Butch Morris

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Butch Morris and Conduction 2005

Butch Morris (* 10. February 1947 in Long Beach , California as Lawrence Douglas Morris ; † 29. January 2013 in New York City , New York ) was an American jazz - and improvisation musicians ( conductor , composer , trumpeter ).

Live and act

Morris studied at Grove Street College in Oakland and first played on the west coast in the groups of Horace Tapscott , Arthur Blythe and Bobby Bradford and later with Frank Lowe , with whom he toured Europe in 1976. He then lived for a year in Paris, where he worked with Steve Lacy , Frank Wright and Alan Silva . After returning to the United States, he settled in New York City . He played in the loft scene, which emerged in the 1970s as an alternative to the commercial clubs and concert halls. He also began a profitable partnership with David Murray , such as in 1991 on David Murray Big Band Conducted by Lawrence "Butch" Morris .

He later played with musicians such as Bill Frisell , Myra Melford , Wayne Horvitz , John Zorn , Zeena Parkins , Elizabeth Panzer , Christian Marclay , Otomo Yoshihide , Jeanne Lee , Shelley Hirsch , Peter Kowald , Bobby Previte , Frank Köllges and Manfred Schoof . He has performed at the Total Music Meeting and the JazzFest Berlin , among others . In the 1990s he also played with AR Penck ; Occasionally he worked with his brother, bassist Wilber Morris , who died in 2002. The last group of Morris, Orchestra SLANG, includes a. a. Drummer Kenny Wollesen , alto saxophonist Jonathon Haffner, trumpeter Kirk Knuffke .

Morris died in a New York hospital in late January 2013 of complications from lung cancer diagnosed in August 2012 .

Composition and Conduction

Morris was also a prolific composer, writing for both solo instruments (piano, spinet ) and larger ensembles of improvising musicians. For this purpose he developed the principle of conduction and conducted improvisation. He coordinated and controlled the musicians' playing through a repertoire of around 20 different hand signals, which enabled him to call up improvised parts through special positions of his baton. He directed such diverse ensembles as the Orchestra della Toscana, the Orquesta Joven de Andalucía, the Visions Festival Ensemble New York or the Aquarius Ensemble and the big band Nieuwe Muziek in the Netherlands. He monitored the timing and partially determined the sounds. Morris oriented himself towards moderately contemporary chamber music, attached importance to the character of the work and in some cases subordinated the creative improvisation skills of his musicians to this.

Discography

  • In Touch But Out Of Reach ( Kharma , 1978)
  • New York City Artist's Collective: Play Butch Morris (NYCAC, 1984)
  • Trios ( Dossier , 1986)
  • Current Trends in Racism in Modern America ( Sound Aspects , 1986)
  • Homeing (Sound Aspects, 1988)
  • Mass-X-Communication ( FMP , 1991)
  • Dust To Dust ( New World , 1991)
  • When the Sun is Out You Don't See Stars (FMP, 1993)
  • Testament (New World, 1995)
  • Conduction (series) (New World, 1996)
  • Burning Cloud (FMP, 1996)
  • Berlin Skyscraper (FMP, 1998)
  • The Rite ( Burnt Sugar , 2003)
  • Nublu Orchestra: Live in Paris (rec. 2010, ed. 2020)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Broecking Survival Was His Problem , Die Tageszeitung , January 30, 2013
  2. ^ Obituary at JazzTimes
  3. ^ Obituary in The New York Times
  4. ^ Taylor Ho Bynum : Obituary in The New Yorker
personal data
SURNAME Morris, Butch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morris, Lawrence Butch; Morris, Lawrence Douglas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz and improvisation musician
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Long Beach (California)
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 2013
Place of death New York City