Joe Morris (born Joseph Francis Michael Morris, September 13, 1955) is an American jazz guitarist. In addition to leading his own groups, he has recorded with William Parker, Whit Dickey, Rob Brown, Joe Maneri and others. Much of his output has been on his own record label, Riti.
Morris was born in New Haven, Connecticut, United States; an important early mentor and playing partner was the legendary but little-recorded pianist Lowell Davidson. Morris is perhaps the most significant guitarist to play free jazz since Sonny Sharrock. Morris has stated that his flowing single-note technique was inspired more by traditional African musics, and by saxophone players like Eric Dolphy and Jimmy Lyons, than by other guitarists. He does not use distortion or effects, preferring a "clean" sound, but has made occasional use of a serrated pick to "bow" the strings of his guitar, creating an otherworldly, harmonic-rich sound. He also plays banjo and banjo-uke, and in recent years has increasingly focused on playing bass.
Famous quotes containing the words joe and/or morris:
“While we were thus engaged in the twilight, we heard faintly, from far down the stream, what sounded like two strokes of a woodchopper’s axe, echoing dully through the grim solitude.... When we told Joe of this, he exclaimed, “By George, I’ll bet that was a moose! They make a noise like that.” These sounds affected us strangely, and by their very resemblance to a familiar one, where they probably had so different an origin, enhanced the impression of solitude and wildness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo.”
—Desmond Morris (b. 1928)