Dick Morrissey

Richard Edwin Morrissey (born May 9, 1940 in Horley (Surrey) , England , † November 8, 2000 in Deal, Kent , England) was a British jazz musician ( saxophone , clarinet , flute ).

Morrissey is a self-taught woodwind player . At the age of 16 he began as a clarinetist in the Original Climax Jazz Band before switching to the tenor saxophone and playing professionally in groups around Harry South and Peter King . From 1961 he led a quartet . In 1966 he accompanied Jimmy Witherspoon , Sonny Stitt , Jack McDuff and JJ Johnson at concerts in London. In 1969 he founded the jazz rock group If , which was successful in both Europe and the USA. He also worked for Herbie Mann and with the Average White Band . In the mid-1970s he moved to New York City , where he founded the funk group Morrissey-Mullen , which existed until 1985, together with guitarist Jim Mullen . He also worked for Dusty Springfield , Alan Price and Paul McCartney . He also worked on recordings or tours of Rolf Ericson , Alexis Korner ( The Party Album ), Georgie Fame , Brian Auger , Pete York , Klaus Doldinger , Gary Numan , Phil Carmen , Shakatak , Peter Gabriel , Jon Anderson , Chris Beckers , Demis Roussos , Jon & Vangelis and Vangelis with. He played the saxophone solo in the Vangelis composition "Love Theme" for the film Blade Runner . After returning to Europe, he played regularly with Charly Antolini , Mike Carr , Bob Hall , Ian Stewart and Charlie Watts (in the band Rocket 88 ) before serious cancer forced him to withdraw.

Lexical entries

Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 2: M – Z (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16513). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16513-9 .