Questions For ... Butch Morris

INTERVIEW

Questions For...

Rebecca Meek

Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris

By Heather Corcoran Composer, conductor and musician Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris has reinvented the way jazz is performed. His style, which he calls Conduction—a combination of conduction and improvisation—uses symbolic gestures to guide musicians, with Morris playing the role of both “soloist and member of the ensemble.” Last week the innovator was feted with a concert at the Bowery Ballroom to celebrate his 60th birthday. How is Conduction different from conducting? BM: A traditional conductor interprets music; we make music. Traditional orchestras rehearse what they perform; we do not. New York and jazz are so tied together. As an artist, you have spent much of your career in New York. How does the city influence you? Inspire you? BM: Inspiration is not something you get, it is something you acknowledge. I think that we are all inspired people, but some don’t care to acknowledge or investigate it. Jazz is a form I have chosen to investigate and it has brought me this far. If you don’t have questions, you don’t get far. New York is a meeting point for all concerned, I brought questions and I meet people. New York is a city for realists and doers, not for dreamers. You make a point to differentiate between improvisation and interpretation as it relates to Conduction. BM: My interest lies in that area between 16 • Resident The Week Of February 19, 2007

You talk about music in terms more often associated with literature and language – interpretation, symbols, vocabulary, dialect, etc. – could you explain that? BM: When I was developing the vocabulary of Conduction I realized that there was not one music book that could tell me what I wanted to know. You’ve compared Conduction to pickPhysics, architecture, linguistics and liting up a book and reading from any page erature on law (among many) gave me the that catches your attention language with which to unor focusing on a detail in a derstand and describe an expainting, why is it important pression unstated. In other Learn more to break from the traditional about Morris and words, I needed to know more way of approaching a work of about what I was feeling and Conduction at art as a whole? attempting to express … and I conduction.us. BM: I in no way want to break needed to look everywhere for from the convention of “beginning that information. to end.” I believe in total underWhat are the best places in the city to standing. However, I do believe that the interpretation of a work, once understood, could be construct- hear new music? BM: The best place to hear new music is ed from (almost) anyplace on the page. A wonderful example of this would be John Coltrane’s many between your ears, the best places to “see” new music is wherever you find it ... it is evinterpretations of “My Favorite Things.” erywhere in this city. Not only do you collaborate with differWhat records do you consider essenent musicians, but other artists in different media. Why is it important to investigate tial for any collection? these types of interactions? BM: If I name one I will have to name BM: The senses are to be educated just like the 100. There are so many masters at what they mind … all of the arts deal with the senses among do. other things. The connection of the senses helps to determine your (creative) outlook and therefore What’s next for you? affects and influences the mind. This is also true of BM: I have an orchestra waiting for me in the listener. Italy! improvisation and notation: where the interpretation of the symbolism that generates notation meets with the spontaneity of improvisation; and in the evolution of the ensemble, and of the individual and collective identities and expressions that constitute music, musicianship and music making for a far greater expression in the sonic arts.