[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 137 (Monday, September 12, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING JAMES ALLEN FORD

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 12, 2016

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, tenor/soprano saxophonist, composer, 
arranger, and educator James Allen Ford, professionally known as Joe 
Ford, one of the most accomplished and inventive musicians in Jazz, 
will be honored this year by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, 
at the Jazz Issue Forum and Concert that will take place during the 
46th Annual Legislative Conference. Mr. Ford will perform at the 
concert with the Washington Renaissance Orchestra, which will take 
place on Thursday, September 15th, 2016, at the Walter E. Washington 
Convention Center, in Washington, DC. Ford will also receive the 2016 
CBCF ALC Jazz Legacy Award for his four decades of contributions to 
Jazz and world culture.
  Born on May 7, 1947 in Buffalo, New York, Ford began playing piano at 
age of seven and switched to the saxophone four years later, eventually 
studying with Makanda Ken McIntyre, Jackie McLean and Frank Foster. He 
also studied percussion with drummer Joe Chambers. He played in a 
number of local funk bands and campus groups in high school, and at 
Central State University in Ohio, where he received his BA in Music 
Education in 1968. After graduation, Ford returned to Buffalo and 
worked as a music teacher, directing a school band and chorus, and 
played piano with local bands, and national groups including The 
Miracles.
  In 1973, Ford was the co-leader and co-producer of Buffalo's 
influential John Coltrane/Miles-Davis-influenced Birthright jazz 
ensemble, with tenor saxophonist Paul Gresham, and drummer Nasar 
Abadey. The group released two critically acclaimed albums for 
Freelance Records: Free Spirits and Breath of Life. Ford also played 
with the Buffalo Jazz Ensemble, a group that featured members of the 
fusion group, Spyro Gyra. Invited by McCoy Tyner to join his group, 
Ford moved to New York City, and was a key member of that band, which 
extended and elaborated on John Coltrane's innovations. Two of the 
seven albums Ford recorded with Tyner's Big Band--The Turning Point and 
Journey--won Grammy awards for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance in 
1992 and 1994. Ford released his first solo recording Today's Night in 
1993, and recorded over eighty albums as a sideman with a wide variety 
of jazz artists including Jimmy Owens, Abdullah Ibrahim, Idris 
Muhammad, Malachi Thompson and Freddy Cole.
  Ford joined Jerry Gonzalez's pioneering Fort Apache Band in 1990: an 
ensemble of Puerto Ricans and African-Americans, who enriched the 
linkages between jazz and Afro-Latin rhythms. Ford composed the title 
tracks for their recordings, Crossroads, Pensativo and Firedance, which 
garnered three Grammy nominations from 1994 to 1996. In late nineties, 
Ford led two groups, The Black Art Sax Quartet, and a big band entitled 
The Thing. Ford was inducted in the Buffalo Hall of Fame in 2004, and 
he currently performs with Nasar Abadey and SUPERNOVA.
  Mr. Speaker, Joe Ford is a living jazz treasure and I urge all 
members to join me in commending him for his magnificent contribution 
to American and world culture.

                          ____________________