(Marina del Rey, CA) On February 23, 2017, mere days after his 77th birthday, legendary songwriter Leon Ware departed this earth. The man had gifted the world with 13 albums of his own plus scores of timeless classic songs for others including “I Wanna Be Where You Are” (Michael Jackson), “I Want You” (Marvin Gaye), “If I Ever Lose This Heaven” (Quincy Jones / AWB), “Rolling Down a Mountainside” (Isaac Hayes / The Main Ingredient), “I Know It’s You” (Donny Hathaway) and “Sumthin’ Sumthin’” (Maxwell). And yet, he left behind even more gifts to give…the first being a heart-stilling 5-song EP of Christmas songs titled, Noel (Leon spelled backwards as well as the French origin word for Christmas).
(Marina del Rey, CA) On February 23, 2017, mere days after his 77th birthday, legendary songwriter Leon Ware departed this earth. The man had gifted the world with 13 albums of his own plus scores of timeless classic songs for others including “I Wanna Be Where You Are” (Michael Jackson), “I Want You” (Marvin Gaye), “If I Ever Lose This Heaven” (Quincy Jones / AWB), “Rolling Down a Mountainside” (Isaac Hayes / The Main Ingredient), “I Know It’s You” (Donny Hathaway) and “Sumthin’ Sumthin’” (Maxwell). And yet, he left behind even more gifts to give…the first being a heart-stilling 5-song EP of Christmas songs titled, Noel (Leon spelled backwards as well as the French origin word for Christmas).
Noel is an intimate, one-from-the-heart musical gift of love that Leon Ware had been working on in his home studio workshop over the years, during holiday times, along with engineer Gerry Brown. The project is comprised of Leon’s singular renditions of “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire),” “Silent Night,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Jingle Bells” (sung as a duet with Taura Stinson), plus the original composition “Be Like Christmas” that he composed with longtime friend/collaborator Richard Rudolph (Minnie Riperton) lovingly sung by dear friend Nikki Grier (often a featured singer in Leon’s live shows). All of the material was arranged by Leon with his singular bent for tropical rhythms, sensual tempos and tastefully lush harmonic sophistication. Leon handled all of the keyboards and programming, joined solely by guitarist Rob Bacon and some added programming by Darien Dorsey.
Check out the cool, jazzy version of "Jingle Bells" from the album, featuring award winning singer and songwriter Taura Stinson.
Leon Ware feat. Taura Stinson
"Jingle Bells"