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Butch Morris

Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris was an American jazz cornetist, composer and conductor.

Morris was born in Long Beach, California. Before beginning his musical career, he served in the US forces in the Vietnam War. Morris came to attention with saxophonist David Murray's groups in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Morris's brother, double bassist Wilber Morris, sometimes performed and recorded with Murray during this period. Morris led a group called Orchestra SLANG. The group features Drummer Kenny Wollesen, alto saxophonist Jonathon Haffner, trumpeter Kirk Knuffke and others. He performed and presented regularly as part of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, held annually in New York City. He also played with well-known artist and would be drummer A.R. Penck in 1990.

Morris is the originator of Conduction (a term knowingly borrowed from physics): a type of structured free improvisation where Morris directs and conducts an improvising ensemble with a series of hand and baton gestures. These conductions have received generally positive reviews, and are often considered quite unique, not quite fitting into any one musical genre: critic Thom Jurek has written, "There are no records like Butch Morris' conduction sides, nor could there be, though he wishes there were."[1] and Ed Hazell writes, "At his best, Morris can shake players out of their old habits, or place a microscope on one aspect of a musician's artistry and build an orchestral fantasia around it."

Morris died of lung cancer on January 29, 2013 at the age of 65.

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Liner Notes

Butch Morris: Current Trends in Racism in Modern America

Read "Butch Morris: Current Trends in Racism in Modern America" reviewed by Howard Mandel


When a full house of ardent downtown music followers flocked to the old Kitchen, a performance loft on Broome Street in Manhattan's artsy Soho district on the cold night of February 1, 1985 to hear Current Trends in Racism in Modern America by Lawrence Douglas “Butch" Morris--I don't recall if it was advertised as “Conduction No. 1"--no one knew what to expect. At that time, as now, Butch was an inspired and productive presence on a diversified music ...

Interview

Intervista a Corrado Beldì, Direttore Artistico di NovaraJazz

Read "Intervista a Corrado Beldì, Direttore Artistico di NovaraJazz" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Tra i festival nazionali NovaraJazz sta sempre più guadagnandosi un posto di rilievo, vuoi per l'originalità delle proposte artistiche, spesso arricchite da produzioni originali, vuoi per il modo singolare in cui vengono realizzati gli spettacoli, disseminati nel tessuto cittadino e negli spazi naturali che lo circondano. Abbiamo intervistato uno dei direttori artistici, Corrado Beldì, per sapere qualcosa di più sull'edizione 2018 della rassegna. All About Jazz Italia: NovaraJazz torna spesso nelle conversazioni con i musicisti come esempio virtuoso ...

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Book Review

The Art of Conduction

Read "The Art of Conduction" reviewed by Riccardo Brazzale


The Art of Conduction. A conduction Workbook Lawrence “Butch" Morris (Daniela Veronesi -ed.) Karma 224 pages ISBN-13: 978-1942607427 Lawrence Douglas “Butch" Morris was undoubtedly one of the most unusual and, at the same time, influential figures on the “New Jazz" scene of the last decades. Born on 10 February 1947 in Long Beach, California, he was a cornetist but also, and especially, a composer and conductor. He gradually came into the ...

Book Excerpts

Lawrence "Butch" Morris: The Art of Conduction. A conduction Workbook

Read "Lawrence "Butch" Morris: The Art of Conduction. A conduction Workbook" reviewed by Riccardo Brazzale


Vista la complessità della materia trattata, abbiamo pensato di chidere ad uno dei principali direttori e arrangiatori europei, Riccardo Brazzale, di leggere per noi il curatissimo volume di Lawrence “Butch" Morris (a cura di Daniela Veronesi). Quella che segue è la sua recensione. The Art of Conduction. A conduction Workbook Lawrence “Butch" Morris (a cura di Daniela Veronesi) Karma 224 pagine ISBN-13: 978-1942607427 Lawrence Douglas “Butch" Morris è stato senza dubbio ...

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Album Review

Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris: Possible Universe (Conduction 192)

Read "Possible Universe (Conduction 192)" reviewed by Mark Corroto


With the death of jazzman Lawrence D. “Butch" Morris in 2013, we close the book on one of the most idiosyncratic composers, improvisors, conductors ever to work in creative music. His musical trajectory from a 1970s free jazz cornetist to the originator of his trademark 'Conductions' has been the stuff of legends. Under his baton, he turned the instant composing of free music into a sort of unified field theory of music. One that enveloped all the fundamental forces of ...

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Live Review

Akbank Jazz Festival 2013, Istanbul

Read "Akbank Jazz Festival 2013, Istanbul" reviewed by Daniela Veronesi


Akbank Jazz Festival Istanbul 25,09-10.10.2013 Akbank Jazz Festival, 23. edizione, Istanbul, 25 settembre-10 ottobre, e oltre: rassegna di ampio respiro, quindici giorni di proposte tra jazz e dintorni, evento culturale che richiama uno zoccolo duro di aficionados, ma che sa anche aggregare pubblici diversi in luoghi diversi. Ampie sale da concerto come il Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall, il Lütfi Kirdar, l'Akbank Art Center e, sulla sponda asiatica, il Caddebostan Cultural Center, per ...

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Profile

Butch Morris

Read "Butch Morris" reviewed by AAJ Staff


A solitary Butch Morris took the stage Saturday, July 5th at Tonic to perform a tribute to music aficionado Irving Stone at a memorial concert featuring some of the greatest players of New York's downtown music community. Taking a seat center stage, the bearded, bespectacled Morris reached into a shopping bag, appearing more like a philosophy professor searching for material to teach a class than a musician looking for the instruments on which he was going to perform. Dramatically he ...

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Obituary

Butch Morris, RIP

Butch Morris, RIP

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

The ceaselessly innovative and searching composer and Butch Morris died yesterday in New York. He had been under treatment of cancer for several years. Morris was 65. He developed an approach to big band music that he called conduction. It made demands on musicians by insisting on intensive, intuitive listening, reaction and interaction. The effort involved adjustment to Morris’s highly personalized methods of conducting while simultaneously composing and arranging through a system of cues and hand motions. Sometimes combined with ...

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Video / DVD

Butch Morris -- Tonight

Butch Morris -- Tonight

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Sorry for the late notice, but I just found out about this. The adventurous radio station KBOO-FM in Portland, Oregon, is broadcasting a six-part series about the musician Butch Morris. The second part is this evening—soon. For how to tune in, go to the end of this piece. Morris is not merely a composer, arranger, bandleader or conductor. Or he is all of those things and more. Our colleague Howard Mandel, a specialist on the avant-garde, says Morris's music “is ...

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Performance / Tour

Butch Morris leads first Seattle 'conduction' a group concert made up on the spot

Butch Morris leads first Seattle 'conduction'  a group concert made up on the spot

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Conductor Butch Morris concludes a 10-day Cornish College residency with a “conduction" a spontaneously directed ensemble performance unlike anything else. It takes place Saturday, March 6, at Poncho Concert Hall. On paper, the practice that Butch Morris calls “conduction" sounds like a recipe for musical chaos. But after more than three decades, Morris is a maestro of spontaneously directed ensemble performance, an artist capable of transforming an ad-hoc group of musicians into a thrilling vehicle for instantaneous arranging and composing. ...

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Performance / Tour

Fay Victor guesting with Butch Morris Conduction Sun. June 5th at the Stone + Freddy's Moodswing Series June 13th

Fay Victor guesting with Butch Morris Conduction Sun. June 5th at the Stone + Freddy's Moodswing Series June 13th

Source: All About Jazz

June 4, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] Fay Victor guesting with... Butch Morris Conduction Sunday June 5th at the Stone 2 sets 8PM and 10PM www.thestonenyc.com THE STONE is located at the corner of Avenue C and 2nd Street And catch Fay starting in June 13th at Freddy's Bar and Backroom, the Moodswing Series a monthly jazz-experimental perfomance with Fay and various band members. The series will start off as a hang to ...

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Performance / Tour

Vision Club Saturday, January 29 Butch Morris conducts Elliott Sharp's CARBON Sets at 7:30pm & 9pm

Vision Club Saturday, January 29 Butch Morris conducts Elliott Sharp's CARBON Sets at 7:30pm & 9pm

Source: All About Jazz

A R T S F O R A R T 508 East 6th Street #3, NYC 10009 January 11, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: The Vision Festival / www.visionfestival.org PRESS Contact: Jim Eigo [email protected] / 845.986.1677 Saturday, January 29, 2005 VISION CLUB At Clemente Soto Velez LES Gallery 107 Suffolk St. at Rivington Butch Morris conducts Elliott Sharp's CARBON Butch Morris “Most impressive, and most valuable was Morris' ability to unite his players into a vibrant community that while being unlike ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Verona -...

Sound Aspects Records
2011

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Current Trends in...

Sound Aspects
2010

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Conduction® /...

Sound Aspects Records
2007

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Conductions 143/1 -...

Sound Aspects Records
2007

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Holy Sea

Splasc(H) Records
2001

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Videos

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