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Greg Ward

Greg Ward is a saxophonist and composer that was born in Peoria, IL. Currently based in Chicago, Ward has had the opportunity to perform and record with a varied group of artists like Prefuse 73, Lupe Fiasco, Tortoise, William Parker, Andrew D'Angelo, and Mike Reed.

In 2000, Ward began his studies at Northern Illinois University where he worked with Steve Duke, Fareed Haque, Ron Carter, and Joey Sellers. Already interested in composition, having the opportunity to compose for NIU's jazz combos deepened his understanding of the inner-workings of music. Also, working with composer and arranger, Joey Sellers, equipped Ward with some important tools to further explore this new love.

Around his sophomore year in college, Ward started spending many nights performing in the jazz clubs of Chicago. Soon, he would meet another one of his mentors, saxophonist, Fred Anderson, who would later select him to host a jam session at the Velvet Lounge for four years. During this time period, Ward experienced much growth as a performer and composer and developed a vibrant community of performers, artists, dancers, and listeners.

After graduating from NIU in 2004 with a degree in Jazz Studies/Saxophone Performance, Ward moved to Chicago and took advantage of every opportunity that was offered to him. Composing two pieces for the International Contemporary Ensemble, performing a quartet composition for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Chamber Music Series, composing Wings for the Peoria Ballet Company, and being commissioned by the Jazz Institute of Chicago for a new composition, which was performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival in 2009, are just a few of the many experiences that shaped Ward during his years in Chicago.

In 2009, Ward decided to move to New York City. Almost immediately after he arrived in NYC, he began working with JazzReach, an NYC-based jazz education organization that shares multi-media programs throughout the US. In 2010, he would produce his first CD as a leader with his Chicago-based band, Fitted Shards. South Side Story received much critical acclaim, including "Recording of the Year" by the Chicago Tribune. Next, in 2011, Ward formed Phonic Juggernaut, which features Damion Reid on drums and Joe Sanders on bass. Together, they recorded and released a CD on Thirsty Ear Recordings that same year. Also, in 2011, Ward composed and performed a commission from the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra for a concerto for jazz quartet and string orchestra. In 2012, Ward was selected as one of the two New Music USA Van Lier Fellows. In 2014, he received a commission/residency from the Jazz Gallery and premiered Capturing Sunlight, which was an hour-long work for septet and included a short documentary by Diana Quinones Rivera. The Capturing Sunlight project was inspired by the life and work of Preston Jackson.

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7
Album Review

Ethan Philion: Gnosis

Read "Gnosis" reviewed by John Chacona


When it comes to making memorable entrances, Ethan Philion is on a par with Seinfeld's Kramer. The jny: Chicago bassist burst into the scene with Meditations on Mingus (Sunnyside Records, 2022), an audacious debut recording on which he arranged familiar selections and deep cuts from the towering jazz bassist Charles Mingus. On Gnosis, the forces are smaller and perhaps so is the ambition of Philion's concept. Yet from the very first notes of “The Boot," which begins with a shriek ...

19
Album Review

Buselli / Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite

Read "The Gennett Suite" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


This is where music for mass consumption--recorded music--started, in Richmond, Indiana, in the 1920s, in a piano factory by the railroad tracks in a glacier-carved gorge. Established in 1887, in the beginning Starr Pianos' bread and butter was pianos, but they branched out to selling other instruments and eventually photographs and records--their own records, recorded in the piano factory, taking breaks in the process when a train came by. At first, they called their recording side of the business Starr ...

4
Album Review

Paul Marinaro: Not Quite Yet

Read "Not Quite Yet" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Singer Paul Marinaro issued his acclaimed debut album Without A Song (122 Myrtle Records) in 2013. Seven years after the release of his follow-up, “One Night In Chicago" (122 Myrtle Records), and with almost a decade of performing from coast to coast at top-end clubs, including New York's Birdland, he has released Not Quite Yet, which is devoted to exploring timeless themes, such as life, love and the search for lasting connections. Accompanying Marinaro are longtime band members guitarist Mike ...

7
Album Review

Paul Marinaro: Not Quite Yet

Read "Not Quite Yet" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


The cover of the album is vaguely noir, with the urban greenish cast of tungsten film. A sole figure leans slightly against a building, downcast, staring into his soul, and waiting out a lit cigarette when it was still hip to smoke. The guy is Frank Sinatra and the album was In The Wee Small Hours. The year is 1955. It is difficult to believe that jny: Chicago-based vocalist Paul Marinaro has even been born, but clearly, Sinatra will make ...

27
Album Review

Hinda Hoffman Meets Soul Message: People

Read "People" reviewed by Jack Bowers


When preparing a meal, the balance of ingredients matters. A little too much here, not quite enough there, and any recipe can fall short of expectations. On the album People, Hinda Hoffman, one of Chicago's finest jazz singers, is paired with the splendid quartet Soul Message, a blend which one might expect to produce a tasty and tantalizing feast for the ears and heart. Instead, Hoffman sounds rather like a fish out of water, laboring to lend ...

Album Review

Hinda Hoffman meets Soul Message: People

Read "People" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Da alcuni anni la scena musicale di Chicago è tornata sotto i riflettori grazie all'innovativo impulso di musicisti come Makaya McCraven, Tomeka Reid, Junius Paul, Jeff Parker, Jaimie Branch, Angel Bat Dawid, il collettivo Irreversible Entanglements e al ruolo propulsivo dell'etichetta International Anthem. Anche se poco conosciuti oltre la metropoli dell'Illinois, la cantante Hinda Hoffman e la Soul Message Band incarnano invece il cuore caldo della tradizione coi suoi stretti legami col blues e il soul. Legami ...

6
Album Review

Matt Ulery's Delicate Charms: Live at the Green Mill

Read "Live at the Green Mill" reviewed by Troy Dostert


One of the central figures of Chicago's thriving jazz scene, bassist Matt Ulery has cultivated fruitful relationships with a core of compatriots who embody the grit and beauty of the music coming out of the Windy City. He maintains a host of projects, one of the foremost being Delicate Charms, a group that released its self-titled debut in 2019 on Woolgathering Records; alto saxophonist Greg Ward, pianist Rob Clearfield, drummer Quin Kirchner and violinist Zach Brock assist Ulery in creating ...

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Recording

Greg Ward - Greg Ward's Phonic Juggernaut (2011)

Greg Ward - Greg Ward's Phonic Juggernaut (2011)

Source: Something Else!

About a year ago saxophonist Greg Ward was leading a quartet that was preparing to do a recording session for a jazz radio station when the pianist was unable to make it. The remaining three decided to go on preparing for and performing the session as a trio. The experience was stimulating to the remaining three, who found communion and freedom from performing without that chordal safety net. And Greg Ward's Phonic Juggernaut was born. Greg Ward works in NYC ...

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Recording

Saxophonist/Composer Greg Ward's Fitted Shards Release of "South Side Story" on 19/8 Records

Saxophonist/Composer Greg Ward's Fitted Shards Release of "South Side Story"  on 19/8 Records

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

19/8 Records Releases SOUTH SIDE STORY, The Debut Recording from Saxophonist/Composer GREG WARD Greg Ward's Fitted Shards South Side Story Features: Greg Ward—Alto saxophone, compositions Rob Clearfield—Keyboards, piano, synth Jeff Greene—Upright/Electric bass Quin Kirchner—Drums/percussion Greg Ward's Fitted Shards CD Release Concerts for South Side Story: October 9, 2010: The Green Mill 4802 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago, IL, tel 773 878 5552 November 7, 2010: The Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, ...

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Recording

Greg Ward's Fitted Shards - South Side Story (2010)

Greg Ward's Fitted Shards - South Side Story (2010)

Source: Something Else!

By Pico Unless they have already been a key player in an established band, debut album of jazz solo artists tend to be uninspired affairs. Not yet finding their own identity, these neophytes often fall back on mimicking their major influences, making very competent but unexceptional records. Even most of the best musicians start off slow; they will often show the potential but not realize it until later on. That's not alto saxophonist Greg Ward, however. On Tuesday, this Chicago ...

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Performance / Tour

On November 7 @ The Cornelia Street Cafe Catch the NYC Premiere of Saxophonist/Composer Greg Ward's Fitted Shards - South Side Story

On November 7 @ The Cornelia Street Cafe Catch the NYC Premiere of Saxophonist/Composer Greg Ward's Fitted Shards - South Side Story

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

"Greg Ward has brought together his superb ability to reflect not only his personality but the current times in his debut album, Fitted Shards. Opening a solo career with this strong of a statement in the jazz world can only lead to inevitable success throughout his lifetime."—C. Janus, Author of The New Face of Jazz (Random House, July 2010) “I'm thinking of Greg Ward, whose long and searching alto saxophone solo in 'Third Option' is one of the best things ...

66

Recording

19/8 Records to Release South Side Story, the Debut Recording from Saxophonist/Composer Greg Ward's Fitted Shards

19/8 Records to Release South Side Story, the Debut Recording from Saxophonist/Composer Greg Ward's Fitted Shards

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

"Greg Ward has brought together his superb ability to reflect not only his personality but the current times in his debut album, Fitted Shards. Opening a solo career with this strong of a statement in the jazz world can only lead to inevitable success throughout his lifetime." - C. Janus, Author of The New Face of Jazz (Random House, July 2010)

“I'm thinking of Greg Ward, whose long and searching alto saxophone solo in 'Third Option' is one of the ...

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Gennett Suite

Patrois Records
2023

buy

Folklore

Shifting Paradigm Records
2023

buy

Both Sides of Joni

ACME Records
2023

buy

Gnosis

Sunnyside Records
2023

buy

People

Self Produced
2022

buy

Not Quite Yet

122 Myrtle Records
2022

buy

Dippermouth Blues

From: The Gennett Suite
By Greg Ward

Three Ruminations

From: Seven Bridges
By Greg Ward

Fall Dog Bombs the Moon

From: Seven Bridges
By Greg Ward

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