DAVID S. WARE
Surrendered
Columbia
CK63816

Listening to Surrendered, it is not hard to believe that this is three-quarters of the same group that recorded some of Ware's most intense and abstract music (I'm thinking of Dao, issued by Homestead in 1996, among others). Yet Surrendered is one of the quartet's most controlled and most inside recorded performances ever. Ironically, there are no standards (e.g., "The Way We Were" from Go See The World, "Autumn Leaves" from Third Ear Recitation, "There Will Never Be Another You" and "Yesterdays" from Flight of I, etc.) though Ware offers a refreshingly whimsical take on Charles Lloyd's "Sweet Georgia Bright." I detect no stench of sellout, no hint of compromise. Ware has recorded similar material before, as anyone who heard his work with Andrew Cyrille's Maono can attest, and he seemed headed in this direction on Go See The World (a rough-hewn gem of a recording that made many a Top 10 of the 1990s list, including mine). Don't get me wrong, Ware and his group have not turned into neo-cons, but those looking for the totally wild, freewheeling abandon of his early '90s recordings may be a bit disappointed, initially. The CD starts off with "Peace Celestial," an invocation of sorts with Ware's testifying tenor riding Shipp's sweeping, rippling piano and waves of arco bass and malleted drums and cymbals. The stately beauty of this track contrasts nicely with the puckish wit displayed on "Sweet Georgia Bright." Parker and Brown (who's style falls somewhere between those of his predecessors Susie Ibarra and Whit Dickey) don't so much play the shifting tempo of the piece as play with it, while Ware spirals and shouts over Shipp's sparse backing. Shipp, articulate and brimming with interesting improvisational gambits as ever, seems rather restrained here, though he sounds perfectly at ease, as he does on his recent quartet CD, Pastoral Composure. "Theme of Ages," starts out like another balladic, spiritual piece (much like the opening track), though it doubles and triples in intensity shortly after Ware states the simple, fanfare-like melody. Parker and Brown communicate almost telepathically underneath Ware's fire-and-brimstone. Shipp delivers an imaginatively varied, though brief, piano solo. The title track completes the triad of flowing, free, gospel-inflected pieces. Out of nowhere, the rhythm section sets up a churning African motif, which Ware leaves open. Perhaps this is a bit of foreshadowing for "Glorified Calypso," an ecstatically rhythmic composition that features Ware's characteristically impassioned soloing. "African Drums" is a rolling 6/4 piece that Ware previously recorded in duet with the late Beaver Harris. The quartet version is a gem: Ware pulls out all the stops for his solo, and Shipp follows with a taut, well-conceived improvisation that gives way to solos by Parker and Brown. Surrendered is the sort of disc that will please most (but not all) of Ware's established audience, while providing an entry point for the musically curious. This is some of the most immediately accessible and enjoyable music to come out of the so-called avant-garde in a long time.

Dave Wayne

Track Listing: 1. Peace Celestial; 2. Sweet Georgia Bright; 3. Theme of Ages; 4. Surrendered; 5. Glorified Calypso; 6. African Drums

Personnel: David S. Ware, tenor saxophone; Matthew Shipp, piano; William Parker, bass; Guillermo E. Brown, drums