Lanny Ward

Music that captivates an audience is necessarily more than the sum of it's parts. Mere technical finesse without passion will never move the listener's soul. Listening to Lanny Ward playing his saxophone is truly an otherworldly experience.

Lanny Ward is a New York City based smooth jazz sax player and composer. He possesses as remarkable combination of technical artistry coupled with irresistible emotion. This talent can be heard on Lanny's own recordings and on the NightCast Records CDs "Hear & Now" (by guitarist Jim Savitt), Leaving Footprints and Manhattan Project.

We can not help but be engaged through our senses, aurally, and visually, through our minds wondering at his musical talent, and through our hearts connecting with an emotion that transcends the moment. "I play an emotion and it's only half", Lanny says, "the connection to and reaction of the audience is what completes the thing."

Lanny has performed at the top New York City clubs including The Blue Note, Village Gate, Izzy Bar, Detour, 55 Bar, S.O.Bs, Smalls, Birdland, Smoke, Metropolitan Cafe, Sweet Basil & The Village Vanguard. He has played on jingles for a variety of television and radio adds. Lanny performed with legendary piano giant Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, and played at the Aspen Jazz Festival, Inlet New York Summer Music Festival, Hawaii Jazz Festival, Tacoma Jazz Festival, Belvieue Jazz Festival, The President Summit in Philadelphia. He was also the featured soloist with Grover Washington Jr. at the Mellon Jazz Festival in Philadelphia,Pa.

Reunion, Lanny's first solo album distributed by NightCast Records, reflects a lifetime of musical refinement as well as the emotional poignancy of living in the present. These are not songs that comment of the isolated condition of one musician. They are attempts at communicating some of the most fundamental human states through the language of music. The songs are simultaneously soulful, longing, hypnotic, wistful, pleading, seductive and hopeful. The album was produced and arranged by keyboardist Dan Zank.