Valarie Morris

Valarie Morris: Reeding Between The Lines

by Joel Roberts
November 1, 1999

This is certainly one of the more interesting CDs to find its way into my mailbox in a while. Valarie Morris is a San Francisco Bay Area composer/multi-instrumentalist who writes in an wide assortment of styles for a wide variety of ensembles. There are pieces here for solo piano; piano and voice; accordion and marimba; five saxophones; and, yes, five accordions.

As you might have guessed, this is not, strictly speaking, a jazz recording. It's more of a musical stew ...