The Squid's Ear Magazine


Morris, Joe : Atmosphere (KMB Jazz)

Known for his guitar work, and more recently on the bass, here in an album of improvisation on the 5-string banjo and 4-string banjouke.
 

Price: $7.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Joe Morris-banjo, banjouke


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: KMB Jazz
Catalog ID: KMB010
Squidco Product Code: 11583

Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2009
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold Sleeve
Recorded March 23, 2008 at RITI Studios, Guilford, Connecticut by Joe Morris.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"My interested in the banjo goes back to the '70's when I began listening to traditional string music from around the world. The banjo gives me the chance to play music that is pure rhythm and rhythm as melody or pure melody. I don't try to be historic or to be ethnic. The banjo just has the music in it. I do what I can to bring it out. I don't try to play within any tradition either. I make this music because I think it is a contemporary thing to do. However, I do find inspiration in music played on various lutes like the ngoni, halam, guimbri, sax, tar, oud, shamisen and the early banjo. I think about what I can do with the raw wound of teh string when it's plucked, strummed and picked stretched over a skin. I hope the results perpetuate the continuously valid and universal idea that culture and music can help us to contemplate our time on this planet, and to come together.

On this recording I play a 5-string banjo and a 4-string banjouke - a ukulele with a drum resonator. I use plain nylon and steel wrapped nylon strings on the 5-string and plain nylon ukulele strings on the banjouke. Sometimes I used a pick and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I change the tuning, sometimes I don't. [...]"-Joe Morris, from the liner notes


Artist Biographies

"Joe Morris was born in New Haven, Connecticut on September 13, 1955. At the age of 12 he took lessons on the trumpet for one year. He started on guitar in 1969 at the age of 14. He played his first professional gig later that year. With the exception of a few lessons he is self-taught. The influence of Jimi Hendrix and other guitarists of that period led him to concentrate on learning to play the blues. Soon thereafter his sister gave him a copy of John Coltrane's OM, which inspired him to learn about Jazz and New Music. From age 15 to 17 he attended The Unschool, a student-run alternative high school near the campus of Yale University in downtown New Haven. Taking advantage of the open learning style of the school he spent most of his time day and night playing music with other students, listening to ethnic folk, blues, jazz, and classical music on record at the public library and attending the various concerts and recitals on the Yale campus. He worked to establish his own voice on guitar in a free jazz context from the age of 17. Drawing on the influence of Coltrane, Miles Davis, Cecil Taylor,Thelonius Monk, Ornette Coleman as well as the AACM, BAG, and the many European improvisers of the '70s. Later he would draw influence from traditional West African string music, Messian, Ives, Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Lyons, Steve McCall and Fred Hopkins. After high school he performed in rock bands, rehearsed in jazz bands and played totally improvised music with friends until 1975 when he moved to Boston.

Between 1975 and 1978 he was active on the Boston creative music scene as a soloist as well as in various groups from duos to large ensembles. He composed music for his first trio in 1977. In 1980 he traveled to Europe where he performed in Belgium and Holland. When he returned to Boston he helped to organize the Boston Improvisers Group (BIG) with other musicians. Over the next few years through various configurations BIG produced two festivals and many concerts. In 1981 he formed his own record company, Riti, and recorded his first LpWraparound with a trio featuring Sebastian Steinberg on bass and Laurence Cook on drums. Riti records released four more LPs and CDs before 1991. Also in 1981 he began what would be a six year collaboration with the multi-instrumentalist Lowell Davidson, performing with him in a trio and a duo. During the next few years in Boston he performed in groups which featured among others; Billy Bang, Andrew Cyrille, Peter Kowald, Joe McPhee, Malcolm Goldstein, Samm Bennett, Lawrence "Butch" Morris and Thurman Barker. Between 1987 and 1989 he lived in New York City where he performed at the Shuttle Theater, Club Chandelier, Visiones, Inroads, Greenwich House, etc. as well as performing with his trio at the first festival Tea and Comprovisation held at the Knitting Factory.

In 1989 he returned to Boston. Between 1989 and 1993 he performed and recorded with his electric trio Sweatshop and electric quartet Racket Club. In 1994 he became the first guitarist to lead his own session in the twenty year history of Black Saint/Soulnote Records with the trio recording Symbolic Gesture. Since 1994 he has recorded for the labels ECM, Hat Hut, Leo, Incus, Okka Disc, Homestead, About Time, Knitting Factory Works, No More Records, AUM Fidelity and OmniTone and Avant. He has toured throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe as a solo and as a leader of a trio and a quartet. Since 1993 he has recorded and/or performed with among others; Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Joe and Mat Maneri, Rob Brown, Raphe Malik, Ivo Pearlman, Borah Bergman, Andrea Parkins, Whit Dickey, Ken Vandermark, DKV Trio, Karen Borca, Eugene Chadborne, Susie Ibarra, Hession/Wilkinson/Fell, Roy Campbell Jr., John Butcher, Aaly Trio, Hamid Drake, Fully Celebrated Orchestra and others.

He began playing acoustic bass in 2000 and has since performed with cellist Daniel Levin, Whit Dickey and recorded with pianist Steve Lantner.

He has lectured and conducted workshops trroughout the US and Europe. He is a former member of the faculty of Tufts University Extension College and is currently on the faculty at New England Conservatory in the jazz and improvisation department. He was nominated as Best Guitarist of the year 1998 and 2002 at the New York Jazz Awards."

-Joe Morris Website (http://www.joe-morris.com/biography.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Atmosphere One 5:58

2. Atmosphere Two 4:25

3. Atmosphere Three 6:47

4. Atmosphere Four 7:29

5. Atmosphere Five 6:57

6. Atmosphere Six 7:23

7. Atmosphere Seven 4:16

8. Atmosphere Eight 4:27

9. Atmosphere Nine 8:46

10. Atmosphere Ten 5:13

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Guitarists, &c.
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Free Improvisation
Friends of Squid

Search for other titles on the label:
KMB Jazz.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Perelman, Ivo / Matthew Shipp / Joe Morris
Shamanism
(Mahakala Music)
Adding guitarist Joe Morris to the long-standing collaboration of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp directs the New York trio into a fascinatingly unique direction, Morris' often pointillistic style bringing out quick responses and conglomerates of ideas, balanced by hauntingly lyrical and suspended moments; an evokative album of spirited improvisation.
Perelman, Ivo / Ray Anderson / Joe Morris / Reggie Nicholson
Molten Gold [2 CDs]
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Recording with legendary jazz musicians, trombonist Ray Anderson, drummer Reggie Nicholson and double bassist Joe Morris, tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's quartet album brings the depth of experience and Ivo Perelman's unstoppable creative drive to these four extended and masterful improvisations, impeccably captured at Brooklyn's ParkWest Studio by Jim Clouse.
Perelman, Ivo / Matthew Shipp / Joe Morris
Shamanism
(Mahakala Music)
Adding guitarist Joe Morris to the long-standing collaboration of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp directs the New York trio into a fascinatingly unique direction, Morris' often pointillistic style bringing out quick responses and conglomerates of ideas, balanced by hauntingly lyrical and suspended moments; an evokative album of spirited improvisation.
Morris, Joe / Agusti Fernandez / Brad Barrett / DoYeon Kim
Other Galaxies
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Arranged by Joe Morris while Agusti Fernandez was in the NY Metropolitan area, this concert at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, brings together four distinctive string players with Morris on guitar, Fernandez on piano, Brad Barrett on bass and Do Yeon Kim on guyageum, seemingly taking their listeners to rapid galaxies through intensive, pointillistic and imaginative improvisation.
Morris, Joe / Jeremy Brown
Magnitude
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
While in Calgary as a Killam Visiting Scholar, guitarist Joe Morris worked with multi-wind player and professor Jeremy Brown, whose solo work impressed Morris so much that they began performing regularly as a duo, deciding to rehearse and record this remarkable series of improvised duos that Morris describes as unique to his catalog, something conversationally precise and organic.
William Parker
Universal Tonality [2 CDs]
(Centering Records)
An incredible performance recorded at Roulette in NYC by a large ensemble of 16 jazz luminaries of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds, led by composer and bassist William Parker, who explains that Universal Tonality is another name for love, the profusion of which is interpreted by vocalist Leena Conquest in a profoundly inspired concert of magnificent artistry.
Kitamura / Ho Bynum / Reid / Morris
Geometry of Trees
(Relative Pitch)
The Geometry quartet of Tomeka Reid on cello, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, Kyoko Kitamura on voice, and Joe Morris on guitar in their sophomore release of subtly ferocious acoustic improvisation, acute and obtuse angularity through both highly interactive playing and spacious sprawls that merge melody and pointillist styles, expanded through Kitamura's imagistic vocals; outstanding.
Reid, Tomeka / Joe Morris
Combinations
(RogueArt)
New York and Chicago string improvisers combine for an album of dense abstractions through individual lines that weave between the two players, briefly combining then moving off to independent methods, as guitarist Joe Morris and cellist Tomeka Reid meet in a Brooklyn studio to record ten improvisations, including one each dedicated to their home cities.
Morris, Joe
Instantiation: Switches
(Glacial Erratic)
The 4th in improving guitarist and composer Joe Morris' Instantiation series, where each part is unique, composed with specific notated and operational components such that it impossible to perform any of them the same way twice; performed with two active Boston improvisers, trombonist Eric Stilwell (hear on Joe Morris Trio "Value") and cellist & bassist Brad Barrett.
Morris, Joe
Instantiation: Locale
(Glacial Erratic)
The 3rd release of improvising guitarist Joe Morris' "Instantiation" series, where each part is unique, composed with specific notated and operational components such that it impossible to perform any of them the same way twice; performed with Ben Hall on tympani & percussion, Andria Nicodemou on vibraphone, Dan O'Brien on tenor & baritone sax,and , Allison Burik on alto sax.
Morris, Joe
Instantiation: Versioning
(Glacial Erratic)
The 2nd album in guitarist Joe Morris' "Instantiation" series, where each part is composed with specific notated and operational components such that it is impossible to perform any part the same way twice, performed with the quintet of Daniel Klingsberg on bass, Alex Quinn on trumpet, Michael Sabin on trombone, Raef Sengupta on saxophone.
Kaplan, Noah Quartet
Out Of The Hole
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
West Coast composer and saxophonist Noah Kaplan, associated with Anthony Coleman, David Tronzo, Peter Erskine, Rinde Eckert, Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Joe Maneri, &c., here in his 3rd album with his Noah Kaplan Quartet, in a set of original compositions and one standard performed with Joe Morris (guitar), Giacomo Merega (electric bass) & Jason Nazary (drums, electronics).
Reid, Tomeka / Kyoko Kitamura / Tyler Ho Bynum / Joe Morris
Geometry Of Distance
(Relative Pitch)
Following their debut album, "Geometry of Caves", the quartet of improvising musicians Joe Morris (guitar), Tomeka Reid (cello), Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet) and Kyoko Kitamura (voice) return for this album of passionate free improvisation, here even more attuned as a group as they employ their collective language using unusual technique and incredible expertise; spectacular!
Morris, Joe
Instantiation: Paradoxical
(Glacial Erratic)
One part of New York improvising guitarist and composer Joe Morris' "Instantiation" project, where each part is uniquely composed with specific notated and operational components making each impossible to perform the same way twice, here in a studio recording with clarinetist Dan O'Brien, bassist Brad Barrett, and violinist Elinor Speirs.
Stapp, Ben / Joe Morris feat. Stephen Haynes
Mind Creature Sound Dasein
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Splitting his time between Portugal and NY, tuba and euphonium player Ben Stapp's association with guitarist Joe Morris and cornetist Stephen Haynes started in 2011, including participating in their Improvisations series, leading to this trio performing Stapp's compositions with musical forms based on the narrative structure of his novel "Mind Creature Sound Dasein".
Morris, Joe / DoYeon Kim
Macrocosm
(Glacial Erratic)
Performing on the Korean gayageum (also known as kayagum), Do Yeon Kim joins Joe Morris performing on guitar for five incredible string improvisations using a diversity of approaches from both players, including pointillistic improv, rich rivers of chords, languid moments of beauty, and moments where it's difficult to discern who is playing what.
Morris, Joe / Chris Dadge / Jonathon Wilcke
Rural Optimism
(Bug Incision Records)
During guitarist Joe Morris' stay as a visiting scholar at University of Calgary, Morris joined the Chris Dadge / Jonathon Wilkes duo, first on stage and then in the studio to record this first-rate album of collective improvisation, merging idiosyncratic percussive activity, abstract and lyrical sax declarations, and profound and pointillistic guitar work.
Reid, Tomeka / Kyoko Kitamura / Taylor Ho Bynum / Joe Morris
Geometry of Caves
(Relative Pitch)
Bringing New York and Chicago performers together, the quartet of cellist Tomeka Reid, guitarist Joe Morris, cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and free vocalist Kyoko Kitamura present an album of expressive and creative collective improvisation, bridging chamber forms and free jazz with a captivatingly eccentric appeal from Kitamura's wordless vocalese.
Hall's, Ben Racehorse Names (w/ Joe Morris)
The New Favorite Thing Called Breathing
(Relative Pitch)
Out and unusual compositions from drummer Ben Hall and his sextet with Mick Dobday on electric piano & organ, Anthony Levin Decanini on electronics, Ronnie Zawadi on percussion, John Dierker on reeds, Mike Khoury on viola & violin, and joined by Joe Morris on guitar, for 6 "Spines", free compositions using odd compositional structures leading to superb solo and group playing.
Morris, Joe
Shock Axis
(Relative Pitch)
A limited edition release of guitarist Joe Morri's new NY-area aggressive improvising trio with younger players Dave Parmelle on drums and Chris Cretella on electric bass, shredding with awesome technical skill and intense harmonic and melodic force, really powerful stuff!
McPhee / Saft / Morris / Downs
Ticonderoga
(Clean Feed)
A burning spiritual session inspired by John Coltrane's "Live at the Village Vanguard Again" that began when Jamie Saft told Joe Morris about his deep admiration for Alice Coltrane's playing, adding McPhee and Downs as the perfect complement to realize this excellent album.
Parker, Evan / Joe Morris / Nate Wooley
Ninth Square
(Clean Feed)
The extraordinary trio of three masterful players from different generations who have broken with convention while playing within free forms--Evan Parker on sax; Joe Morris on guitar; and Nate Wooley on trumpet--performing live at Firehouse 12 in Connecticut, 2014.
Morris, Joe
Solos - Bimhuis
(Relative Pitch)
Live recordings from guitarist Joe Morris, performing solo at Bimhuis in Amsterdam in two Octobers from 2013 to 2014, showing remarkable technical and creative skills while captivating his audience with accessible progressions and story-telling; masterful!
Morris, Joe
Mess Hall
(Hatology)
Dark, edgy and superb electric guitar work from Joe Morris in a trio with Stave Lantner on electric keyboard and Jerome Deupree on drums, the final part of what Morris calls "Big Loud Electric Guitar Trilogy" that started with "Sweatshop" and "Racket Club", following the Hendrix legacy.
Morris, Joe / Chris Cretella
Storms
(Glacial Erratic)
Intense acoustic guitar interactions from frequent collaborators Joe Morris (NY) and Chris Cretella (New Haven, CT) in a remarkable display of free fingerstyle guitar improvisations presented in a limited hand-assembled package.
Morris, Joe Quartet
Balance
(Clean Feed)
Joe Morris reunites his NY quartet as their last configuration from 2000, with violist Mat Maneri, bassist Chris Lightcap, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and Morris on guitar, bringing us an update on the intently informed collective improvisation that defines this great- band.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC