(Posted this afternoon on the TONY Blog)
Sobering news arrives from Steven Joerg of Brooklyn ecstatic-jazz indie label AUM Fidelity: Saxophonist and bandleader David S. Ware, whose titanic sound and spiritualized compositions have long made him a pillar of the free-jazz/Vision Festival crowd, is seriously ill and in dire need of a kidney transplant.
According to Joerg's statement, Ware was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1999, and started dialysis that fall. Since October of that year, Ware was able to administer his treatments himself, which allowed him to travel and perform. But in December, the treatments stopped working as they were supposed to; Ware was informed that a kidney transplant was his only option. So far, family members or friends who offered to donate organs either haven't matched Ware's blood type (O) or had other health conditions that prevented viability.
Joerg, who acts as Ware's manager, has put out a call for serious, able potential donors, who he will then put in touch with the Kidney Transplant Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ. If you are interested and qualified, call Joerg directly at 718-854 2387, or e-mail him at aum (at) aumfidelity (dot) com.
For those unfamiliar with Ware's trademark brand of sonic reverie, here's a track from his latest album, Shakti, due out on Tuesday, January 27, on AUM Fidelity. Ware's current group features guitarist Joe Morris, bassist William Parker and drummer Warren Smith.
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