A Cloud of Black Birds

A Cloud of Black Birds
Studio album by
Joe Morris
Released1998
RecordedJune 26, 1998
StudioPBS Studios, Westwood, MA
GenreJazz
Length57:15
LabelAUM Fidelity
ProducerJoe Morris, Steven Joerg
Joe Morris chronology
Like Rays
(1998) 		A Cloud of Black Birds
(1998) 		Deep Telling
(1999)

A Cloud of Black Birds is an album by the American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, recorded in 1998 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. It features a quartet with bassist Chris Lightcap, violinist Mat Maneri and drummer Jerome Deupree.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[3]

In his review for AllMusic, David R. Adler states: "The music is intense and challenging, but it has a certain airiness."[2] The Penguin Guide to Jazz thought that the "reunion with Maneri sparks off a lot of shared experience, and their interaction, notably on the duo 'Renascent', is close, intelligent and thoroughly sympathetic."[3]

The JazzTimes review by Harvey Pekar noted: "Morris' solos have an angular quality. He plays both flurries of notes and spare phrases during which he's thinking from interval to interval, trying to make the shape of his lines as distinctive as possible."[4]

Track listing

All compositions by Joe Morris except as indicated
  1. "Threshold" – 10:54
  2. "Mesmeric" (Morris, Lightcap, Maneri, Deupree) – 8:06
  3. "A Cloud of Black Birds" – 8:48
  4. "Emblem" – 8:54
  5. "Renascent" (Morris, Maneri) – 4:07
  6. "Radiant Flux" – 9:52
  7. "Take Place" (Morris, Lightcap, Maneri, Deupree) – 6:34

Personnel

References

  1. ^ A Cloud of Black Birds at AUM Fidelity
  2. ^ a b Adler, David R.. Joe Morris – A Cloud of Black Birds: Review at AllMusic. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (6th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 1070. ISBN 0140515216.
  4. ^ Pekar, Harvey. A Cloud of Black Birds review at JazzTimes