High Definition (Joe Morris album)

Last updated
High Definition
High definition Morris cover.jpeg
Studio album by Joe Morris
Released 2008
Recorded December 15, 2007
Studio Firehouse 12, New Haven
Genre Jazz
Length53:25
Label hatOLOGY
Producer Joe Morris
Joe Morris chronology
Rebus
(2007) Rebus2007
High Definition
(2008)
Elm City Duets
(2008)Elm City Duets2008

High Definition is an album by American jazz musician Joe Morris which was recorded in 2007 and released on the Swiss hatOLOGY label. Morris plays double bass instead of guitar. It was the debut recording by his Bass Quartet featuring trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, saxophonist Allan Chase and drummer Luther Gray. Chase played previously with the rhythm section composed of Morris and Gray on pianist Steve Lantner's quartet. [1]

Joseph Francis Michael Morris is an American jazz guitarist, bassist, composer, and educator.

Hathut Records is a Swiss record company and label founded by Werner Xavier Uehlinger in 1974 that specializes in jazz and classical music. The name of the label comes from the artwork of Klaus Baumgartner. Huthut encompasses the labels hat ART, hatOLOGY, and hat NOIR.

Taylor Ho Bynum American musician

Taylor Ho Bynum is a musician, composer, educator and writer. His main instrument is the cornet, but he also plays numerous similar instruments, including flugelhorn and trumpet.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Down Beat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

The All About Jazz review by Glenn Astarita states "With the undeniably synergistic interplay of the ensemble, Morris pursues a striking balance between ultra-modern mainstream, and avant-garde tinged progressive jazz." [3]

<i>All About Jazz</i> comprehensive American website for jazz enthusiasts and professionals, based in Philadelphia

All About Jazz is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, Jazz Near You, about local concerts and events.

In his review for The New York Times , Ben Ratliff notes that "High Definition is more traditional than most of Mr. Morris's albums, and not only because it recalls 50-year-old sources. It's also because Mr. Morris is more conventional as a bass player than he is as a guitarist." [4]

<i>The New York Times</i> Daily broadsheet newspaper based in New York City

The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. Founded in 1851, the paper has won 125 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. The Times is ranked 17th in the world by circulation and 2nd in the U.S.

The Down Beat review by Peter Margasak says that "the real accomplishment on High Definition is how Morris fits invisibly in the group flow, particularly with drummer Luther Gray. Together, they mete out an imperturbable pulse." [2]

Track listing

All compositions by Joe Morris
  1. "Skeleton" – 8:21
  2. "Morning Group" – 8:22
  3. "Land Mass" – 7:50
  4. "Topics" – 6:53
  5. "Bearing" – 4:31
  6. "All-In_One" – 8:13
  7. "Super Spot" – 3:51
  8. "The Air Has Color" – 5:18

Personnel

Cornet musical instrument

The cornet is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a soprano cornet in E and a cornet in C. All are unrelated to the renaissance and early baroque cornett.

Trumpet musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family

A trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the instruments with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BC; they began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through nearly-closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century they have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape.

Flugelhorn Brass musical instrument

The flugelhorn is a brass instrument that is usually pitched in B but occasionally found in C. It resembles a trumpet, and the tube has the same length but a wider, conical bore. A type of valved bugle, the flugelhorn was developed in Germany from a traditional English valveless bugle, with the first version sold by Heinrich Stölzel in Berlin in 1828. The valved bugle provided Adolphe Sax with the inspiration for his B soprano (contralto) saxhorns, on which the modern-day flugelhorn is modeled.

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References

  1. High Definition at HatHut
  2. 1 2 Margasak, Peter. High Definition review. Down Beat May 09: page 86. Print.
  3. Astarita, Glenn. High Definition review at All About Jazz
  4. Ratliff, Ben. High Definition review at The New York Times