I almost couldn’t get my head around the idea of there being a new David S. Ware Quartet. Ware has made a more than impressive return to form after having a kidney transplant a few years ago, but nevertheless, how could any group ever rival his classic quartet? This group, with Cooper-Moore on piano, Muhammad Ali on drums and holdover William Parker on bass succeeds by sounding like an entirely different band, not a replacement for the old line-up.
All the signatures of Ware’s sound are here: the rapid and blurred flurries of notes, keening altissimo cries, bleating low-notes and occasional traces of Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins hidden inside the swirling abstract lines. Cooper-Moore has a bond with Ware that goes back to their early days in Boston, and his playing avoids obvious modes of accompaniment, while still complementing the band perfectly. Parker mostly acts as the anchor of the band, something he always does wonderfully. His handful of steps into the musical foreground are highlights of the record. Ali brings echoes of the tradition into the music, with drumming that often verges towards straight swing, but also recalls the free-time of older brother Rashied and others.
The material is all freely improvised, which is expectably significant in making this different from the music Ware recorded with his previous Quartet. Whereas the other band could charge with conviction down a straight path to exalted realms of music, this band is wilier, and darts into many unexpected directions. The 20+ minute opener Passage Wudang rises and crashes like waves without ever fully settling until the somber repeated chords played by Cooper-Moore at the ending. On the saxophone-drum duet Duality is One Ware opens with soft, motivic playing before quickly moving into rushing gusts of notes against Ali’s driving swing. The balladic Divination shows the very tender side of Ware, with delicate and beautiful interplay of sopranino and piano. On Divination Unfathomable, Ware plays shrill and swirling repeated line on sopranino that blend with Parker’s aggressive and growling arco bass while Cooper-Moore and Muhammad Ali paint a splattery, pointillist accompaniment in a moment of refined group interplay.
Ware’s recovery and return to performing and recording is inspired and inspiring. Perhaps this will lead to a personal renaissance for him, bringing with it some of the recognition and respect that this master musician has earned two or three times over now. In the meantime, those in the know have a hell of an album to listen to.
