Passage to Music is an album by American jazz saxophonist David S. Ware, recorded in 1988 and released on the Swedish Silkheart label. Besides the tenor sax, Ware plays the saxello, a variant of the soprano sax played by English jazz musician Elton Dean, and the stritch, a straight alto sax associated with multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The CD edition includes two bonus tracks.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
The Penguin Guide to Jazz

In his review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow states "David Ware's searching improvisations reward repeated listenings by open-eared listeners." The Penguin Guide to Jazz states "Passage To Music has something of Ayler's and Sander's Afro-mysticism and constitutes something of a personal initiation".

Track listing

All compositions by David S. Ware

  1. "An Ancient Formula" - 6:00
  2. "Ancient Visitors" - 7:30
  3. "Passage To Music"- 10:46
  4. "African Secrets" - 10:47
  5. "The Elders Path" - 13:20
  6. "Phonetic Hymn" - 9:00
  7. "Mystery" - 11:43

6 & 7 does not appear on original LP

Personnel