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Lawrence "Butch" Morris
Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris was an American jazz cornetist, composer and conductor.
Morris was born in Long Beach, California. Before beginning his musical career, he served in the US forces in the Vietnam War. Morris came to attention with saxophonist David Murray's groups in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Morris's brother, double bassist Wilber Morris, sometimes performed and recorded with Murray during this period. Morris led a group called Orchestra SLANG. The group features Drummer Kenny Wollesen, alto saxophonist Jonathon Haffner, trumpeter Kirk Knuffke and others. He performed and presented regularly as part of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, held annually in New York City. He also played with well-known artist and would be drummer A.R. Penck in 1990.
Morris is the originator of Conduction (a term knowingly borrowed from physics): a type of structured free improvisation where Morris directs and conducts an improvising ensemble with a series of hand and baton gestures. These conductions have received generally positive reviews, and are often considered quite unique, not quite fitting into any one musical genre: critic Thom Jurek has written, "There are no records like Butch Morris' conduction sides, nor could there be, though he wishes there were."[1] and Ed Hazell writes, "At his best, Morris can shake players out of their old habits, or place a microscope on one aspect of a musician's artistry and build an orchestral fantasia around it."
Morris died of lung cancer on January 29, 2013 at the age of 65.
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Butch Morris, The 3 Cohens, Christophe Irniger's Pilgrim, Sasha Berliner
by Cheryl K.
During this week's two-hour program of Jazz and improvised music, selections from releases by conductor Butch Morris, the Kenny Wheeler Legacy ensemble, a single from vocalist Catherine Russell, The 3 Cohens (Anat, Avaishai, and Yuval), Spirits Rejoice, tenor saxophonist Christophe Irniger's Pilgrim, and vibraphonist and composer Sasha Berliner. Playlist Butch Morris “Current Trends in Racism in Modern America (Part Two)" from Current Trends in Racism in Modern America (A Work in Progress) (Sound Aspects) 10:30 Omar Thomas Large ...
Continue ReadingLawrence D. "Butch" Morris - L'arte della Conduction
by Neri Pollastri
L'arte della Conduction Lawrence “Butch" Morris --A cura di Daniela Veronesi 218 Pagine ISBN: 9788855433655 Editrice Musicale Italiana--LIM 2024 A undici anni della scomparsa di Lawrence D. Butch Morris, avvenuta nel 2013, e a sette dall'uscita della versione inglese, arriva anche in Italia, per i tipi della Libreria Musicale Italiana, l'Arte della Conduction, il manuale che spiega e illustra la pratica improvvisativa orchestrale da lui messa a punto e sviluppata per tutta la ...
Continue ReadingButch Morris: Current Trends in Racism in Modern America
by Howard Mandel
When a full house of ardent downtown music followers flocked to the old Kitchen, a performance loft on Broome Street in Manhattan's artsy Soho district on the cold night of February 1, 1985 to hear Current Trends in Racism in Modern America by Lawrence Douglas “Butch" Morris--I don't recall if it was advertised as “Conduction No. 1"--no one knew what to expect. At that time, as now, Butch was an inspired and productive presence on a diversified music ...
Continue ReadingIntervista a Corrado Beldì, Direttore Artistico di NovaraJazz
by Neri Pollastri
Tra i festival nazionali NovaraJazz sta sempre più guadagnandosi un posto di rilievo, vuoi per l'originalità delle proposte artistiche, spesso arricchite da produzioni originali, vuoi per il modo singolare in cui vengono realizzati gli spettacoli, disseminati nel tessuto cittadino e negli spazi naturali che lo circondano. Abbiamo intervistato uno dei direttori artistici, Corrado Beldì, per sapere qualcosa di più sull'edizione 2018 della rassegna. All About Jazz Italia: NovaraJazz torna spesso nelle conversazioni con i musicisti come esempio virtuoso ...
Continue ReadingThe Art of Conduction
by Riccardo Brazzale
The Art of Conduction. A conduction Workbook Lawrence “Butch" Morris (Daniela Veronesi -ed.) Karma 224 pages ISBN-13: 978-1942607427 Lawrence Douglas “Butch" Morris was undoubtedly one of the most unusual and, at the same time, influential figures on the “New Jazz" scene of the last decades. Born on 10 February 1947 in Long Beach, California, he was a cornetist but also, and especially, a composer and conductor. He gradually came into the ...
Continue ReadingLawrence "Butch" Morris: The Art of Conduction. A conduction Workbook
by Riccardo Brazzale
Vista la complessità della materia trattata, abbiamo pensato di chidere ad uno dei principali direttori e arrangiatori europei, Riccardo Brazzale, di leggere per noi il curatissimo volume di Lawrence “Butch" Morris (a cura di Daniela Veronesi). Quella che segue è la sua recensione. The Art of Conduction. A conduction Workbook Lawrence “Butch" Morris (a cura di Daniela Veronesi) Karma 224 pagine ISBN-13: 978-1942607427 Lawrence Douglas “Butch" Morris è stato senza dubbio ...
Continue ReadingLawrence D. “Butch” Morris: Possible Universe (Conduction 192)
by Mark Corroto
With the death of jazzman Lawrence D. “Butch" Morris in 2013, we close the book on one of the most idiosyncratic composers, improvisors, conductors ever to work in creative music. His musical trajectory from a 1970s free jazz cornetist to the originator of his trademark 'Conductions' has been the stuff of legends. Under his baton, he turned the instant composing of free music into a sort of unified field theory of music. One that enveloped all the fundamental forces of ...
Continue ReadingPerfection: Elliot Lawrence - But Not For Me (1955)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In need of cash in the late 1940s, Gerry Mulligan sold bandleader Elliot Lawrence a trove of arrangements. As Elliot told me in an interview before his death in 2021, “Early on, I had bought all of Gerry's arrangements. I paid him $50 per chart. If he wrote an original and arranged it, I’d pay him $150. Naturally, I signed up the publishing so they would remain with my band." One of those Mulligan arrangements was the masterful “But Not ...
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Exotic International Singer Patrina Morris Released 'Up So Close' Featuring Brian Jackson
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Scott Thompson Public Relations
Patrina Morris brings a romantic summer dance feeling this month with the release of an upbeat single “Up So Close” the original 1966 vibe mix featuring Brian Jackson. Brazil meets a touch of Ibiza in this duet. Recorded in home studios, Brooklyn, Portugal, London and Brazil come together for the first time. Patrina: “We made this in an “old skool” way, before I had even met Brian in person and never released the original version, only an Ibiza remix. ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Butch Warren
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Butch Warren's birthday today!
Butch Warren (born in 1939) was an American jazz double bassist who plays in the hard bop genre. He was especially active in the late-50s and the 1960s. Contents Warren began playing professionally at age 14 in a local Washington, D. C. band led by his father, Edward Warren. He later worked with other local groups, including Stuff Smith's, as well as with altoist and bandleader Rick Henderson at the historic ...
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Vocalist Patrina Morris New Single - 'It's Like Sunshine' - Bossa Jazz From Portugal With Love!
Source:
Scott Thompson Public Relations
Patrina Morris was born in India to Anglo-Indian parents and moved to England when she was just six months old. She was brought up in North London and lived there until as a teenager she was spotted by a model agent while working in a restaurant to pay for Art School. Soon she was living in Paris, Milan, Tokyo and New York and making her way in the world of fashion working for some of the most prestigious clients and ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Butch Warren
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Butch Warren's birthday today!
Butch Warren (born in 1939) was an American jazz double bassist who plays in the hard bop genre. He was especially active in the late-50s and the 1960s. Contents Warren began playing professionally at age 14 in a local Washington, D. C. band led by his father, Edward Warren. He later worked with other local groups, including Stuff Smith's, as well as with altoist and bandleader Rick Henderson at the historic ...
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Elliot Lawrence: 1925-2021
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Elliot Lawrence, one of the last surviving big band leaders of the late 1940s and early 1950s who employed many of the finest and most sophisticated New York jazz musicians who went went on to leadership careers in the LP era, died on July 2. He was 96. In 1960, Elliot began composing, arranging and conducting for television, film and Broadway. His shows included How to Succeed in Busness Without Really Trying, which won him a Tony. He also conducted ...
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Elmo Hope and Joe Morris
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bebop's fast tempo and complex rhythms were embraced by modern-jazz fans when the jazz style emerged in the mid-1940s. But bop also provided jump blues with an opening. Bebop was spectacular and electrifying, but it wasn't for dancing. It was mostly for sitting and listening. As a result, the big-beat, horn-driven dance music made major inroads in Black neighborhoods and in the record market. By 1949, R&B was so popular that Billboard started an official R&B chart. Hundreds of R&B ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Butch Warren
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Butch Warren's birthday today!
Butch Warren (born in 1939) was an American jazz double bassist who plays in the hard bop genre. He was especially active in the late-50s and the 1960s. Contents Warren began playing professionally at age 14 in a local Washington, D. C. band led by his father, Edward Warren. He later worked with other local groups, including Stuff Smith's, as well as with altoist and bandleader Rick Henderson at the historic ...
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Butch Morris, RIP
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The ceaselessly innovative and searching composer and Butch Morris died yesterday in New York. He had been under treatment of cancer for several years. Morris was 65. He developed an approach to big band music that he called conduction. It made demands on musicians by insisting on intensive, intuitive listening, reaction and interaction. The effort involved adjustment to Morris’s highly personalized methods of conducting while simultaneously composing and arranging through a system of cues and hand motions. Sometimes combined with ...
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Butch Morris leads first Seattle 'conduction' a group concert made up on the spot
Source:
Seattle Jazz Scene
Conductor Butch Morris concludes a 10-day Cornish College residency with a “conduction" a spontaneously directed ensemble performance unlike anything else. It takes place Saturday, March 6, at Poncho Concert Hall. On paper, the practice that Butch Morris calls “conduction" sounds like a recipe for musical chaos. But after more than three decades, Morris is a maestro of spontaneously directed ensemble performance, an artist capable of transforming an ad-hoc group of musicians into a thrilling vehicle for instantaneous arranging and composing. ...
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