Jeff Morris is an improviser, coder, and composer. His live sampling debut album, Interfaces (Ravello Records) explores different ways for a computer performer to fit in a jazz trio without dominating it (like Ornette Coleman thought of the piano for forty years). Jeff is joined by free jazz legend Karl Berger (vibes, piano) and NYC dynamo Joe Hertenstein (drums, found percussion).
In all his work, Jeff creates experiences that engage audiences’ minds with their surroundings. His performances, installations, lectures, and writings appear in international venues known for cutting- edge arts and deep questions in the arts. He has won awards for making art emerge from unusual situations: music tailored to architecture and cityscapes, performance art for the radio, and serious concert music for toy piano, robot, Sudoku puzzles, and paranormal electronic voice phenomena.
He has presented work in the Onassis Cultural Center (Athens), Triennale Museum (Milan), D–22 (Beijing’s avant-garde music scene), the International Symposium on Electronic Art (Vancouver, Canada), the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum (Austin), the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s “Open House Chicago,” and the Boston Microtonal Society.
His work has won awards in the Concours de Bourges (France), Viseu Rural (Portugal), “Music in Architecture” International Competition (Austin), the Un“Cage”d Toy Piano Competition (NYC), and the “Radio Killed the Video Star” Competition (NYC). He has albums of live sampling improvisations on Ravello Records (distributed internationally and online via Naxos).
Writings about his works and their aesthetics have been presented at the International Computer Music Conference, Generative Art International Conference, and Computer Art Congress and are published by Leonardo Music Journal, Springer, and IGI Global.
He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Art, Culture and Design Technologies, and created the Performance Technology (PerfTech) program at Texas A&M University (a Carnegie Tier One Research University and member of the elite Association of American Universities) and created the Fresh Minds Festival of audiovisual art from all over the world.
Awards
Winner. Radio Killed the Video Star, CUE Art Foundation, New York.
First Prize. Viseu Rural 2.0: Sonic Explorations of a Rural Archive, Portugal.
Commission award. Environmental Art Biennale, I-Park Foundation, Connecticut.
Lynda J. Marchese Award, Florida.
Second Prize. Concours de Bourges, France.
Third Prize. Music in Architecture—Architecture in Music, LBJ Presidential Library.
Third Prize. UnCaged Toy Piano, New York.
First Honorable Mention. Russell Horn Young Composers Competition, Dallas.
Semi-Finalist. American Prize, Chamber Music, Connecticut.
Pre-Finalist (twice). Destellos Competition, Argentina.
“For those bored with free jazz and straight-ahead classicism, Interfaces opens a doorway, through
which it plunges headfirst." — JazzTimes
“Because of [his] manipulations of samples, electronically produced sounds don’t come across as like
something alien in combination with a violin but serve as complicated contra point.” — The Improvisor,
reviewing the International Society of Improvised Music (ISIM) conference
“The sensuality of sound and its behaviour is celebrated here” … “Convincing work that foregrounds
first-
principles in a manner that is creative and engaging (simple systems/complex music)” — New Interfaces
in
Musical Expression international conference
Read more
“For those bored with free jazz and straight-ahead classicism, Interfaces opens a doorway, through
which it plunges headfirst." — JazzTimes
“Because of [his] manipulations of samples, electronically produced sounds don’t come across as like
something alien in combination with a violin but serve as complicated contra point.” — The Improvisor,
reviewing the International Society of Improvised Music (ISIM) conference
“The sensuality of sound and its behaviour is celebrated here” … “Convincing work that foregrounds
first-
principles in a manner that is creative and engaging (simple systems/complex music)” — New Interfaces
in
Musical Expression international conference
“Quite interesting and, dare I say, entertaining” — Conference on Computation, Communication,
Aesthetics & X
(xCoAx)
“Jeff Morris’s piece was one of the most intriguing we received, and Tim was keen to spend some time
looking
at the issues it raised… a delight to play and very well written… His interest in the piece was clear by
the
extraordinary amount of homework he had done…” — Composition Today
"Morris uses technology more as an instrument unto itself by using his own skills in improvisation to
respond to the
performances of the music as it progresses. In this respect, the music is a natural outgrowth of third
stream jazz.…a
rather intriguing exploration as Morris deconstructs and reconstructs our expectations for what sound
and music can
be." — Cinemusical
"Highly advanced music for Jazz aficionados and an audience way beyond." — Nitestylez
"…an interesting and attention grabbing collection that is hard not to enjoy. If you're a collector of
experimental
music then there's much to get your head around here." — Review Graveyard
"Morris acts as a conduit or on-the-fly-editor, shaping and squeezing these sounds through a bevy of
digitally
manipulative tactics until the birth on the other side is both true to the tone and texture of Karl Berger
and Joe
Hertenstein's piano and percussion but miles away in terms of listening experience." — Tome to the
Weather Machine
“Jeff Morris’s improvisation, while more firmly rooted in academic electronic music, was… evocative with
its
wide variety of sound sources and quick pace.” — Array (International Computer Music Association),
reviewing
the Bellingham Electronic Arts Festival (BEAF)
“…brought an august, almost tomb-like research library to life in sound, video, and performance.” —
World
Architecture.
“…visitors heard music shaped by their own movements.” — Sculpture Magazine
“His work is fascinating. His music responds to my painting movement and we create a ‘loop’ of sound
and
color together.” — April Zanne Johnson, interviewed by Faburry Gallery
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Primary Instrument
Electronics
Location
Houston
Willing to teach
Intermediate to advanced
Clinic/Workshop Information
Jeff Morris creates experiences that engage audiences’ minds with their surroundings. His performances,
installations, lectures, and writings appear in international venues known for cutting-edge arts and deep
questions in the arts. He has won awards for making art emerge from unusual situations: music tailored to
architecture and cityscapes, performance art for the radio, and serious concert music for toy piano, robot,
Sudoku puzzles, and paranormal electronic voice phenomena.
He has presented work in the Onassis Cultural Center (Athens), Triennale Museum (Milan), D–22 (Beijing’s
avant-garde music scene), the International Symposium on Electronic Art (Vancouver, Canada), the Lyndon B
Read more
Primary Instrument
Electronics
Location
Houston
Willing to teach
Intermediate to advanced
Clinic/Workshop Information
Jeff Morris creates experiences that engage audiences’ minds with their surroundings. His performances,
installations, lectures, and writings appear in international venues known for cutting-edge arts and deep
questions in the arts. He has won awards for making art emerge from unusual situations: music tailored to
architecture and cityscapes, performance art for the radio, and serious concert music for toy piano, robot,
Sudoku puzzles, and paranormal electronic voice phenomena.
He has presented work in the Onassis Cultural Center (Athens), Triennale Museum (Milan), D–22 (Beijing’s
avant-garde music scene), the International Symposium on Electronic Art (Vancouver, Canada), the Lyndon B.
Johnson Presidential Library and Museum (Austin), and the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s “Open House
Chicago.”
His work has won awards in the Concours de Bourges (France), Viseu Rural (Portugal), “Music in Architecture”
International Competition (Austin), the Un“Cage”d Toy Piano Competition (NYC), and the “Radio Killed the Video
Star” Competition (NYC). He has two albums of live sampling improvisations forthcoming from PARMA
Recordings (distributed internationally and online via Naxos).
Writings about his works and their aesthetics have been presented at the International Computer Music
Conference, Generative Art International Conference, and Computer Art Congress and are published by
Leonardo Music Journal, Springer, and IGI Global.
He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Art, Culture and Design Technologies, and created
the Performance Technology (PerfTech) program at Texas A&M University (a Carnegie Tier One Research
University and member of the elite Association of American Universities) and created the Fresh Minds Festival
of audiovisual art from all over the world.
Show less