A Kiss In the Sand

1. Easy Mover

2. Away

3. Live In Your Love Forever

4. The Light

5. Warm Inside

6. A Kiss In The Sand

7. I'm Yours

8. Night In Brazil

9. I Believe In Love

10. I Wish You Knew

11. Spirits Lovin'

12. Straight To My Soul

13. Hearts Alive

14. Sweet Tears

15. Soothing Sunset

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
Biography

"Can you cherish any place greater than where you come from?" - Leon Ware

From the lips of songwriter/singer great Leon Ware, philosophy, sexuality and comedy often co-exist within the same statement. It is the signature characteristic of one devilishly evolved angel - a man deeply in touch with the whisper-thin strands of synchronicity that cradle our existence on this earth like a weathered hammock in the breeze.

Thus the title of Leon Ware's tenth album, A Kiss in the Sand, a seamless blending of the Detroit-native's jazz and soul roots with the ebullient melodies and rhythms of Brazil. 'Sand', a metaphor for the element from which all mankind was made. 'Kiss', a prayerful bestowment of affection on mankind in hopes that we get our act together for the sake of our future generations. In the title track, which he co-penned with Marcos Valle, a Brazilian friend of over 20 years, Ware writes: i "Sweet kiss in the sand / This love in our hands / Goes on and on and on...."

"I’m always considering all the possibilities of what I say," Leon states through laughter that comes easily, heartily and often. "I guess that's what makes me a bit of a writer. In the few more breaths I have on this planet, I am hungry to say some things that will be useful to the world - a world that deserves a lot better than it is giving itself."

The 14-song A Kiss in the Sand, primarily co-produced by Leon Ware with Brazilian guitarist Sandro Albert, is a collection impeccably balanced between serenely sentimental soundscapes such as "Night In Brazil," "Away" and the breathtaking "Warm Inside" (co-written with Adrienne Anderson) with elegantly spiritual statements such as "Hearts Alive", "I Believe In Love" and the meditative "Live In My Love Forever." It is a concept Ware and Albert have dubbed "R & Bossa," also the name of Leon’s new band.

Citing two songs as examples, Mr. Ware explains, "‘The Light’ reflects my belief about what men should be to each other - a light that eventually becomes one. We are not moments in time, but timeless lights. ‘Spirits Lovin'’ (featuring singers James Ingram and Billy Valentine) is a continuation of ‘The Light.’ I see the people of the world as spirits - 5 billion strong."

If you assumed that A Kiss in the Sand was all about lovers on the beach, you're not far from the sandy path that leads to Leon's door. Intimacy has ever been a hallmark of Leon Ware’s transcendental classics - from Marvin Gaye's "I Want You" and "After the Dance" to Minnie Riperton's "Inside My Love" and "Can You Feel What I'm Saying." It's been the crux on which destinies were determined from Michael Jackson's "I Wanna Be Where You Are" 1971) to Maxwell's "Sumthin' Sumthin'" (1996). LEON WARE/Page 2

So on the new album, when you hear a song like "Easy Mover" (co-penned with Guilherme Verguerio) and think it’s about a woman, it is actually the ocean of which he speaks. Listen with your heart, mind and soul open wide. Even at his most fervent, it is as if Leon is whispering into your earlobe...vulnerably yet shamelessly serenading you from your soul to your toes.

For Leon Ware, sensuality is the hook with which he reels you in from a rocky bluff just up yonder. But what he lays on you once he's got you goes deeper than the loins can feel and further than the eyes can see. Remember "Rolling Down A Mountainside" by The Main Ingredient? "Whether you're saints or sinners / Smile and share / Sunlight as well as shadows / While you learn that everyone cares / Everyone out there / Has a cross to bear." It touched Isaac Hayes so deeply that he sang it in the unforgettable concert film, Wattstax (released on DVD this year).

And then there's Donny Hathaway singing Leon's "I Know It's You," a spiritual rewritten as a love song to be shopped to soul men by his publishers. It took an intuitive master like Hathaway only one listen to see through the lingerie of the lyric into the gospel at its very core.

This

Product Description
The latest release from this soul legend whose songs continue to be heard in their original versions and re-invented contemporary versions- from Marvin Gaye,Qunicy Jones and Minnie Riperton to Maxwell, G-Unit and Brandy, to name a few. Blending his jazz and soul roots with the rhythms of Brazil, this collection of songs feature his sensual and soulful vocals along with the talents of Brazilian guitarist Sandro Albert- naming it "R & BOSSA". Lyrically, Ware is a spiritually inspired messenger of love, an optimistic poet who dispenses doses of wisdom along with poignant prayers of oneness. He and Albert dressed the tracks luxuriously with intimate acoustic guitar riffs, classy piano flourishes, cinematic string sounds and Bossa Nova percussion.

A Kiss In the Sand,Leon Ware (Author),Kitchen Records

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