(slightly corrected version)<\/p>\n
Conductor of improvisation Lawrence Douglas “Butch” Morris is an East Village charmer, now-too-infrequent cornetist and internationally-known instigator of large ensemble music made spontaneously in real time by free-from-convention individuals. During a radio interview<\/a> for the NPR show News & Notes, Butch identifies himself as a jazz musician not by superficial “style” but by inherent lineage, values, procedures and preferences.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the recent Portland Jazz Festival panel on “the shape of jazz to come,”Tim Berne<\/a> and Cuong Vu<\/a> — both estimable musicians — rejected the term “jazz” as a restrictive label that turns off young audiences. They would prefer to have their music go without a name, except maybe “Tim Berne music” and “Cuong Vu music.” For more than 50 years, other modernist improvisers have made similar objections to the “jazz” word. But other<\/i> musicians, including Butch Morris, matter of factly claim “jazz” as representing an art form that focuses on change — including experimentation, exploration and expansion — while honoring continuity. <\/p>\n “I’m a jazz musician — I know what I am,” Morris tells program host Farai Chideya in the NPR show. “Whether the music you think I’m playing or professing is jazz or not is kinda not my problem. I’m a jazz musician and this is what I do. I do conduction. It doesn’t matter whether I do it with classical musicans or jazz musicians or traditional Japanese instruments, Korean instruments, Turkish instruments, it doesn’t matter. This is what I do. Work with funk musicians, pop musicians, it doesn’t matter. I’m still showing everybody same sign.” Those “signs” — hand signals — convey instructions to repeat, hold, return, etc., but not specific pitches or beats; those are chosen by the players themselves.<\/p>\n Butch Morris got his initial inspiration to develop large group improvisation in big band rehearsals led in Oakland by the late great drummer Charles Moffett<\/a>. He came East from California in the late ’70s with his friend saxophonist David Murray<\/a>, with whom he wrote songs for Murray’s mid ’80s breakthrough Octet. He conducted Murray’s big band — but made his first major recorded statement with the very serious, anti-genre album Current Trends In Racism In Modern America<\/i>, which featured an ensemble (including John Zorn<\/a>) that he conducted in concert at the old Broome Street location of the Kitchen Center for Video, Music, Dance, Performance and Video<\/a>. He’s worked with ensembles around the world, written up his thesis, racked up 5-star reviews for his recordings, and next is leading the unclassifiable but ultra hip NuBlu Orchestra<\/a> at NuBlu bar\/lounge, 62 Ave. C in Manhattan, March 5 – 8.<\/p>\n Another of Butch Morris’s radical ideas: he thinks institutions dealing with black studies and black American music should “get hip to everything that’s not on the radio, rather than what is<\/i> on the radio.” You mean there’s music that’s not on the radio? And not on itunes either???<\/p>\n howardmandel.com<\/a> (slightly corrected version) Conductor of improvisation Lawrence Douglas “Butch” Morris is an East Village charmer, now-too-infrequent cornetist and internationally-known instigator of large ensemble music made spontaneously in real time by free-from-convention individuals. During a radio interview for the NPR show News & Notes, Butch identifies himself as a jazz musician not by superficial “style” but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-76","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-1e","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":77,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/03\/flattered_and_bemused.html","url_meta":{"origin":76,"position":0},"title":"flattered and bemused","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"March 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The resident blogger is flattered that so many readers stick up for the rights of reviewers to do what they do. He's also amused at one reader's suggestion that John Zorn regards professional opinions so highly he'd prefer to suppress them. There may be no upside to well-known composer\/performers suffering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2215,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2017\/04\/butch-morriss-workbook-for-spontaneous-composition-published.html","url_meta":{"origin":76,"position":1},"title":"Butch Morris’s workbook for spontaneous composition published","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The deathbed wish of composer-cornetist Lawrence Douglas \"Butch\" Morris (1947-2013) was that his detailed documentation of Conduction\u00c2\u00ae, the method he devised to enable\u00c2\u00a0spontaneous composition for ensembles of literally any type employing codified hand-signals, be published in hardcover. This has come to pass. On April 24 and May 1, events in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"\"The Original LA Dawgs\" \"Current Trends in Racism in Modern America\"","block_context":{"text":"\"The Original LA Dawgs\" \"Current Trends in Racism in Modern America","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/tag\/the-original-la-dawgs-current-trends-in-racism-in-modern-america"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/book-ButchMorris_Cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/book-ButchMorris_Cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/book-ButchMorris_Cover.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/book-ButchMorris_Cover.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1225,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/02\/dr-donald-byrd-rip-jayne-cortez-memorial-photos.html","url_meta":{"origin":76,"position":2},"title":"Dr. Donald Byrd, RIP; Jayne Cortez memorial photos","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"February 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Donald Byrd was a trumpeter with an ear for the vernacular and fresh talent.\u00c2\u00a0Jayne Cortez was a radical poet -- both esthetically and personally. Butch Morris was a jazz cornetist, composer, conductor and\u00c2\u00a0conductioner. Let's celebrate the lives and creativity of all three. Strangely,\u00c2\u00a0reports by a nephew of Byrd's death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"Singer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Singer-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":68,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/02\/more_from_portland.html","url_meta":{"origin":76,"position":3},"title":"More from Portland","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"February 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Five unusually sunny days and a sumptuous solo performance by Cecil Taylor before at least 2000 absorbed listeners marked the first weekend of the fourth annual Portland Jazz Festival. Deconstructions by musicians and critics of the words \"swing,\" \"jazz,\" \"sound\" and \"music\" demonstrated this was a high ol' time. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1208,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/02\/current-trends-in-racism-in-modern-america-a-work-in-progress-by-butch-morris.html","url_meta":{"origin":76,"position":4},"title":"Current Trends in Racism in Modern America, A Work in Progress by Butch Morris","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"February 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My maybe unpublished 25th anniversary liner notes for Conduction #1, Current Trends in Racism in Modern America, A Work in Progress, by the late Butch Morris with all-star improvisers, recorded 28 years ago today (Feb 1, 2013) and sonically as relevant as ever.\u00c2\u00a0 [The cast is: Frank Lowe, tenor sax;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"big current trends","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/big-current-trends.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1202,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/01\/butch-morris-musical-artist-and-friend-mourned-widely.html","url_meta":{"origin":76,"position":5},"title":"Butch Morris, musical artist and friend, mourned widely","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Lawrence Douglas \"Butch\" Morris, one of the most brilliant and musically generous of artists who emerged from New York's East Village in the 1980s as an experimental cornetist, composer of melodies and settings, and instigator of the burgeoning act of Conduction (a term he copyrighted), died January 29 of cancer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"poster_italy_actual size","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/poster_italy_actual-size-208x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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