when Branford was named the new creative consultant 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 tbing, 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 anything before in his now vast 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, and in the wake of the Columbia 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 for the first time.  The epic Corridors & Parallels album was the result, released in September 2001.

Shortly thereafter, the SFJazz organization commissioned David 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 was then made for AUM Fidelity in July and releasedin 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 influences of the greatest that have shaped the art of jazz, with an original sound and concept that has added to the further development of this 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 the label ThirstyEar/The Blue Series that would showcase David’s talent as a composer. This came to fruition with the recording of Threads in 2003. Daniel Bernard Roumain on violin and Mat Maneri on viola joined the quartet, with Matthew Shipp playing the synthesizer using a "strings" setting on most of the pieces. 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 touring and playing with his quartet across Europe and in the USA, and a tremendous amount of critical acclaim for their live performances, 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 stunning three-disc offering taken from three different concerts, and representing difference phases and selections of material. His long-time sidemen, pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker, are constant throughout, with the drummer's chair changing from disc to disc. One of the three concerts, recorded in Milano, Italy in 2003 with current drummer Guillermo E. Brown, features the Quartet's renewed approach to “The Freedom Suite.”

"We did “Freedom Suite” a number of times throughout Europe,”  Ware says. “On this particular concert, we decided that we’d been doing it a certain way, so let’s try to open it up even more and break up the form a little bit. That’s exactly what happened in that concert, we broke up the form and built various parts of it differently that we had. During the concert, I knew that we touched on the transcendental several times as we played it. Sometimes you don’t realize what you’re touching upon, but this is one of those rare occasions ..The music transcended, it went beyond itself, it went beyond playing music and it touched upon the spiritual plane. 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 specifically for the Quartet, and it was decided to record these pieces live as well.  The concert was the main headlining event at Vision Festival XI (NYC) in June. 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.

Even before Renunciation was released, David was conceptualizing other group concepts and beginning to compose for same.  In July 2007, his new group concept, featuring guitarist Joe Morris, made its debut at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC. This new 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 made a European tour in November 2007, and continued working toward a recording which took place in May of 2008.  The resulting album, Shakti, was released on AUM Fidelity in January 2009.

2009 is David S. Ware's 50th year of playing saxophone. We had planned to record a special project in the Spring to celebrate this momentous fact, with the resulting album to be released on AUM Fidelity in the Fall of 2009. However, due his health condition which reached a critical state in December 2008/January 2009, this recording/celebration was delayed until later in 2009.

Update: David S. Ware's health!