Butch Morris


Butch Morris (cornet, violin), Frank Lowe (tenor) | Century City Playhouse, Los Angeles, July 2, 1976 |Photo by Mark Weber

THE ELITE SYNCOPATIONS JAZZ RADIO SHOW

February 16, 2o12 – 83 minutes of jazz @ Noon every Thursday – Host MARK WEBER – KUNM Albuquerque, USA – 89.9 FM (Mountain Standard Time) also streaming on the web > KUNM.org – Current time zone offset: UTC*/GMT -6hours (*Coordinated Universal Time)/Greenwich Mean Time)

Today we feature the music of Butch Morris. It was during the 1970s that Butch first started thinking about how to utilize and contour the then-current practice of long freewheeling solos in the Out Jazz realm. His ideas coalesced into what has become known as Conduction, a system of hand signals that the conductor uses like a paint brush to shape a spontaneous music performance into a manifestation greater than all the parts.

And we’ll have an inside look into Maestro Morris’s ways and means via J.A. Deane who will be in-studio with us to explain the concepts of conduction — Dino has worked with Butch since the mid-1980s through possibly fifty-plus performances inside China, Turkey, USA, France, Spain, NYC, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and Albuquerque.

Butch Morris (cornet, violin), Frank Lowe (tenor) |Century City Playhouse, Los Angeles, July 2, 1976 | Photos by Mark Weber

8 Comments

  1. Richard Tabnik

    Looking forward to this show! I saw the band live once; it was an amazing scene!

  2. Mark Weber

    Regarding that photograph of Butch and the violin. When I showed that picture to Butch about ten years ago he said he couldn’t even remember playing the violin. Which was his way of saying that he had picked it up merely for that concert and was using it as a sound making device. I don’t know if Butch ever took lessons on violin when he was a child.

    It was a very 70s thing to play “little instruments” and other assorted things — as the mighty Art Ensemble of Chicago brought forth in a great big way. Hence, Butch and the violin.

    Cornet was his main axe, before he put it away to concentrate solely on conduction.

  3. Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris

    Hey Mark,
    I hope all is well.
    BIG THANKS to you and Dino… give him a BIG BIRTHDAY KISS from the world of music lovers today…
    EXTRA SPEED TO YOUR GOALS IN THE VERY BEST OF HEALTH

    Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris

    http://www.conduction.us
    http://butchmorris.downloadsnow.net/
    http://vimeo.com/channels/conduction
    http://youtube.com/conductionus

  4. Bill Payne

    Hi Mark!!!!

    Fanastic show today…really interesting.

    Bill

  5. BUTCH MORRIS

    I am up to CONDUCTION® 199

  6. BUTCH MORRIS

    The largest ensemble I conducted was CONDUCTION® No. 125, LOL LOVE
    Lollove, Sardegna, Italy, 5 September 2002
    86 Musicians

  7. Chris Martin

    I caught bits and pieces of your show yesterday. One thing nearly brought tears to my eyes. You guys were talking about virtuosity. J.A. Deane said, “there’s different types of virtuosity. There are those people who are technical virtuosos, every note perfect [i paraphrase, I’m sure…].” Then he said, “then there are those who can touch your heart with one note.” again, probably an inaccurate quote, but one full of the idea.

    That one comment touched me in a viscerally joyful way. I wish I could express that clearly. But it, um… touched a note in me.

    Wish I’d been able to hear more.

    Chris

    “Cats will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no cats.”

  8. Mark Weber

    Sad to hear that Butch got away from us yesterday morning, an incredibly interesting person, the world is a few degrees less amazing with him now gone

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