David S. Ware: Pastor at the Church of Jazz

Avant garde sax man David S. Ware passed away in October.  I confess that I didn't find out about his passing until last week.  NPR had a tribute to Ware and Lol Coxhill and Von Freeman, all of whom we lost last year.  I would note that I got to hear Freeman in Chicago a few years back, in a small club just north of the river.  

I don't know Coxhill, but I do have a healthy collection of David S. Ware in my library.  Most of Ware's music is what I call Page Four Jazz.  Someone who likes hard bop (Page Three) will recognize Page Four as music, but may find it very challenging.  Ware played a very muscular, frenetic horn.  You'll like it if you like the scratchy texture of his sax (I do) and if the way he slices and reassembles musical ideas does that avant garde thing to you (it does to me).  

You can watch a very interesting short film about David S. Ware produced by the David Lynch Foundation.   It includes Ware's voice along with William Parker.  "Now Jazz is one of the world's greatest churches, for sure," Ware tells us.  Don't miss it.  You can also read a fine obituary at the Guardian. 

Ware recorded Sonny Rollins' 'Freedom Suite' twice, once on an album of that title and again on Live In The World, a splendid avant garde document by the David S. Ware Quartet.  Either is a good place to start for the wary looking for something accessible.  These are fine examples of jazz in a classical format.  I am playing the third movement from the Freedom Suite album.  Here are the usual suspects:

• Arranged By – David S. Ware
• Bass – William Parker
• Composed By – Sonny Rollins
• Drums – Guillermo E. Brown
• Piano – Matthew Shipp
• Tenor Saxophone – David S. Ware

I am also playing 'Mikuro's Blues' from Go See The World, the studio album released just as the tour documented in the album above was going.  It is a very accessible blues number and gives you a pretty good idea of Ware's brilliance.  I just downloaded this recording tonight, so I can't give you a review.  No surprises on the score card:

• Bass – William Parker
• Drums – Susie Ibarra
• Piano – Matthew Shipp
• Tenor Saxophone, Producer – David S. Ware

 Meanwhile, what I really want to talk about is an Andrew Cyrille album that features Ware: Special People (1980).  I was already up to the eyelids deep in love with Cyrille.  He is one drummer who can lead a band the way a catcher directs the diamond.  Special People is so bloody good I can't believe I didn't have it until today.  Every single number is toe curling delicious.  Here is the lineup:

• Bass – Nick De Geronimo*
• Percussion – Andrew Cyrille
• Tenor Saxophone – David S. Ware
• Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Ted Daniels* 

Just from the first listen, I would have guessed that Nick De Geronimo was the leader.  His bass supports the other instruments the way the treads support an armored personnel carrier.  He knows just how to find his footing in each musical topography and how to reach for the delicious push.  Cyrille's percussion frames the music and keeps the horns on top the tread.  Ware is magnificent, playing with the heart of a war horse.  The same goes for Ted Daniels on brass, who is lighter afoot but just as poetic.  This album is simply superb.  Get the darn thing!

Jazz Note 4: Thankgiving

Here's a playlist of the current show, which debuts at 9pm Central tonight, Saturday, November 27th.  Tonight's show is a mixed bag of more accessible music from mostly less accessible albums.  Something to cut the taste of turkey and give your digestion something to work with.  You'll find roaring blues and sad romance, spiritual highs and entertaining shadows.  Give it a listen and let me know what you think. 

1. Thanksgiving Suite/John Lindberg/A Tree Frog Tonality
2. Mikuro's Blues/David S. Ware Quartet/Live In The World
3. Ghosts/Albert Ayler/Spiritual Unity
4. Red Car/David Murray/I Want To Talk About You
5. Odin/David Murray/Body and Soul
6. Crossing the Sudan/Chico Freeman/Destiny's Dance
7. Stratusphunk/George Russell/Stratusphunk
8. O'Neal's Porch/William Parker/O'Neal's Porch
9. Contemplation/Mal Waldron and Marion Brown/Songs of Love and Regret
10. Sonny's Dream/Sonny Criss/Sonny's Dream
11. The Wane/Steve Lacy Trio/The Holy La
12. Both Sides/The Vandermark Five/Airports For Light

Update: Mikuro's Blues played at half speed.  I stopped the show and replaced the track.  I hope it works this time.  Of course, with avant garde jazz you can't always tell. 

David S. Ware Got a Kidney

It occurs to me that that blog title would make a good title for an avant garde ballad.  I posted some time ago on David S. Ware, mentioning the fact that he was in desperate need of a new kidney.  I had this momentary daydream in which my blog post became the connection between the brilliant avant garde tenor and a donor.  It was a  pure 'put me on center stage' kind of fantasy.  I am happy to report that Ware did receive a transplant, from Laura Mehr.  You can read about the connection at that link.  I say: well done, Laura!

On my original post I mentioned one difference between the jazz and classical music genres: long, multi-part compositions are relatively rare in jazz.  Subsequent versions of such works are rarer still, though Ken Laster pointed out that Trane's A Love Supreme has been produced many times by other artists.  I would point out that so has Tranes' Ascension, though I can't figure out why. On that post I reviewed Ware's recording of Sonny Rollin's four movement 'Freedom Suite'. 

This week I have been listening to a three disc recording by the David S. Ware Quartet: Live In The World, which contains another, longer version of 'Freedom Suite'.    Backing Ware are three consummate avant garde artists.  William Parker, one of the most imaginative and brilliant jazz composers plays bass.  Matthew Shipp plays piano.  Shipp reminds me a lot of Parker, perhaps because his recording Pastoral Composure reminds me of Parker's Painter's Spring.  Those two albums are good, accessible introductions to the work of both.  Live In The World presents three concerts.  Different drummers appear on each.

To be sure, this is not music for the inattentive.  Some of the numbers are quite challenging.  Ware's interpretation of 'Freedom Suite' is the kind of thing that should bear a warning: don't try this at home.  But this is also a good album for the hard bop ban to cut some avant garde teeth on.  I especially liked Ware's interpretation of 'The Way We Were.'  There's a lovely if syrupy ballad, almost spoiled by the memory of a dreadful movie.  Ware opens with a long and intense solo that was distant enough from the original melody that it made me wonder if the title was a mere coincident.  But then the piano comes in, and sure enough it's 'The Way We Were.'  Ware's solo had the charming effect of scouring out all my preconceptions about the song, and it allowed me to hear it for the first time without once thinking of Barbara Streisand.  

Ware obviously has a deep interest in Eastern mysticism.  The album highlights these interests.  It is also too easy for a movie star or musician to trivialize a spiritual tradition, but in the best cases the spiritual colors weave into the music and make it more interesting.  This is one of those cases.  'Elder's Path' is a very interesting walk.  

But here is a sample of a more traditional blues.  Susie Ibarra is on drums.  It's finger-licking good.  

Davis S. Ware Quartet/Mikuro's Blues

This gives you some idea of what Ms. Mehr purchased with her kidney.  

David S. Ware: Shakti

It's crunch time this professor, so I have been neglecting Jazz Note.  For loyal readers who frequently check out this blog for something new, here is something new. 

David S. Ware/Crossing Samsara/Shakti