Award winning recording artist, composer, keyboardist, arranger, educator.
Dr. Brian Ward, D.M.A., is a keyboardist, recording artist, composer, arranger, and educator from the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Ward has performed with Bobby Watson, Will Matthews, Leroy Vinnegar, Bobby Torres, Shirley Nanette, Dee Daniels, Curtis Salgado, Obo Addy, The Oregon Symphony, The Spokane Jazz Orchestra, and many others. Brian helped create the arrangement for "City of Roses" by Esperanza Spalding, which won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for Vocal Performance. Brian currently lives in Kansas City, Kansas, where he enjoys performing jazz and blues weekly.
Brian Ward Music
Dr. Brian Ward, D.M.A., is a keyboardist, recording artist, composer, arranger, and educator from the Pacific Northwest. Ward has performed with Bobby Watson, Will Matthews, Leroy Vinnegar, Bobby Torres, Shirley Nanette, Dee Daniels, Curtis Salgado, Obo Addy, The Oregon Symphony, The Spokane Jazz Orchestra, and many others. Brian helped create the arrangement for "City of Roses" by Esperanza Spalding, which won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for Vocal Performance. Brian currently lives in Kansas City, Kansas, where he is active on the K.C. jazz scene performing jazz and blues.
The Gardenia Suite
for Jazz Band
The Gardenia Suite highlights women jazz musicians and composers to help foster a more inclusive vision of who is a jazz composer and musician when students are exposed to jazz in their high school repertoire. The multi-movement suite consists of six pieces dedicated to a prominent female jazz musician: Mary Lou Williams, Melba Liston, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Carla Bley, Geri Allen, and Esperanza Spalding. The collection of compositions follows the tradition of jazz suites written by Mary Lou Williams and Duke Ellington. Like Williams and Ellington, The Gardenia Suite strives to foster a sense of community among all jazz artists by celebrating musicians revered by their peers and the community of listeners. I hope that by playing music influenced by and dedicated to female composers and musicians, high school musicians will develop an open and inclusive vision of who is represented in the jazz community and how the jazz community looks and sounds.
Brian Ward Organ Trio
Playing original Kansas City jazz and blues since 2019
Brian Ward Trio and Quartet
Working with the finest musicians in Kansas City to fit any mood and occasion.
2022 Andrew B. Cius Jr. Award
Dr. Ward received the award for outstanding student composer at the University of Kansas School of Music!!
Contact Info
503-290-8686, wardbrian95@gmail.com
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