R.I.P. David S. Ware

I woke up today to the sad news of David S. Ware's passing. As you may know, Ware had a kidney transplant a few years back, but recovered and made something of a triumphant comeback with a handful of records, including a solo recording, and a return to the quartet format that used to be his primary vehicle throughout his career.

I will try to write a more thorough post about his recordings and career later. For now, I'll copy and paste what I wrote on Twitter about "Aquarian Sound", one of Ware's best known compositions, earlier today:

"David S. Ware's "Aquarian Sound" is, to my mind, one of the most powerful pieces of music, never mind jazz, of the past 20 odd years. William Parker plays the bass riff as if plucking at your heart strings, Mark Edwards (on the album version) enters next, carefully hitting the ride cymbals as if for comfort. A few bars in, Matthew Shipp joins laying down four plaintive chords and sounds crestfallen. Next, Ware enters, doubling Parker's bass lines on his tenor and then... just... soars (pic and sound slightly out of sync. on the video):"

o):

David S Ware - Aquarian sound by MrDrive