Morris, Joe - Beautiful Existence
SKU
CLEANFEEDCF050
Personel: Jim Hobbs (as), Joe Morris (g), Luther Gray (d), Timo Shanko (b)
"We were affraid that Joe Morris didn’t make up with his guitar, but fortunately “Beautiful Existence” show us that peace is restaured. Morris may be a good double bassist (even if he only started playing it five years ago!), but with the guitar he’s much more than good, he’s an original, aplying techniques coming from the more filigree Delta blues to free bop. Between the two orientations is obvious that everybody wanted the return of the finger-picking improviser. Anyhow, even when playing the six-strings Morris acts with the bass in mind, and that’s the reason why he choose young Timo Shanko for his new quartet – this is a wonderful musician that knows perfectly how to interact with the band leader. Everything goes around the axis formed by the electric guitar and the bass violin, sometimes even seeming there’s just one instrument. They function almost by telepathy. The drums of Luther Gray are on one side, keeping things vibrant with a polyrhythmic attack, and the alto saxophone of Jim Hobbs is on the other, adding density and painting strokes to the pointillistic work provided by the others. Just beautiful, with everyone on their places but knowing how to avoid predictability. Here is what Joe Morris told about his side musicians: “They’re not really interested in a lot of the things that have been going on, which to me makes them more interesting because they’re different.” Check how different..."