Artist : Andre Ward
Album : Crystal City
Label : Orpheus Records
Genre : Jazz
Bitrate : 191 kbps avg
Source : CD (LP)
Playtime : 00:54:37 (78 MB)
Rls date : 2007-04-04
Store date : 2007-04-24
[Track List]
1. They Keep Calling Me 4:15
2. Wishful Thinking (Feat. Barbara Fowler) 4:37
3. Andre's Theme (Feat. Yasha) 3:38
4. Chicago (Here We Go) 4:04
5. When You're Alone 5:34
6. Abstract 4:36
7. It's Written All Over Your Face 3:56
8. New Orleans Lights 5:26
9. More Than Friends 4:30
10.I Don't Want To Be In Love (Feat. Marc Nelson) 5:13
11.Crystal City 4:16
12.When The Nighttime Comes 4:32
Saxophonist Andre Ward Shares Love of Music With
Middle-School Students Andre Ward is certainly not the
only jazz musician who gives back to his community. But he
is the only one with an album climbing the charts and a
portfolio crammed with soul, bebop and gospel star
collaborations. Their teacher's resume, however, isn't
nearly as important to the sixth, seventh and
eighth-graders at the Patrick Lyndon Middle School in West
Roxbury, MA as the fact that their instructor is passing
along a love for music. Ward wouldn't have it any other
way. "I was introduced to music at a young age and it
opened my ears and opened doors to so many different
possibilities," said Ward, a 29-year-old Chicago native
who plays soprano, alto and tenor saxes. "It's a thin line
between doing the right thing and the wrong thing, and a
lot of these kids who don't have the opportunity to do
something constructive will be on the wrong side of the
law. But because someone opened doors for me, that had a
vivid impact on my life. I want to share that," he said.
What Ward is also sharing with a much wider audience is
the smooth jazz of his latest CD, "Steppin' Up" (Orpheus).
The album, a mix of originals and covers of songs by
Simply Red and R. Kelly, last week sat at No. 6 on
Billboard's contemporary jazz chart. His previous disc,
"Feelin' You," made it to No. 4. "It's a good format for
me to express myself, but it's not the only one I need,"
said the Milton resident. "I need my bebop, my straight
ahead, my gospel. I've been fortunate enough to study a
lot of different styles, so (on this album) I did some
tracks that sound a little hip-hoppish with r'n b, smooth
jazz and gospel also in it."
Ward moved to Boston in 1991 to study at Berklee College
of Music and found himself absorbed in the music of Johnny
Hodges, Cannonball Adderley, Grover Washington Jr. and a
slew of others. He eventually went on the road with
Freddie Jackson, Will
Downing and Lalah Hathaway, and later performed in bands
with Dizzy Gillespie, the O'Jays, the Bobby Jones Gospel
Group and the Winans. His contemporary jazz success,
however, is taking things to an entirely different level.
"It's a great way to pay the bills," he said. "I've
definitely doubled my pay from straight ahead gigs to some
of my contemporary gigs. And then there's the radio play.
It all helps." None of which, Ward makes clear, is going
to his head. "You can be hot for a minute," he said with a
laugh, "but when the gigs don't come through, teaching is
always there." Nine years ago, Ward convinced the Lyndon
administration to start a music program atthe pilot
school.
"I went to them with the intention of giving some music
classes on my own time," he recalled. "They didn't have
any money in the budget for it. We started with recorders.
Now we have over 126 kids, 11- to 13-year-olds, all with
instruments."
Among other contributors was the cable TV network VH1.
Ward hopes to create what he calls a "funnel program" to
send promising Lyndon students to the Boston Arts Academy
and then to onto Berklee College of Music. "It would keep
the music growing here in Boston," he said. "But it's not
that I'm trying to make these kids into musicians. I just
want to give them the experience and love of music. We
start with theory and then let them play instruments. If
they don't become musicians, fine, but at least they've
had the experience.
"It's just wonderful to see them grow. Just hearing them
play `Mary Had a Little Lamb' is rewarding. They went from
not knowing how to hook up an instrument to playing a
song. To see their faces light up is a joy." "I have a
seventh-grade group and I'm trying to put a band
together," he said. "If I can find me a little bass
player, I'll have a little jazz quartet. It's going to be
great!"