Thomas Morris (musician)

Thomas Morris (* the 30th August 1897 , † 1945 in California ) was an American jazz - cornet player and bandleader.

Thomas Morris was a well-known figure in the early 1920s New York jazz scene. He led a formation called Thomas Morris and his Seven Hot Babies (or his Past Jazz Masters 1923), with which he played in Harlem in the mid-20s and contributed to around 150 recordings. Morris also recorded a number of records with Fats Waller , Sidney Bechet , Charlie Johnson's Paradise Orchestra and Clarence Williams ; He also accompanied blues singers such as Margaret Johnson , Sippie Wallace , Sara Martin and Eva Taylor . He also had a brief appearance in the 1929 Bessie Smith film "St. Louis Blues". In the early 1930s he left the music business, worked as a porter in New York's Grand Central Station and then became a member of Father Divine 's Universal Peace Mission , an Afro-American fundamentalist Christian sect. Morris changed his name to Brother Pierre .
Thomas Morris was the uncle of the jazz pianist Marlowe Morris , who u. a. worked with Sid Catlett , Lionel Hampton , Earl Hines and Ben Webster .

The critic Scott Yanow describes Thomas Morris as a primitive, if effective soloist.

Discographic notes

• When a 'Gator Hollers ... (Frog, 1926) with Rex Stewart , Jabbo Smith , Charlie Irvis , Wellman Braud , Happy Cauldwell , as well as Margaret Johnson, Helen Baxter (voc)

Web links

• Biography at RedhotJazz
• Scott Yanow in Allmusic

swell

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .