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| 4.140 Ft
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| 1. | Blue Sky and Blotches
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| 2. | Particles
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| 3. | Separate Blue X's
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| 4. | Gold Drop 2
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| 5. | Orange Cards
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| 6. | Index Card 3
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| 7. | Index Card 1
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| 8. | Index Card 2
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| 9. | Double Sheet
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| 10. | Gold Triptych
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| 11. | Gold Drop 1
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Jazz / Avant-Garde, Post-Bop, Free Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz
Joe Morris - guitar
John Voigt - bass, Liner Notes
Tom Plsek - trombone
Cover Art and Design by Anne Marcotty
Guitarist Joe Morris, bassist John Voigt, and trombonist Tom Plesk, all long time associates of the late, legendary, Boston-based, multi-instrumentalist, biochemist, and composer Lowell Skinner Davidson here perform their interpretations of his graphic compositions. This is beautiful and challenging music from scores created by one of the most idiosyncratic figures in the history of Jazz.
From the liner notes by Joe Morris:
In the history of music and particularly in African-American music Lowell Skinner Davidson, pianist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, scientist, musical visionary, is unique. Among his many references Lowell used his background as a biochemist (at Harvard) to describe his approach to music. He often declared that new sounds had the capacity to re-formulate the biochemistry of the brain. He made only one commercial recording (Lowell Davidson Trio ESPdisk 1965) but left dozens of tapes of his post-1965 music - vital work that is mostly lost. He also left behind hundreds of scores made in the 1980's, many done on 3x5 index cards. We used a few of these to make this recording. You can't read them like regular music, hence the "graphic" in the title. They offer the player a specific guide toward randomness and imagination, a requirement that they be read as regular notation, but that the results find a balance between melodic line and pure sound. Those results occurred in all of LSD's music. Based on our collective years of experience working with Lowell we did our best to honor the compositions with our own interpretations.
In the history of music, particularly African-American music, Lowell Skinner Davidson is unique. Among his many references, Davidson used his background as a biochemist to describe his approach to music. He made only one commercial recording (on ESP-Disk'), but left dozens of tapes of his post-1965 music--vital work that is mostly lost. He also left behind hundreds of scores made in the 1980s, many done on 3x5 index cards. They cannot be read like regular music; instead, they offer the player a specific guide toward randomness and imagination--a requirement that they be read as regular notation, but that the results find a balance between melodic line and pure sound. Based on their collective years of experience working with Davidson, Joe Morris, John Voigt, and Tom Plesk do their best to honor his compositions with their interpretations.
First things first: this is not jazz. Pianist/composer Lowell Davidson recorded one CD during his lifetime, on the legendary New York label ESP-Disk, and he worked with Ornette Coleman in the '60s, but he eventually abandoned even the most avant-garde precincts of jazz, developing a highly individual musical idiom with the help of some likeminded (and open-minded) collaborators in his Boston home. Three of those latter-day kindred spirits -- guitarist Joe Morris, bassist John Voigt, and trombonist Tom Plsek -- delve into the stacks of previously unrecorded Davidson compositions, many of which employ abstract graphic notation rather than traditional notes on staves, on this CD. The results are stark, non-traditionally melodic, yet at times utterly captivating. Voigt never creates a 4/4, swinging groove, but his plucking does suggest form rather than mere exploration of the instrument's possibilities as a sound source. Morris adopts several modes of attack, from Derek Bailey-esque scrapes and pings to an almost Django Reinhardt-like fast picking style, and on certain tracks he seems to be bowing the strings. Plsek may be the player who goes farthest out, sputtering and dribbling smeared notes from the bell of his horn like a cross between Albert Mangelsdorff and trumpeter Bill Dixon. The absence of a rhythm instrument gives this music a chamber-ish feel, so it could potentially appeal just as much to fans of Elliott Carter as to longtime Morris (or Jimmy Giuffre) listeners. Never mind the historical significance of Davidson and these scores, which would have likely remained lost had it not been for his former student/collaborators' wish to preserve his legacy (Riti is Morris' label); MVP LSD comes highly, highly recommended on grounds of pure beauty. ~ Phil Freeman, All Music Guide
Joe Morris
Active Decades: '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Sep 13, 1955 in New Haven, CT
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde, Post-Bop, Free Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz
Joe Morris is an uncompromisingly original guitarist following in the tradition of other free-jazz guitar, conceptual innovators like Derek Bailey, Sonny Sharrock, Eugene Chadbourne, and James Ulmer. However, Mr. Morris has developed his own, unique approach to guitar playing, composition, and improvisation which is unlike his peers. He usually incorporates a clean tone of the be-bop lineage for his single-note driven improvisations. His recordings are widely eclectic ranging from solo performances, traditional acoustic settings, and fusion dates to various groups with interesting instrumentation Mr. Morris spent his formative years in New Haven, Connecticut where he taught himself the guitar and immersed himself in a variety of progressive musical styles. He spent numerous weekends attending free symphonic productions at nearby Yale University which included performances of artists as diverse as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Charles Ives, and Duke Ellington. Attention to local AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) members Leo Smith and George Lewis and a world-music radio show presented by percussionist Gerry Hemmingway also helped Mr. Morris develop his wide musical pallette. In 1975, Mr. Morris moved to Boston where his unique approach was not initially accepted in the then-prevalent, modal-jazz scene. Despite this temporary setback, and some time spent playing guitar in Europe, he developed a pivotal, collaborative relationship with multi-instrumentalist Lowell Davidson whose unique sound explorations inspired Mr. Morris to further develop his own original approach to music making. In 1981 Mr. Morris began his own label, Riti Records (named after an African, single-stringed folk-instrument), to document his prolific musical output. During the 90's he became, arguably, the most widely heralded free-jazz guitarist in jazz while recording with many avant garde luminaries. Mr. Morris became the first guitarist to lead a recording session for the prestigious Black Saint/ Soul Note records with 1994's Symbolic Gesture, and he has continued to record extensively for many outstanding labels such as ECM, Hat Hut, Leo, Incus, Okka Disk, Homestead, About Time, Knitting Factory Works, No More Records, AUM Fidelity, and Omnitone. Also, Mr. Morris has given lectures and workshops for Harvard University, New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and other European universities. Joe Morris recordings can currently be obtained through Cadence/ North Country Distribution or his website at www.joe-morris.com.
---Wilson McCLoy, All Music Guide |
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