Marston, 53, was born in nearby Bryn Mawr into an old Philadelphia family. He said he taught himself to play the piano when he was 4. At 7, he began lessons in piano and organ.
He seemed destined for a concert career, but it held no appeal. Paraphrasing Yogi Berra, he said, "Life took a fork." Still a teenager, he played in clubs and piano bars, "anything to make a living." His blindness has never affected his career. The few things he can't do, like driving, are handled by his partner and business manager, Scott Kessler. "I wasn't born blind," he said, "but I was born prematurely. Too much oxygen in an incubator did the rest."
At Williams College he majored in history and ran the radio station, mostly so he could play his own records. Even then, his collection was impressive. It still is: His basement in Swarthmore holds 35,000 CDs and records, many of them rare 78s he hopes to restore one day and sell under the Marston label he created two years ago.
But for now Marston must turn elsewhere to earn his living. In fact, he turns to the piano, from which he leads the Ward Marston Trio, which plays nationwide. The group was in the Hamptons recently and has a full calendar for the months ahead.
"I've always tried to keep the sound of live music in my ears," Marston said. "Recordings, even the best of them, are a pale imitation of what real music sounds like."
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