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Free improvisation reaches its apex when performers evoke the feeling of a composition. The music isn’t written in advance, but the players communicate in a way that creates an immediate structure. Joe Morris (guitar), Brad Barrett (bass, cello), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) bring such a form into being on “Copperhead Valley,” the opening track on … Read More "Brad Barrett/Joe Morris/Tyshawn Sorey: Cowboy Transfiguration (Fundacja Sluchaj)"
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Brad Barrett/Joe Morris/Tyshawn Sorey: Cowboy Transfiguration (Fundacja Sluchaj)

Free improvisation reaches its apex when performers evoke the feeling of a composition. The music isn’t written in advance, but the players communicate in a way that creates an immediate structure. Joe Morris (guitar), Brad Barrett (bass, cello), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) bring such a form into being on “Copperhead Valley,” the opening track on … Read More “Brad Barrett/Joe Morris/Tyshawn Sorey: Cowboy Transfiguration (Fundacja Sluchaj)”

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Joe McPhee/Jamie Saft/Joe Morris/Charles Downs: Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga has an irresistible backstory. Jamie Saft and Joe Morris discovered a mutual love for John Coltrane’s much-maligned 1966 album Live at the Village Vanguard Again! Proclaiming Alice Coltrane his favorite pianist, Saft wanted to make a record inspired by the album. Morris contacted Joe McPhee, who happened to have been front and center at … Read More “Joe McPhee/Jamie Saft/Joe Morris/Charles Downs: Ticonderoga”

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Joe Morris/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver : Altitude

Remarkably, despite their heftily prolific discographies and the fact that their list of collaborators comprises a Venn diagram with little non-overlapping space, Altitude marks the first time that Joe Morris, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver have worked together as a trio. The occasion was a two-week stint for AUM Fidelity owner Steven Joerg as guest … Read More “Joe Morris/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver : Altitude”

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Ivo Perelman/Joe Morris/Gerald Cleaver : Family Ties

Ivo Perelman is a commitment. You must be willing to put yourself through hell and alienate your neighbors in order to arrive at his brutal version of beauty. Most free jazz contains enough external reference points or internal recurrences to give your imagination somewhere to cling. Perelman’s music offers no shelter. The opening title track … Read More “Ivo Perelman/Joe Morris/Gerald Cleaver : Family Ties”

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The Spanish Donkey: Joe Morris, Jamie Saft, Mike Pride: XYX

Sometimes, it is just easier to let the mind go and be “one” with music rather trying to analyze it. Such is the case with The Spanish Donkey’s XYX. There is so much sound on this recording that finding a resting place is occasional, if simply rare. Jamie Saft wallows in the electronics that render … Read More “The Spanish Donkey: Joe Morris, Jamie Saft, Mike Pride: XYX”

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Stephen Haynes/ Joe Morris/ Warren Smith: Parrhesia

In Parrhesia, trumpeter Stephen Haynes, bassist and guitarist Joe Morris, and percussionist Warren Smith bring to light that the interaction and exchange of the phrasing from instruments of purposely varied timbres makes all the difference in how musical conversation unravels. That the title of the album originates from a Greek word meaning to speak freely … Read More “Stephen Haynes/ Joe Morris/ Warren Smith: Parrhesia”

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Marshall Allen/Matthew Shipp/Joe Morris: Night Logic

Followers of pianist Matthew Shipp’s music know that it is cerebral, actualized only in improvisation. In Night Logic, Shipp collaborated with Arkestra alto saxophone player, Marshall Allen, and longtime colleague, bassist Joe Morris. According to the liner notes written by poet Steve Dalachinsky, whose contribution qualifies him as the fourth member of the group, “…the … Read More “Marshall Allen/Matthew Shipp/Joe Morris: Night Logic”

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Joe Morris Quartet: Today on Earth

To say that Boston-based electric guitarist/upright bassist Joe Morris is prolific would be an obvious understatement. In 2009 alone he released six albums, including this quartet disc. But what’s truly astonishing is the stylistic spectrum he traverses: one lineup and an hour of music simply do not cover the multitude of ideas this man possesses. … Read More “Joe Morris Quartet: Today on Earth”

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