- THE
WASHINGTON POST
"Listening to the Joe Morris Quartet is astonishing -- because his departure
from syntactic thinking is challenging and yet so, well, pretty. The
music seems alien because it so clearly belongs in the natural world
from which Western man has taken great pains to separate himself. Yet
Morris communicates. If anything, he shows how we retain intuitive links
to the natural world." - Jeff Bagato
VILLAGE
VOICE
"A guitarist who computes the full matrix of influences from jazz to rock,
but mostly jazz, uncovers labyrinths of riffs in the higher frets that
have a mesmerizing ingenuity reminiscent of Ornette at full bore, enigmatic
and compulsively listenable."
- Gary Giddins
PULSE!
July 1999
Boston guitarist Morris sounds like no one else; his stuttering, clipped
manner of articulating notes is decepively expressive as he unravels long
threads of melody, twists them into knots, and then untangles them again,
unbroken. He's found a kindred soul in electric violinist Mat Maneri,
who favors dark instrumental colors and shadowy nuances of phrasing. On
a piece like 'Threshold' they blend together in a heavy curtain of sound
while the rhythm section (bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Jerome Duepree)
flutters freely behind them; elsewhere their scurrying lines interweave
in fluid counterpoint. The music's emphasis on linear development may
derive from bebop and Lennie Tristano, but is cast in gothic gestures
and schizophrenic moods-hear Maneri's sharp, slicing comments and feisty
muttering behind the guitar on "Mesmeric" and the way the duo ventures
boldly into uncharted territory on "Renascent." This is a band of intense
commitment.
4 Stars -Art Lange (plus Top 10 Jazz Records of 1999 in PULSE!)
ATLANTA
JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Grade: A The verdict: One of the guitar's great improvisers shows off
a killer quartet.
If Pat Metheny
is a household name, and Bill Frisell a beloved cult figure, then Boston
guitarist Joe Morris is the genius inventor down the street you never
hear about until one day --- kapow! --- when he figures out how to split
the atom. On his latest album Morris gets mighty close, although his distinctly
personal approach to the instrument rejects high-voltage pyrotechics for
a peculiarly metaphysical kind of fury.
These seven
instrumentals show off not only Morris' intricate patterns of cleanly
articulated notes --- an advance on the lessons of 1960s avant-gardists
such as Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor --- but a vigorously intuitive
quartet whose collective verve radiates an instantaneous joy. That's rarely
more apparent than when violinist Mat Maneri steps forward on the eight-minute
title track, engaging Morris in the kind of conversation musicians can
have only when they share an original language.
-Steve Dollar
YOUR FLESH
"I came late into the game with Joe Morris, but now I am a believer. With
the added violin of Mat Maneri on this recording, Morris' detailed guitar
playing is the perfect complement and foil. The intricate melody lines
that start off "Threshold" are a perfect demonstration of how the two
string players work together. A duet by Morris and Maneri called "Renascent"
underlines the point. There are moments of serpentine complexity that
quickly coalesce into stunning beauty. Joe Morris' rhythm section of Chris
Lightcap and Jerome Deupree support and propel the spring integrally,
their presence is crucial and gives the Quartet the maneuverability it
needs." - Bruce Adams
EXCLAIM!
(Canada)
"Morris and Maneri share systems of thought that manifest themselves as
improvisations of the very highest quality. A Cloud Of Black Birds is
another Joe Morris masterwork -- discover him, uncover him, and your ears
will thank you so very much." - Spike Taylor
NEW YORK
TIMES
"You're as likely to find beauty as agitation in (Morris') melody-to-melody
compositions, and his very physical sense of the guitar can intimate Thelonious
Monk's surprising intervals and purposeful smears." - Ben Ratliff
THE WIRE
January 1999
"Entirely free from histrionics and self-indulgence, A Cloud Of Black
Birds succeeds through sustained collective improvisation. Its radiance
is that of dynamism, not flashiness, creating an integrated musical bio-system,
rather than a facile showcase for self-reflective virtuosity." - Julian
Cowley
POPWATCH
"Their finest moment comes on 'Renascent,' a duo in which they abandon
decorum along with the rhythm section in favor of a free-fall spiral that
ends in a frankly terrifying flutter of kora-derived strums around a door-hinge
fiddle cry. A whole album of these two going for the high dive would be
great, but in the meantime this one flies." - Bill Meyer
MOD Magazine
"Unbelievable. The constancy of your heart beat, and diaphragm vacuuming
air into your blood, are now in question. Can something be super-human?
A Cloud Of Black Birds stirs questions in us. The rumble travels from
horizon to overhead. Trusting, though afraid, you stare skyward. The Quartet
has you. You have The Quartet. Listen. Believe."
- Keith York
OTTAWA
CITIZEN (Canada) December 19, 1999 + CODA
'True emotion shines through' Boston based guitarist Joe Morris strives
for emotional honesty in everything he plays, citing blues pioneer Blind
Lemon Jefferson as a reference. An articulate, straightforward musician
who has developed a distinctive sound, Morris is the product of a troubled
childhood that culminated in his residency at a state school for emotionally
disturbed youth. A Cloud of Black Birds is an attempt to reconcile the
music he makes with the swarms of starlings that distracted him during
those darker days.
Morris's
playing often has the urgency of birds in flight, with his rapidly picked
melody lines darting in unexpected directions, notes tumbling over one
another. Joining him here is fellow Bostonian Mat Maneri, whose quicksilver
violin is currrently one of the most expressive voices in improvised music.
The interplay
between Morris and Maneri is marked by the difference in their tones.
Morris prefers a dry , warm tone-the unaltered sound of his amplified
Gibson Les Paul-while Maneri's sound is acerbic and sometimes grating.
Over the churning rhythm section of drummer Jerome Deupree and bassis
Chris Lightcap, Morris and Maneri spin skeins of notes that dip and soar.
At points, the music resembles an Indian raga in its complexity and organization;
at others, it has the pure, deep emotion of an Ornette Coleman solo.
- James Hale
SOUNDSTONE.COM
::: Guitar Colossus :::
Boston's Joe Morris may be the most distinctive guitarist playing jazz
and A Cloud of Black Birds is one of his best releases. Since the mid-1980s
he's developed a highly personal, clear-toned language, melodic as it
is abstract, built around lengthy, labyrinthine single-note runs which
he masterfully adapts to the demands of each project. His current band
-- violinist Mat Maneri, bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Jerome Deupree
- probe off-kilter freebop; these lyrical tunes swing, but the solo flights
are consistently knotty and freewheeling, pushing the boundaries of raw
expressionism without surrendering the music's rhythmic drive or its sophisticated
melodicism. The album's density requires close attention, but the pay-off
is sumptuous.
- Peter Margasak
COPPER
PRESS
A Cloud of Black Birds is utterly divine, a combination of intense communication,
gorgeous symmetry, and deepminded exploration. With wisdom and confidence
at his back, Morris sets forth on this record with violinist Matt Maneri,
bassist Christ Lightcap and drummer Jerome Deupree in search of an intricate
link, an inexpressible understanding, a thread to bind the seams of their
individual knowledge, improvisational mastery and strong voices, but moreso
to express the potency of self-actualization through recognizing one's
place not only within a group, but within the complex and ever-evolving
sphere of life. What balance one may impact or upset by their within the
delicate framework of human interaction by their (in)actions is open for
interpretation, but it is clear from listening to Morris and to his attunement
to the various musicians who accompany him, Morris believes his place
is to inspire dialogue, to think deeply about his craft and to concentrate
with great effort on fulfilling his commitment to himself and to the music
which he has so admirably dedicated his time. Taking that as a basis from
which to delve into the music of A Cloud of Black Birds, one is drawn
immediately to not only the sonorous voices of four players weaving in
and out amongst and above and beneath each other, but of an overwhelming
desire to create something that when looked upon from a distance, it becomes
apparent the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. In this
nonlinear realm, the Quartet create a harmony from Morris' varied textures
and clean-picked notes and Maneri's droning, peeling and oftentimes rollicking
violin playing. Of particular interest is Morris' usage of his fingers
across the strings, not plucking or picking them but creating these hovering,
tense waggles of harmonics and potboiling sensations that brilliantly
build with Maneri's rich tones into a sustained wail or a quiet roar.
On most of the seven pieces, however, Morris works the frets to mind-numbing
success, either tapping quiet intervals and melodies behind Maneri or
racing out in front, his mind and fingers on a mission. Deupree's drum
solo that opens "Radiant Flux" is a quick and lively spat that sets the
rest of the quartet on a roll they effortlessly sustain throughout the
entire 9:52. Lightcap's various solos are of bristling forearm and supple
oak. The structured aspects of the pieces emerge and expand exquisitely,
with Morris and Maneri amending their opening melody lines with direction
and an ambitious desire to explore every crevice of that melody. Therefore,
a structure exists from which the listener can reference the ever-deepening
channels of thought the players are pursuing, keeping even the most nubile
of attendants from feeling too overwhelmed. Sonically, with no wind instruments,
the record is not loud, per se, which should make this an appealing choice
for those interested in listening to Morris or free jazz for the first
time. I urge you to take a chance on this record. You won't help but be
amazed, both at the beauty of the pieces and at the intensity at which
they're played. Who knows, you may even learn a thing or two about yourself
and if you like you like I think you do, a little introspection might
be a lot of fun. -STEVE BRYDGES
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