William A. Ware III
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William A. Ware III Born in East Orange, New Jersey on January 28th, 1959, William A. Ware III graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. He earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree (1982) from Montclair State University, where he majored in Music Theory and Composition. During his college years, Bill also studied at the Harlem Jazzmobile Workshop under the direction of Dr. Billy Taylor. At the workshop, Bill had the opportunity to learn from many prominent Jazz educators including Barry Harris, Frank Foster and Jimmy Owens, and performed as a feature soloist in the Workshop Jazz Ensemble. After graduating college, Bill was invited to become an adjunct- faculty member of the Music Department at William Patterson College in New Jersey, where he taught Latin Jazz Bass and music theory. Ware also taught in 1996 in New York City at LeAp – the Learning through Expanded Arts program. He currently teaches high school students through the creative workshop “Subway Moon”, a music and poetry production offered by the non-profit organization, Jazz Passengers Music Projects, Inc. Ware has taught numerous students in his private studio since 1986. Teaching and music studies were only the tip of the iceberg for Ware, as he became increasingly sought after for his musical bass playing and jazz vibraphone performance skills. Ware’s impeccable ensemble skills in the rhythm section, combined with his virtuosic use of the vibraphone as a solo voice demanded his tenure in several major bands throughout his career. In 1986, with the assistance and tutelage of Cuban master drummer Roberto Borrell, Ware put together the Latin Jazz band, AM Sleep. With associates from the Workshop and William Patterson College, “AM Sleep” released their first album “Las Sombras” (Creageous Records) and toured the northeastern US. Through these projects, Ware garnered a reputation as a bassist and pianist on the Latin music circuit recording with artists including Roberto Borrell, Bobby Sanabria, and Chico Mendoza. Ware’s most prominent and enduring band relationship began in 1987 when he joined saxophonist Roy Nathanson, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, and guitarist Marc Ribot as a charter member of the internationally renowned seven-member jazz group, The Jazz Passengers. In 1989, Bob Blumenthal wrote in the Boston Globe, “The seven piece Passengers often suggest a perverse mainstream band, a hard-bop group as imagined by Frank Zappa.” The group emphasizes vocal based composition, featuring singers from Blondie star Debbie Harry, Elvis Costello, Mavis Staples, Jimmy Scott and Bob Dorough, to name a few. The Jazz Passengers with Deborah Harry made appearances on The Conan O’Brien Show, and toured the U.S. and Europe. The Jazz Passengers have toured the world extensively, including the US, Europe and Asia. After a 10-year hiatus, the group reassembled for their 2010 comeback release “Reunited”, with an acclaimed appearance at the 2010 Saalfelden Jazz Festival in Austria, and tours in 2011 and 2012. In 2017, the band released their 30th Anniversary Celebration Album, “Still Life With Trouble” and have been touring and performing in the United States throughout 2018. In 1990 Ware organized a group of New York musicians and headed to Yokohama, Japan for a three- month engagement, forging the group, Bill Ware and the Club Bird All Stars. On returning to the states, Ware received rave reviews for producing, writing, and recording “Long and Skinny” (Knitting Factory Works) which was awarded 5-stars by Downbeat Magazine. Also in the 1990s, Ware began to investigate the emerging “acid jazz” scene with his move from New Jersey to New York City. From the Giant Step Groove Academy, the popular band Groove Collective included Bill and his horn section from the Club Bird All Stars as charter members. Groove Collective was signed to a Warner Brothers Reprise record deal, produced by famed record producer Gary Katz and later signed to a new label, Shanakie Records, releasing “Dance of the Drunken Master” “Declassified” and “It’s All in Your Mind” (including two Ware produced tracks). The band also toured extensively throughout USA and Europe in 2000 and 2001. Katz, impressed with Bill’s talents, recommended him to Donald Fagen who was looking for a percussionist to record and tour with his infamous band. In the late summer of 1993, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker resurrected the Steely Dan name for the first tour in 19 years. From 1993-1995 Bill toured and recorded as a percussionist with Steely Dan in the United States and Japan. They put together an all- star band dubbed the “Steely Dan Orchestra”, including Bill Ware III: vibes, Drew Zingg: electric guitar, Warren Bernhardt: keyboards, Cornelius Bumpus: saxophone, Bob Sheppard: saxophone, Chris Potter: saxophone, Tom Barney: electric bass, Peter Erskine: drums, Brenda White-King: vocals, Catherine Russell: vocals, Diane Garisto: vocals. The “Alive in America” tour received great acclaim during 1993-96, performing mainly songs from the later Steely Dan albums plus a selection of re-arranged Dan classics, and they released a live CD compiled from recordings of several 1993 and 1994 concerts, Alive in America in 1995 (Giant Records). In addition to his involvement with the prominent bands, The Jazz Passengers, The Groove Collective and Steely Dan, Ware’s musical collaborations also included the Knitting Factory Tap Room’s “Late Night Hang,” a series that featured groups in a weekly format. Every Wednesday night, Bill along with fellow Jazz Passengers Brad Jones and E.J. Rodriguez began gigging under the banner “JP trio” (which later changed to “Vibes”). In 1997 Ware released a second CD with his acid jazz studio project act, Groove Thing (Eight Ball records), featuring Blondie star Deborah Harry. In 1997, a health setback struck Bill’s life when a tumor was discovered in his spinal column, but thanks to the Jazz Foundation of America’s Jazz Musician Emergency Fund, Ware received medical treatment and was back working after a 13-day recovery. Since his tumor, Bill has performed on the vibraphone using a tall bass stool, which allows him to rest his legs and balance his weight between his two feet, with one foot controlling the damper pedal, and the other foot freed up to use an electric effects guitar pedal. As a result, Ware has become known as an innovator of the use of electric effects on the vibraphone, creating a unique sound, which he integrates into many of his projects. In 2009 he produced and engineered the first of two albums for full electric band. Determined as ever he continued his feverish work tempo and produced his trio’s first CD “Vibes”. Ware also recorded and produced his second Eightball Records CD, “This is No Time…” In 2000 Ware created the Solo/Duo – Y2 K Jazz Quartet and recorded the CD “Keepin’ Up With the Jones’”, and the CD “Sir Duke” with his friend, guitarist, Marc Ribot. Ware produced and recorded “Paradise” track for the Deborah Harry solo CD “Necessary Evil,” and was the featured soloist on Joel Dorn’s production of Janis Siegel’s solo CD “I Wish You Love” (Telarc Jazz). Ware has contributed to a variety of recordings as sideman, including “At Last” by Megashira, “The Man in a Jupiter Hat” by Lee Feldman, “Fire at Keaton’s Bar & Grill” by Roy Nathanson, “I Wish You Love” by Janis Siegel, “Hidden in Plain View” by Jerome Harris, “Spirit Stage” by JD Parran, “Song for Septet” by Mario Pavone. Ware also recorded on Elvis Costello’s Solo CD’s “North” and “When I was Cruel.” In the 21st century Ware began to explore classical composition after arranging a book of Jazz Passengers songs for performance with Deborah Harry, the Jazz Passengers and orchestra. After getting bit by the orchestration bug Ware went on to compose several works, including three symphonies and concerti. In 2004 Ware was selected in a rigorous competition for a reading session by the Minnesota Orchestra of the second movement of his third symphony, “Das Juengste Kind, Symphonie der Familien.” He has also scored several films, alone and in collaboration with Jazz Passengers front-man Roy Nathanson, including Martin and Orloff, Raising Victor Vargas, Undefeated, Excess Baggage, and Hal Wilner’s Harold Arlen Tribute. He also arranged the Jazz Passengers’ music for their live performances set to the cult classic Universal film, “The Creature From The Black Lagoon.” In 2010, Ware’s Vibes group recorded “Played Right,” (Cheetah, 2010), described by All About Jazz as showing “…the touch of a resilient, serpentine stylist, a master of quiet spectacle.” Played Right is a masterfully performed recording featuring a cross-section of popular tunes and original compositions that appeals to a broad spectrum of Jazz audiences. Ware is also a member of the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, whose debut release, “Natural Selection” (Sunnyside, 2010) earned 4 stars in Downbeat and one of the Best Albums of the year from the highly respected, Jazz Journalists Association. The quartet – which performed at the 2010 Newport Jazz Festival is planning international tours for 2011 and 2012. Ware was a founding member of the Puppeteers, a jazz quartet that featured pianist, Arturo O’Farrill, bassist, Alex Blake and drummer Jaime Affoumado on their first record. The name stems from Affoumado’s club Puppet’s Jazz Bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn from 2008 to 2011. Ware, O’Farrill and Blake all had regular residencies at Puppet’s, finding a home for their exploratory, fluid and dynamic endeavors in jazz. In addition to his jazz and classical work, Ware has collaborated with cellist Sara Wollan on several hybrid classical/jazz recordings which feature Ware’s jazz arrangements of selected works of Bach, Beethoven and several other iconic classical composers, in addition to original Ware compositions.