Search - David S Ware :: Renunciation

Renunciation
David S Ware
Renunciation
Genres: Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (8) - Disc #1

"Let's be bold: the David S. Ware Quartet is the best small band in jazz today. I realize that I will almost certainly hear another quartet, or trio or quintet or octet, this week or next, that will make me want to back...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: David S Ware
Title: Renunciation
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Aum Fidelity
Original Release Date: 1/1/2007
Re-Release Date: 4/10/2007
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Style: Avant Garde & Free Jazz
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 642623304228

Synopsis

Album Description
"Let's be bold: the David S. Ware Quartet is the best small band in jazz today. I realize that I will almost certainly hear another quartet, or trio or quintet or octet, this week or next, that will make me want to backpedal. But every time I see Ware's group or return to the records, it flushes the competition from memory." -- Gary Giddins, Village Voice "This record is the deepest, most coherent, and most accessible DSWQ disc I've heard, and the best record of the year by far. Consider that a recommendation." -- All About Jazz Publisher's Pick "Another absolutely killer and essential release for your pathetic and puny music collection from this seemingly possessed avant-jazz giant of the sax. He's taken the torch of Coltrane and not just carried it, but he threw the damn thing into an active volcano." -- ALTERNATIVE PRESS "Visceral, relentless, cathartic, squalling--many of the words that have long been associated with saxophonist David S. Ware's recordings and performances apply as well to his new album. The sheer force of his tone--and his seemingly superhuman ability to sustain and manipulate its raw emotional power--are a marvel to behold, perhaps more so now than ever." -- WASHINGTON POST "Ware's tenor orations often push into an abstract region that some listeners might call free jazz, yet his solos are so magnificent in their sweep, so propulsive in rhythmic drive, and so linear in melodic development that they prove impossible to resist." -- Howard Reich, CHICAGO TRIBUNE Recorded live at Vision Festival 2006, Renunciation was the last US performance by David S. Ware's revered quartet. Featuring three brand-new compositions--the beauty ballad "Ganesh Sound," the epic title suite centerpiece, and the condensed encore--this concert, and exquisite recording thereof, offers the quartet at the very height of its powers as the members collectively say goodbye.
 

CD Reviews

Powerful, Appealing Avant-Garde Set
David Conklin | Albuquerque, NM USA | 03/04/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this set. I wish I'd been at the 2006 Festival to experience it first-hand, but this fine CD (beautifully recorded) is the next best thing. While the music harkens back to the intense spirituality expressed by Coltrane's mid-1960s group, it's distinctly different. These musicians and the compositions themselves yield something that seems fresh and original. David S. Ware, a masterful player with full-bodied, multi-colored sound on tenor sax, is clearly the standout. However, William Parker (one of the most exciting bass players in jazz), Mathew Shipp (piano), and Guillermo Brown (drums) each deliver top-notch performances. Although this music is certainly not for the faint of heart, it's really not that inaccessible.



Since this was part of a music festival, I expect that the recording captures the group's entire set (including encore)--which was apparently their final performance together. Clocking in at around 63 minutes, the CD leaves you well-satisfied, but not overly-satiated. And what a set!! One of the more impressive things about it is the combination of diversity and balance. The 3-part Renunciation Suite, the album's centerpiece, begins with an extended "call and response" pattern: several superb, lofty solo flights by Ware are answered by his 3 partners, driven along by Parker's propulsive base lines. Fascinating, exhilarating, beautiful stuff! The suite concludes with a colorful Shipp-Parker duet, on which piano and bass (here, played bowed) seem to encircle each other. Other highlights include a few bars (all too short) of sax and drums, leading into a fine, controlled solo by Brown. The other tracks, generally featuring the entire group throughout, are equally strong.



To borrow an often-used phrase: this disc rewards repeated listening. After several listens, I think I'll be enjoying it for many years to come (God willing).

"
Jazz as a door to spirituality!
Jose Artiles-Gil | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | 07/14/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since John Coltrane jazz aficionados have not heard a musician so committed to the vision of music as an instrument, medium or what you want to call, to enter in new realms of bliss and high spirituality. The latter is all over this album of David S. Ware quartet's live presentation. I will not comment on the particular pieces, for that you can read the Amazon's synopsis, which is quite good in that regard. I will only express that the whole album flows at such a wonderful pace and the music is so rooted in deep feelings that it brought tears to my eyes... of bliss and happyness. David, Be blessed forever!!!!"