Onecept by David S. Ware Trio

[AUM064]

David S. Ware: tenor sax (2, 3, 7), stritch (1, 5, 8), saxello (4, 6, 9)
William Parker: bass
Warren Smith: drums, tympani & percussion

The recording and release of Onecept celebrated David S. Ware's 50th year of singular and profound saxophone artistry. The studio session was pointedly arranged to spotlight Ware on three saxophones – tenor, stritch, saxello – in trio, with fellow tone masters bassist William Parker (stalwart fellow prophet) and drummer Warren Smith on the kit -&- tympani / percussion. Unlike almost every album Ware had made in the preceding 20 years, he brought no tunes to the session; the songs/streams were created fully in the moment of creation, trusting in collective skill to manifest the majesty.

The album is an impeccable entry in Ware's body of recorded works, and presented the exquisite next phase in this modern master's development. All new temples of sound. Ware specifically requested that Warren also play tympani on this session, and I'm so glad that he did. Recording engineer Michael Marciano outdid himself here. Your brain can swim in this mix – headphone record alert!

[ This album's release was celebrated with an evening at the Blue Note, NYC in October 2010. The totality of music performed that night was released in 2017 as 'Live in New York, 2010' : https://davidsware.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-new-york-2010
the third installment in AUM's ongoing DSW-ARChive series. The Trio's only other communion was their seriously rousing June 2010 concert at the Vision Festival. It was released in total, together with "out-takes" from the Onecept session as 'The Balance' : https://davidsware.bandcamp.com/album/the-balance-vision-festival-xv ]

William Parker on Onecept:

"We trimmed off a lot of the outside rays of the glow, and we're in the circle inside the light now. A different side of things is showing."


“Onecept is a vital document, steeped in the combative and sacramental modes of post-1960s free jazz but committed at every turn to the action just at hand, or just ahead.”
–Nate Chinen, The New York Times

"Jaw-dropping" –DownBeat

“Nine stellar free improvisations .. Parker and Smith's work complement the saxophonist to perfection throughout.”
–Dan Warburton, The Wire

“Ware’s playing is astonishing, pushing the limits of brain, fingers and equipment, ideas rushing out in a stream of furious, liquid invention, with an almost superhuman precision.” –Daniel Spicer, BBC

“Certain improvised music albums begin with an invocation so powerful, of such a transcendent quality, that the listener is immediately encircled in the webs of possibility it generates. Onecept joins this select group. To call this music free improvisation would be doing it a disservice, as the trio’s intimate communication births structure after structure with melody at the core.”
–Marc Medwin, Dusted

"Ware is a genius at extrapolating from and recombining source material on the fly—his mind as well as his fingers move with electric urgency. In the liner notes he asks, "Is there any limit to the speed at which you can press them keys down, to which it will function correctly? That's what I'm trying to do now, push it as far, as fast as the human fingers can move." The saxophonist has long sought to reach an ideal state as a player—to master the mechanics of his horn so thoroughly that his thoughts can flow straight into music, as though the instrument didn't exist. Far from slowing down out of concern for his health—he's intensifying that search"
–Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader

David S. Ware was a major saxophonist, composer and bandleader. As major as they come. He began practicing meditation as a young man. Going forward, his spiritual and musical development were inseparably intertwined.

Featured here are his premier works for AUM Fidelity, including the ongoing DSW-ARC series which began 3 years following his spirit's evolution.

portrait by
Jimmy Katz

aumfidelity.com