Joe Morris: Age of Everything

After hearing Davidson's music, Morris' guitar technique makes far more sense; built on sketchy originating phrases, they gradually increase in density and complexity, make heavy use of repetition, and have a similar cool, detached texture. Unlike Bailey or Ray Russell, Morris rarely uses distortion (the closest he comes on this recording is a bit of muting) and, much like a pianist, he employs long single-note runs in his solos. My initial exposure to Morris (through his 1998 AUM Fidelity recording A Cloud of Black Birds ) was lukewarm, for the music was simultaneously interesting yet impenetrable, its vocabulary so unlike anything I''d ever heard in free music. Yet through the Davidson lens, a train of influence can be readily discerned.

Morris is heard best without another countering front-line instrument; in the former recording, Mat Maneri's flashier electric violin took attention away from Morris' subtle playing, disallowing one from hearing how engaging his phrasing really is. On this trio recording, joined by the sympathetic propulsion of bassist Timo Shanko and drummer Luther Gray, Morris can finally be heard out in the open. As is to be expected, Shanko and Gray get shorter solo space, but Gray in particular makes great use of what space he has, for his solos are varied and inventive.

Morris is no slouch as a composer, either; for example, 'Tree Branch' carries a playfully quirky stop-start head reminiscent, especially in this context, of Attila Zoller. 'Way In' is a vamp-based tango, and is probably the most conventional of anything in the set, but it gives an insistent anchor to a warmly building Morris exploration.

With Age of Everything, Joe Morris' work is now as innovator rather than stylist. In the context of two highly adept sparring partners and a varied program of original compositions, it is safe to say that the Black Birds are certifiably in flight.