Joe Morris: Camera (2010)

GLENN ASTARITA,

Glenn Astarita

Senior Contributor since 1997

Longtime contributor to AAJ and Downbeat, Jazz Review, EjazzNews, Radio DirectX.

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Published: January 10, 2011

Track review of "Street Scene"

Influential improvising guitarist Joe Morris ignites luminous imagery that casts a musically minded paradigm on how the diffraction of light may traverse a camera lens. However, individual interpretations can yield other enticing persuasions on Camera, engineered upon the grouping of stringed instruments and drums.

"Street Scene" exemplifies Morris' clever articulations via fluttering storylines, largely executed at a brisk pace. Drummer Luther Gray lays out a peppery backbone for the soloists' dissecting call-and-response patterns, where subliminal nods to blues, modern jazz, and avant chamber fuse into a jovial, yet somewhat unlikely medium.

Morris blazes a furious single-note path within the grand schematic amid split-tones and animated runs, where every progression offers an integral part to the continually moving parts. The guitarist also operates as a bonding agent via the gradually ascending developments. Morris extends his already expansive musicality and prominently delivers the goods throughout the intriguing propositions set forth on Camera.

Personnel: Joe Morris: guitar; Luther Gray: drums; Katt Hernandez: violin; Junko Fujiwara Simons: cello.

Record Label: ESP Disk
Style: Modern Jazz