Balladware

Free-jazz with sax and piano, towering and majestic stuff. A restrained take from a band that normally burns it up more. This is a 1999 studio session that came right after a European tour, with the band so exhausted that they agreed to try "ballad" mode rather than attempt a level of energy they just weren't feeling.

The stuff isn't *slow* per se, but it does feel more casual and spread-out than this band usually sounded. (Track 2 is a good example.) There's still plenty of stormy-skies chording from Matthew Shipp and growling, gnarled sax from Ware, but there's a contrast to older Ware CDs. An interesting take on this band's style, although admittedly, there are times when it feels plodding.

(What's interesting, and not mentioned in the one-sheet we received, is that Ware's music shortly after this point began curving into this less aggressive territory, particulary in parts of "Surrendered," the first "official" studio CD issued after this point in time. Maybe the band discovered something in this session?)

1- Slow and quietly crashing, rather peaceful overall
2- Gruff start. Rough-edged sax over flowing, moody piano. Fast but peaceful piano solo, nice.
3- Jazz standard, in slow sad ocean-waves mode
4- Sweeping gospel feel, lots of big piano chords
5- Slowly swirling
6- Romantic cocktail jazz, slow, with raspy honking sax in the lead. A bull-in-a-china-shop effect, but Ware occasionally turns on the charm and turns down the volume, to show he's sincere.
7- Soaring and romantic (in a lots-of-extra-sax-notes way); often sweet, sometimes dark and stormy. Fast but gentle, resigned sax solo ends it.