Biography
David S. Ware ranks among the foremost avant-garde jazz saxophonists spanning the final decades of the twentieth century and the opening years of the twenty-first. Early collaborations placed him alongside free jazz masters Andrew Cyrille and Cecil Taylor. His own ensembles, many featuring bassist William Parker and pianist Matthew Shipp, enabled him to channel the core of the 1960s free jazz movement and extend those frontiers through the 2010s. Possessing a singular tone and phrasing, Ware drew from jazz traditions, global folk legacies, and spiritual practices, transforming even standards with modernist depth. Initial releases appeared on European imprints such as Hat Hut with Birth of a Being in 1979 and Silkheart with Passage to Music in 1988. He advanced to Japan’s Sony-distributed independent DIW for four albums: Flight of I in 1992, Third Ear Recitation in 1993, Earthquation in 1996, and Godspelized in 1997. Acclaimed sessions followed for Sony and Homestead before he settled with AUM Fidelity, where his style—shaped chiefly by mentor Sonny Rollins and spiritual predecessor Albert Ayler—found deep appreciation. Wisdom of Uncertainty marked the label’s inaugural release. AUM traced his growth as bandleader through the 2002 recording of Rollins’ Freedom Suite and the ensuing year’s Threads with string ensemble. Additional AUM projects encompassed solo work such as 2009’s Saturnian, trio format on Onecept in 2009, and quartet configuration on Planetary Unknown in 2011. By life’s end, disciplined improvisation, breath mastery, impeccable technique, and exhaustive study granted Ware complete command of instrument and artistic vision.
Born November 7, 1949, in Plainfield, New Jersey, Ware commenced musical activity near age eleven, performing on alto and baritone saxophones plus bass within the Scotch Plains-Fanwood School System. He adopted the tenor independently and practiced outside school hours. School ensembles—marching bands, dance bands, concert bands, all-state bands, and orchestras—furnished steady experience and advancement. At fourteen, during summer 1964, Ware spent numerous evenings absorbing Sonny Rollins at Manhattan’s Five Spot, Village Vanguard, and Village Gate. The late 1960s found him enrolled at Berklee School of Music in Boston, where he assembled the band Apogee that performed locally until 1973, when the group relocated collectively to New York; Ware occasionally rehearsed with mentor Sonny Rollins, then residing in Brooklyn. In 1974 he appeared in Cecil Taylor’s large ensemble at Carnegie Hall. The mid-1970s saw membership in drummer Andrew Cyrille’s unit, a trio alongside trumpeter Raphe Malik, and tours with Taylor. That association yielded an extended sequence of recordings including the notable Black Saint album Metamusicians’ Stomp. Throughout the decade Ware also performed with drummer Beaver Harris on the African Drums album and later interpreted the title track himself on Surrendered.
As leader, Ware’s recording path opened decisively with Apogee on Hat Hut’s Birth of a Being in 1980, the trio comprising the saxophonist, drummer Marc D. Edwards, and pianist Gene Y. Ashton. Edwards remained an intermittent collaborator over subsequent years. Extended woodshedding and sideman touring followed, interspersed with self-produced New York appearances. Three Silkheart releases ensued: Passage to Music in 1988, Great Bliss, Vol. 1 in 1990 featuring Edwards and bassist William Parker, and Great Bliss, Vol. 2 as a quartet with Matthew Shipp on piano, Parker, and Edwards. Early 1990s sessions for Japanese DIW yielded the 1991 Columbia-distributed Flight of I, succeeded by two further external releases, Third Ear Recitation and Earthquation; devotees hold this trilogy in high regard. By the late 1990s Ware fronted his quartet across independent outlets including the indie-rock Homestead label, whose publicist Steven Joerg established AUM Fidelity expressly to document Ware and associates. Wisdom of Uncertainty in 1997 served as the new imprint’s debut, a quartet date with Shipp, Parker, and drummer Susie Ibarra. Columbia signed Ware for 1998’s Go See the World; Third Ear Recitation received reissue that year on DIW/Koch. Surrendered appeared on Columbia in spring 2000. Amid a brisk release pace that also encompassed Live in the Netherlands and a Splasc(h) solo saxophone concert, Corridors & Parallels emerged on AUM Fidelity in September 2001. The complete, widely praised rendition of Rollins’ Freedom Suite with Shipp, Parker, and drummer Guillermo E. Brown followed in 2002. A year later Thirsty Ear issued Threads, a quintet project by the David S. Ware String Ensemble including violist Mat Maneri, within the Shipp-curated Blue Series. Two further titles arrived consecutively: Live in the World in 2005 and BalladWare in 2006. Renunciation returned to AUM in 2007. Captured at Vision Festival XI on June 18, 2006, it preserved the final performance of the saxophonist’s most celebrated quartet with Brown, Shipp, and Parker.
In 2009 Ware released Shakti on AUM, his first new studio material in six years. The date introduced a fresh quartet of Parker, drummer Warren Smith, and guitarist Joe Morris and coincided with the saxophonist’s kidney transplant following nearly a decade of self-dialysis. The live solo album Saturnian: Solo Saxophones, Vol. 1, issued in 2010, constituted his first recording after the transplant and preceded the trio release Onecept with William Parker on bass and Warren Smith on drums. Ware maintained an active 2011 schedule: AUM Fidelity presented Planetary Unknown, placing him alongside Cooper-Moore, Parker, and Muhammad Ali; the documentary David S. Ware: A World of Sound by director Amine Kouider screened on the David Lynch Foundation’s dlf.tv in August; and Organica: Solo Saxophones, Vol. 2 appeared in October, again via AUM Fidelity. The label next issued Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011, documenting the final performance by the quartet featuring Cooper-Moore, Parker, and Ali. Ware died in October 2012 at age sixty-two from complications of the 2009 transplant. AUM subsequently expanded his legacy through the David S. Ware Archive Series. An expanded Birth of a Being containing all known 1977 Apogee studio recordings appeared in 2015. A previously unissued duo performance with Shipp, Live in Sant’Anna Arresi, 2004, followed in 2016. Live in New York, 2010, a trio date with Parker and Smith, surfaced in 2017; the same personnel featured on The Balance (Vision Festival XV +) the next year. Théâtre Garonne, 2008, the fifth Archive Series volume, arrived in 2019 and captured the saxophonist in quartet with Parker, Smith, and Morris.
Born November 7, 1949, in Plainfield, New Jersey, Ware commenced musical activity near age eleven, performing on alto and baritone saxophones plus bass within the Scotch Plains-Fanwood School System. He adopted the tenor independently and practiced outside school hours. School ensembles—marching bands, dance bands, concert bands, all-state bands, and orchestras—furnished steady experience and advancement. At fourteen, during summer 1964, Ware spent numerous evenings absorbing Sonny Rollins at Manhattan’s Five Spot, Village Vanguard, and Village Gate. The late 1960s found him enrolled at Berklee School of Music in Boston, where he assembled the band Apogee that performed locally until 1973, when the group relocated collectively to New York; Ware occasionally rehearsed with mentor Sonny Rollins, then residing in Brooklyn. In 1974 he appeared in Cecil Taylor’s large ensemble at Carnegie Hall. The mid-1970s saw membership in drummer Andrew Cyrille’s unit, a trio alongside trumpeter Raphe Malik, and tours with Taylor. That association yielded an extended sequence of recordings including the notable Black Saint album Metamusicians’ Stomp. Throughout the decade Ware also performed with drummer Beaver Harris on the African Drums album and later interpreted the title track himself on Surrendered.
As leader, Ware’s recording path opened decisively with Apogee on Hat Hut’s Birth of a Being in 1980, the trio comprising the saxophonist, drummer Marc D. Edwards, and pianist Gene Y. Ashton. Edwards remained an intermittent collaborator over subsequent years. Extended woodshedding and sideman touring followed, interspersed with self-produced New York appearances. Three Silkheart releases ensued: Passage to Music in 1988, Great Bliss, Vol. 1 in 1990 featuring Edwards and bassist William Parker, and Great Bliss, Vol. 2 as a quartet with Matthew Shipp on piano, Parker, and Edwards. Early 1990s sessions for Japanese DIW yielded the 1991 Columbia-distributed Flight of I, succeeded by two further external releases, Third Ear Recitation and Earthquation; devotees hold this trilogy in high regard. By the late 1990s Ware fronted his quartet across independent outlets including the indie-rock Homestead label, whose publicist Steven Joerg established AUM Fidelity expressly to document Ware and associates. Wisdom of Uncertainty in 1997 served as the new imprint’s debut, a quartet date with Shipp, Parker, and drummer Susie Ibarra. Columbia signed Ware for 1998’s Go See the World; Third Ear Recitation received reissue that year on DIW/Koch. Surrendered appeared on Columbia in spring 2000. Amid a brisk release pace that also encompassed Live in the Netherlands and a Splasc(h) solo saxophone concert, Corridors & Parallels emerged on AUM Fidelity in September 2001. The complete, widely praised rendition of Rollins’ Freedom Suite with Shipp, Parker, and drummer Guillermo E. Brown followed in 2002. A year later Thirsty Ear issued Threads, a quintet project by the David S. Ware String Ensemble including violist Mat Maneri, within the Shipp-curated Blue Series. Two further titles arrived consecutively: Live in the World in 2005 and BalladWare in 2006. Renunciation returned to AUM in 2007. Captured at Vision Festival XI on June 18, 2006, it preserved the final performance of the saxophonist’s most celebrated quartet with Brown, Shipp, and Parker.
In 2009 Ware released Shakti on AUM, his first new studio material in six years. The date introduced a fresh quartet of Parker, drummer Warren Smith, and guitarist Joe Morris and coincided with the saxophonist’s kidney transplant following nearly a decade of self-dialysis. The live solo album Saturnian: Solo Saxophones, Vol. 1, issued in 2010, constituted his first recording after the transplant and preceded the trio release Onecept with William Parker on bass and Warren Smith on drums. Ware maintained an active 2011 schedule: AUM Fidelity presented Planetary Unknown, placing him alongside Cooper-Moore, Parker, and Muhammad Ali; the documentary David S. Ware: A World of Sound by director Amine Kouider screened on the David Lynch Foundation’s dlf.tv in August; and Organica: Solo Saxophones, Vol. 2 appeared in October, again via AUM Fidelity. The label next issued Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011, documenting the final performance by the quartet featuring Cooper-Moore, Parker, and Ali. Ware died in October 2012 at age sixty-two from complications of the 2009 transplant. AUM subsequently expanded his legacy through the David S. Ware Archive Series. An expanded Birth of a Being containing all known 1977 Apogee studio recordings appeared in 2015. A previously unissued duo performance with Shipp, Live in Sant’Anna Arresi, 2004, followed in 2016. Live in New York, 2010, a trio date with Parker and Smith, surfaced in 2017; the same personnel featured on The Balance (Vision Festival XV +) the next year. Théâtre Garonne, 2008, the fifth Archive Series volume, arrived in 2019 and captured the saxophonist in quartet with Parker, Smith, and Morris.
Albums
