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156
Album Review

Joe Morris: Age Of Everything

Read "Age Of Everything" reviewed by Julian Derry


Age of Everything is an amazingly hot trio session from unsung guitar hero Joe Morris, whose style could be compared to that of Present Tense's Philip Gibbs or even a laid-back Stefan Dill--a sort of melodious Derek Bailey, really. The fragile sharded melodies are mere invocations dripping across the fettered brow of a bubbling Holland/DeJohnette-like pulse. Haughty dew-drop notes glisten in the rhythmic sward.For over twenty years Morris' discordant approach has been founded in greatness. Coltrane's OM (Impulse!, ...

193
Album Review

Joe Morris: Age of Everything

Read "Age of Everything" reviewed by Clifford Allen


Sometimes an artist comes along that, while making obviously forward-thinking and unique music, nevertheless remains apart from one's expectations that at first it seems unapproachable. Yet revisiting this same artist a few years later, with more listening under one's belt, the value of the work becomes more readily apparent. With this in mind, Joe Morris, before seemingly a 'stylist', is now certifiably an important figure in creative guitar music. With Age of Everything, Joe Morris has cemented ...

199
Album Review

Daniel Levin Quartet: Don't Go It Alone

Read "Don't Go It Alone" reviewed by John Kelman


The cello may not be the first instrument you think of when it comes to improvised music, but with artists like Erik Friedlander, Vincent Courtois, and now Daniel Levin putting together daring ensembles that forge new places for their instrument, it is certainly gaining in stature. Don't Go It Alone is Levin's first recording, and is a fine example of chamber jazz, with an unusual instrumental line-up that allows for a multitude of musical spaces, from open-ended free jazz to ...

221
Album Review

Daniel Levin: Don't Go It Alone

Read "Don't Go It Alone" reviewed by Celeste Sunderland


Contrasts flavor life. Growing shadows creeping across an expansive lawn add drama, slowly and deliberately, like a long note played deeply against the strings of a cello. Raindrops pound dry asphalt in summer, peaking the human senses like rapid spurts of a cornet against the heavy pulse of a bass. The Daniel Levin Quartet's Don't Go It Alone mirrors nature's abstract reactions and transforms them into music. By combining cello (Levin), cornet (Dave Ballou), vibraphone (Matt Moran), ...

121
Album Review

Stone House: Likewise

Read "Likewise" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Once Joe Morris made the leap from guitar to bass three years ago, it's been fascinating to see the results. His idiosyncratic approach to the instrument will likely be the biggest draw for Stone House, a collective free improv trio. And while the sense of time and harmony he brings to the music is remarkable, the real treat on Likewise is the playing of Rob Brown. Brown is the heir to the Jimmy Lyons throne, a thoroughly open-minded alto player ...

168
Album Review

Whit Dickey/Trio Ahxoloxha: Prophet Moon

Read "Prophet Moon" reviewed by AAJ Staff


The three players who make up Trio Ahxoloxha have long been musical intimates and regular participants on the New York free jazz scene. Drummer Whit Dickey, guitarist Joe Morris, and alto saxophonist Rob Brown united for the 1993 record Youniverse, and they've also intermingled on records by Morris, Dickey, and Matthew Shipp. The intimacy this shared association affords is what drives Prophet Moon.

While Dickey serves as the formal leader of this date (and it's his compositions that ...

208
Album Review

William Parker/Joe Morris/Hamid Drake: Eloping With The Sun

Read "Eloping With The Sun" reviewed by AAJ Staff


When jazz players harness African music, it's always interesting to see what forms the musicians preserve from each style. After all, the goal of such a hybrid is to preserve elements of both traditions in order to achieve a result that is more than the sum of its parts.

Eloping With The Sun has the happy property of being such a synergistic mixture. More than any record of its kind in recent history, it captures the spirit of ...

297
Album Review

William Parker/Joe Morris/Hamid Drake: Eloping With The Sun

Read "Eloping With The Sun" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The surprise in the pairing of these three creative music superstars is not that they have finally recorded together. The astonishing thing about Eloping With The Sun is the music they decided to make.

Choosing African instruments, percussionist Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker create trance-inducing rhythms for guitarist Joe Morris to play the banjo (yes, a banjo) and banjouke behind, over, and around. Morris, who is known to whip guitars into spaghetti-like chords of sound, eschews the ...

184
Album Review

Steve Lantner Trio: Saying So

Read "Saying So" reviewed by AAJ Staff


On Saying So, free jazz pianist Steve Lantner gives new meaning to the word lyrical. He extends beyond gentle melodies to emphasize communication, and thus tell a story. Lantner builds statements, exclamations, and questions--and that feeling comes from his phrasing. When he's out front, Lantner has a particularly articulate way of putting things together. It's not the pointed lightning stabs of Cecil Taylor or the dark, angular thrusts of Matthew Shipp. Instead, Lantner relies on understatement and a gentle touch ...

202
Album Review

Steve Lantner Trio: Saying So

Read "Saying So" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


This recording and guitarist Joe Morris' Age of Everything represent two new releases on Morris' revitalized Riti Records label.

Based on two previous outings for Leo Records, modern jazz/improvising pianist Steve Lantner's radiantly novel approach contains the stuff that provides the earmarks for a fruitful career. He has recorded with Mat Maneri (violin) and Joe Morris (guitar) yet here, Morris switches over to the bass while Laurence Cook (drums) rounds out this high-spirited trio date. Lantner's mode of ...


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