Bill Ware

Vibraphonist Bill Ware III entered the world in East Orange, NJ, on January 28, 1959. He began his musical path on bass before receiving instruction at the Harlem Jazzmobile Workshop. Early performances placed him in Latin jazz settings on both bass and piano. By 1986 he had assembled the Latin ensemble AM Sleep, which issued the album Los Sombras. The following year he joined the Jazz Passengers as one of its founding members, an affiliation that would become his most visible. In 1990 he launched the Club Bird All-Stars, a unit that toured Japan and later supplied the rhythm section for his 1993 Knitting Factory debut as leader, Long and Skinny. That same year he also began recording with the acid-jazz group the Groove Collective and accepted an invitation to join the reunited Steely Dan, remaining with the band through 1995. Alongside Jazz Passengers bassist Brad Jones and drummer E.J. Rodriguez he formed the side project Vibes, whose dark, pulsating jazz-funk sound reached listeners on a self-titled Knitting Factory album in 1998. The next year Cathexis released Keeping Up With the Jones', which introduced the Y2K Jazz Quartet. Sir Duke, an Ellington tribute performed solely with guitarist Marc Ribot, appeared in 2001. Ware's fourth Knitting Factory album, Four, followed in 2002 and included guest appearances by numerous musicians, among them Deborah Harry.