He studied saxophone under Makanda Ken McIntyre, Jackie McLean, and Frank Foster, and percussion under Joe Chambers.
He earned his bachelor's degree in music education in 1968 from Central State University.
While working at the Buffalo Public Library in 1974 and 1975, Ford played in the Birthright Ensemble, then with McCoy Tyner in 1976.
Since the early-1980s, he has worked extensively as a sideman, playing with Sam Jones, Lester Bowie, Jimmy Owens, Idris Muhammad, Abdullah Ibrahim, Chico O'Farrill, Saheb Sarbib (1984), Avery Sharpe (1988), Jerry Gonzalez (from 1988), Larry Willis (1989), Michael Logan (1990), Malachi Thompson (1991), John Blake (1992), Ronnie Burrage (1993), Hannibal Marvin Peterson (1993), Freddie Cole (1993), Steve Berrios (1995), and Nova Bossa Nova (1997).
[1] In the late-1990s, Ford led two ensembles, the Black Art Sax Quartet and a big band group called The Thing.