| A Cloud of Black Birds | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1998 | |||
| Recorded | June 26, 1998 | |||
| Studio | PBS Studios, Westwood, MA | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 57:15 | |||
| Label | AUM Fidelity | |||
| Producer | Joe Morris, Steven Joerg | |||
| Joe Morris chronology | ||||
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A Cloud of Black Birds is an album by the American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, recorded in 1998 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. It features a quartet with bassist Chris Lightcap, violinist Mat Maneri and drummer Jerome Deupree. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz |  [3] |
In his review for AllMusic, David R. Adler states: "The music is intense and challenging, but it has a certain airiness." [2] The Penguin Guide to Jazz thought that the "reunion with Maneri sparks off a lot of shared experience, and their interaction, notably on the duo 'Renascent', is close, intelligent and thoroughly sympathetic." [3]
The JazzTimes review by Harvey Pekar noted: "Morris' solos have an angular quality. He plays both flurries of notes and spare phrases during which he's thinking from interval to interval, trying to make the shape of his lines as distinctive as possible." [4]
Whit Dickey is a free jazz drummer. He has recorded albums with David S. Ware and Matthew Shipp.
Joseph Gabriel Esther Maneri, was an American jazz composer, saxophone and clarinet player. Violinist Mat Maneri is his son.
Mat Maneri is an American composer, violin, and viola player. He is the son of the saxophonist Joe Maneri and Sonja Maneri.
Joseph Francis Michael Morris is an American jazz guitarist, bassist, composer, and educator.
AUM Fidelity is an independent record label in New York City primarily devoted to avant-garde jazz artists such as William Parker, Matthew Shipp, and David S. Ware. It has also released recordings by improvisational rock band Shrimp Boat and exclusively distributes the CaseQuarter and Riti labels. It was founded in 1997 by former Homestead Records label manager Steven Joerg.
Gerald Cleaver is a jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan.
Trinity is a solo album by American composer, improviser and jazz violin and viola player Mat Maneri recorded in 1999 and released on the ECM label.
Three Men Walking is an album by American composer, composer, saxophone and clarinet player Joe Maneri with guitarist Joe Morris and violinist Mat Maneri recorded in 1995 and released on the ECM label.
Elsewhere is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris which was recorded in 1996 and released on Homestead. The Joe Morris Ensemble features pianist Matthew Shipp's regular trio with bassist William Parker and drummer Whit Dickey. Morris and Shipp played together once with violinist Mat Maneri in Boston four or five years before.
You Be Me is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris which was recorded in 1995 and released on the Italian Soul Note label. For this record, Morris expanded to a quartet consisting of the trio with whom he recorded Symbolic Gesture, with the addition of violinist Mat Maneri.
Transonic is the debut album by American jazz drummer Whit Dickey, which was recorded in 1997 and released on AUM Fidelity. For his first record as leader, Dickey went into the studio with long-time associate, saxophonist Rob Brown, and then relative newcomer to the scene, bassist Chris Lightcap. He notes that many of the cuts were inspired by two Thelonious Monk compositions, "Off Minor" & "Criss Cross", along with the magic of tenor saxophonist David S. Ware.
Big Top is the second album by American jazz drummer Whit Dickey, which was recorded in 1999 and released on Wobbly Rail, a short-lived imprint started by Merge Records/Superchunk principal Mac McCaughan. For this record, Dickey expanded to a quartet consisting of the trio with whom he recorded Transonic, with the addition of guitarist Joe Morris. They played Eric Dolphy composition "The Prophet", from the album At the Five Spot, and Thelonious Monk's "Skippy".
Antennae is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, which was recorded in 1997 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. It features a trio with Jerome Deupree, who was the original drummer in the rock band Morphine and played with Morris on some of his early Riti albums, and bassist Nate McBride. The pieces on Antennae took their inspiration from a collection of visual graphic aids created by Lowell Davidson, a pianist with whom Morris worked fairly extensively before his death in 1990.
Underthru is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris which was recorded in 1999 and released on OmniTone. In addition to Morris, the quartet for this album features violinist Mat Maneri, bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Gerald Cleaver.
At the Old Office is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris which was recorded live in 1999 and released on the Knitting Factory label. The record features his quartet with violinist Mat Maneri, bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Gerald Cleaver, the same lineup as the previous studio album Underthru.
Life Cycle is an album by American jazz drummer Whit Dickey recorded in 2000 and released on the Aum Fidelity label. Dickey leads the Nommonsemble, which includes Rob Brown on alto sax and flute, Mat Maneri on viola and Matthew Shipp on piano.
Balance is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris which was recorded in 2013 and released on the Portuguese Clean Feed label. It was the return of the quartet with violinist Mat Maneri, bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Gerald Cleaver, the same lineup that recorded in the 90s Underthru and At the Old Office.
Soul Search is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris featuring a duo with violinist Mat Maneri, which was recorded in 1999 and released on the AUM Fidelity label.
Lift & Poise, subtitled 12 Improvised Movements, is an album by jazz pianist Pandelis Karayorgis and violinist Mat Maneri, which was recorded between 1996 and 1997 and released on Leo Lab, a sublabel of Leo Records. Karayorgis and Maneri play duo and solo free improvisations, as well as trio improvisations with Joe Maneri on clarinet and John Lockwood on bass. The leaders' two solo pieces take their names from the American painter Cy Twombly and a detail of one of his paintings is on the album's cover.
Vessel in Orbit is an album by American jazz drummer Whit Dickey, Mat Maneri, and Matthew Shipp recorded in 2016 and released on the Aum Fidelity label. The recording presents a new trio with violist Mat Maneri and pianist Matthew Shipp, who were both part of the quartet, along with saxophonist Rob Brown, for 2001 Dickey's album Life Cycle.