AprilCadence2013

JOE MORRIS
QUARTET,
GRAFFITI IN TWO
PARTS,
ROGUE ART 39
GRAFFITI - PART I / GRAFFITI
- PART II / TAG. 69:59.
Joe Morris (g, banjouke),
Lowell Davidson (d,
aluminum b), Malcolm
Goldstein (vln), Lawrence D.
“Butch” Morris (cnt). May 11,
1985, Cambridge, MA.
New Issues
146 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013
O ne of the earliest examples of Morris on record, we
find the guitarist/bassist here as part of a dazzlingly
exploratory quartet with his improvisational mentor
Lowell Davidson, the late great Butch Morris, and the
criminally under-recorded violinist Goldstein. The long
suite begins small and flinty, with Morris on banjouke
and his delicate plectrism contrasting suggestively with
Davidson's thuds in a way that somehow recalls Rogers
Smith and Turner to me. Goldstein slashes away while
Morris waits for the right moment to trace an emphatic
shape into the texture of this music. The sound is balanced
between such small gestures and big shapes in
the sky, with Davidson's percussive voice the strongest
here, as strings toil away, while Morris (represented the
least fairly by the dodgy fidelity here) uses mutes to
create spare but really effective commentary. While the
long piece inevitably ranges a bit here and there, there
are nice moments abounding: Davidson's all-sorts kit
contrasts low bouncing sounds with bronzy trashcan
cymbals, as long elegant cornet lines range on top,
against shifting bed of scuttling insect strings; a long
passage that merges a mewling, vaguely spectral drone
with an industrial-organic grinding sound; or lyrical cornet
and banjouke amid soft clouds of metal. Best of all is
a lovely section deep in the second part where it sounds
like gagaku court music, filled with strings like chimes
and zithers, as Morris's valving creates an effect that's
vocalic, like a recitation or something, before the piece
moves into tart, pinched groans and a sudden spasm of
noise. Not just valuable for historic purposes, this is fine
music.
Jason Bivins