Antennae (album)

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Antennae
Antennae Morris Cover.jpeg
Studio album by
Released1997
RecordedJuly 5 & 6, 1997
StudioThe Outpost, Stoughton, MA
Genre Jazz
Length73:59
Label AUM Fidelity
Producer Joe Morris, Steven Joerg
Joe Morris chronology
Invisible Weave
(1997)
Antennae
(1997)
Racket Club
(1998)

Antennae is an album by the American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, 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. [1]

Contents

Regarding the track titled "Stare Into a Lightbulb for Three Years," Morris stated that, given Davidson's background as a biochemist, "I figured he was always trying to reconstitute the biochemistry of his brain. The story of him staring into a lightbulb for three years is something he actually did. This chrome painted lightbulb, with little dots on a piece of aluminum foil, he stared into it so that the shapes, as he said, would burn into his synapses." [2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
DownBeat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz states: "The tracks on Antennae are among the most intense Morris has produced. He seems more inclined to dwell on notes and to explore the light and shade that gather between attack and delay." [5] The DownBeat review by John Corbett thought that "Antennae is a rich trio outing from Morris, who continues to stretch jazz guitar into strange, beautiful new shapes." [4]

Track listing

All compositions by Joe Morris
  1. "Synapse" – 8:17
  2. "Antennae" – 13:21
  3. "Silent Treatment" – 7:35
  4. "Stare Into a Lightbulb for Three Years" – 13:30
  5. "Human Pyramid" – 9:22
  6. "Elevator" – 15:09
  7. "Virtual Whatever" – 6:45

Personnel

Related Research Articles

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.

Lowell Davidson was a jazz pianist and biochemist from Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for his "sensible and free flowing approach to unconventional linear improvisation", but appeared on only a handful of commercially-available recordings. Davidson also played bass, percussion, organ, electronic keyboards, and reed instruments.

<i>Youniverse</i> (Rob Brown album) 1992 studio album by Rob Brown

Youniverse is an album by American jazz saxophonist Rob Brown recorded in 1992 and released on the Riti label, operated by free jazz musician and composer Joe Morris. It features a trio with Morris on guitar and Whit Dickey on drums playing six Brown compositions and two collective improvisations. The same lineup would be named Trio Ahxoloxha when they released the album Prophet Moon a decade later under the leadership of Dickey.

<i>Symbolic Gesture</i> 1994 studio album by Joe Morris

Symbolic Gesture is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, which was recorded in 1993 and released on the Italian Soul Note label. It features his trio with bassist Nate McBride and drummer Curt Newton. After four records on his own Riti label, this was his debut on another imprint and the first guitarist-led album in the twenty-year history of Black Saint/Soul Note.

<i>You Be Me</i> 1997 studio album by Joe Morris

You Be Me is an album by the American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, recorded in 1995 and released on the Italian Soul Note label. For the record, Morris expanded to a quartet consisting of the trio with whom he recorded Symbolic Gesture, with the addition of violinist Mat Maneri.

<i>Big Top</i> (album) 2000 studio album by Whit Dickey

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".

<i>Sunrise in the Tone World</i> 1997 live album by William Parker

Sunrise in the Tone World is an album by American jazz double bassist William Parker, which was recorded live in 1995 and released on the AUM Fidelity label.

<i>A Cloud of Black Birds</i> 1998 studio album by Joe Morris

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.

<i>Prophet Moon</i> 2002 live album by Whit Dickey

Prophet Moon is an album by American jazz drummer Whit Dickey recorded live in 2002 at the New York club Roulette and released on the Riti label, operated by free jazz musician Joe Morris. Dickey leads Trio Ahxoloxha, which includes Morris on guitar and Rob Brown on alto sax. The same lineup was originally an ensemble organized by Brown to record the CD Youniverse a decade before and has at various times been led by Morris as well.

<i>Altitude</i> (Joe Morris album) 2012 live album by Joe Morris

Altitude is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris which was recorded live in 2011 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. It documents the first time performance by Morris, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver as a trio during a two-week of dates curated at John Zorn's club The Stone by label owner Steven Joerg. For the second set, excerpted in the final two cuts of the album, Parker played sintir, the Moroccan bass lute, instead of upright bass. All the tracks are collective and completely improvised.

<i>Wildlife</i> (Joe Morris album) 2009 studio album by Joe Morris

Wildlife is an album by American jazz musician Joe Morris, which was recorded in 2008 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. It was the debut recording by a new group featuring saxophonist Petr Cancura and drummer Luther Gray. Morris plays bass instead of guitar.

<i>Traits</i> (Joe Morris album) 2011 studio album by Joe Morris

Traits is an album by American jazz musician Joe Morris, which was recorded in 2010 and released on his own Riti label. It was the second recording by his group Wildlife, expanded to a quartet consisting of the trio with whom he recorded the eponymous debut album, with the addition of alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs.

<i>Colorfield</i> (album) 2009 studio album by Joe Morris

Colorfield is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, which was recorded in 2009 and released on the ESP-Disk label. He leads a trio with pianist Steve Lantner, in his first recording with Morris as leader, and long-time collaborator drummer Luther Gray. The music is inspired, in part, by the Color Field school of painting, in which large patches of color, occasionally just one color, make up the composition. Another inspiration for the music is the early Cecil Taylor Unit recordings with Jimmy Lyons on alto saxophone and either Sunny Murray or Andrew Cyrille on drums.

<i>Age of Everything</i> 2002 studio album by Joe Morris

Age of Everything is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, which was recorded in 2002 and released on his own Riti label. He leads a new trio with bassist Timo Shanko and drummer Luther Gray.

<i>Soul Search</i> 2000 studio album by Joe Morris

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.

<i>Singularity</i> (Joe Morris album) 2001 studio album by Joe Morris

Singularity is a solo album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, which was recorded in 2000 and released on the AUM Fidelity label.

<i>Racket Club</i> (album) 1998 studio album by Joe Morris

Racket Club is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, which was recorded in 1993 and released on the About Time label. It was the second part of what Morris calls "Big Loud Electric Guitar" experiments, that started with Sweatshop.

<i>Sweatshop</i> (album) 1990 studio album / Live album by Joe Morris

Sweatshop is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris released in 1990 on his own Riti label. It features a trio with Jerome Deupree, who was the original drummer in the rock band Morphine, and bassist Sebastian Steinberg. It was the first part of what Morris calls "Big Loud Electric Guitar" experiments, a mix of funk, rock, noise and collective improvisation.

<i>Flip and Spike</i> 1992 studio album / Live album by Joe Morris

Flip and Spike is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris released in 1992 on his own Riti label. It features a trio with Jerome Deupree, who was the original drummer in the rock band Morphine, and bassist Sebastian Steinberg.

References

  1. Antennae at AUM Fidelity
  2. Weiss, Jason (2012). Always in Trouble: An Oral History of ESP-Disk, the Most Outrageous Record Label in America. Wesleyan University Press. p. 215.
  3. Ankeny, Jason. Joe Morris – Antennae: Review at AllMusic. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Corbett, John. Antennae review. DownBeat March 98: page 46. Print.
  5. 1 2 Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (6th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 1070. ISBN   0140515216.