David Murray

I met Butch when I was 17, in Pomona California. I was about to go to college. I think that he had been in the service and had come back. At that time he was playing the cornet. Not sure that he was conducting yet. We played together several times but my career was largely separate from his.


When he started conducting it opened up a new world for him. He really got his presence in the music through conducting. He used a lot of different hand signals. It was a very creative way of treating big band music. He would take a riff out of a solo and make the band play it. He would lift out a certain rhythm, designate certain notes to players, etc. It all went on in the air, he made an arrangement there, and he kept the music fresh.

 

Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris' "Conduction No 192 Possible Universe" at Sant'Anna Arresi Jazz Festival 2010

 


Sant'Anna Arresi Jazz Festival has released (2015) a limited edition (1000 copies) recording of the performance ''Possible Universe conducition 192 August 29th 2010'' by Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, featuring David Murray, Evan Parker, Pasquale Innarella, Greg Ward, Joe Bowie, Tony Cattano, Meg Montgomery, Riccardo Pittau, Jean-Paul Bourelly, On Ka'a Davis, Harrison Bankhead, Silvia Bolognesi, Chad Taylor, Hamid Drake and Alan Silva.


'Possible Universe' at Sant'Anna Arresi Jazz Festival

'Possible Universe' at Sant'Anna Arresi Jazz Festival


Find out more about David Murray HERE.
Find out more about Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, February 10, 1947 - January 29, 2013, HERE.