Martian Sunset

Even the most prodigious and focused composers can be struck by the need to reset. Vibraphonist and composer Bill Ware had been on an ambitious mission to write a vast catalog of music when he was struck by the need to simplify his sound. This led to new pieces for his elastic ensemble, the Club Bird All-Stars, which required trust and understanding in their delicate dance of harmony and rhythm, as can be heard on Ware's new recording, Martian Sunset. // Best known for his work with The Jazz Passengers and Groove Collective, Bill Ware has been an asset in collaborations across multiple genres, featuring in the work of well-known musicians and bands, like Steely Dan and Elvis Costello. Ware has maintained his own ensembles for just as long. One of the longest lived has been his Club Bird All-Stars, which takes it's name from a long-gone Japanese jazz club that provided Ware a three-month residency in the mid-1990s. // The Club Bird All-Stars have become Ware's main vehicle for his own compositions. The flexible group has a rotating cast of horn and rhythm players, suiting the needs of Ware's pieces. As for the music, Ware's writing has been expansive since 2016. He wrote over 250 songs since 2016 and including 60 pieces while the world experienced the pandemic. // Ware made a change in his ensemble when he began thinking of recording his new music. He decided to include his longtime friend and collaborator, guitarist Rez Abbasi, whose loose approach, rich sound, and rhythmic virtuosity adds a wonderful dimension to the intricate ensemble sound provided by the polished grooves of pianist Matt King, bassist Jay Anderson, and drummer Taru Alexander. As the group readied itself for a recording session at the famed Van Gelder Studios, Ware attended a concert featuring saxophonist Joe Lovano and guitarist Julian Lage. He was struck by the openness of the music. Being a fan of sophisticated harmonies, Ware's pieces tend to have dense passages for the musicians to navigate. Ware decided then to scrap half of the program and, over the next three days, wrote all new music, most of which sprung from and were built from a simple blues. The Club Bird All-Stars arrived at the Van Gelder Studios with a new book of compositions, pieces that balanced Ware's compositional goals with a strong performance provided by a group of musicians Ware trusted. The performances captured the energy and influence of the classic late-1960s groups of Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, and Cannonball Adderley. The program begins with "Around The Horn," a piece with a bouncy melody over a pedal tone and hip changes making ideal conditions to pass solo duties from one musician to another. Beginning as a blues, "That Dirty Road" remains an airy piece allowing for tremendous solo statements, while "Happy Bird" is an uptempo post-bop burner with a unique form and a John Coltrane inspired whole-tone harmonic pattern. The thoughtful ballad "Safer Journey" pays respect to individuals with mental health challenges, an odd colored harmony representing the off vibration in the mental equilibrium.