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Thomas Morgan

Around You Is A Forest

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The long-awaited debut album from bassist-composer Thomas Morgan is a lush, layered journey through ambient textures and open improvisation. Featuring an all-star cast—Bill Frisell, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akinmusire, Immanuel Wilkins, Henry Threadgill, Dan Weiss, and Gerald Cleaver—the record is both spacious and intricate, with Morgan’s own virtual instrument woods shaping its organic feel. The inclusion of poet Gary Snyder’s voice adds another dimension to this environmental soundscape. Around You Is A Forest is co-produced by David Breskin and Jakob Bro and represents a bold statement from one of jazz’s most revered collaborators stepping fully into the spotlight.
Details
Cat. number: LLM029CD
Year: 2025

Release notes

The WOODS virtual instrument, programmed by Thomas Morgan, appears on all tracks. Recorded October 14, 2024 (tracks 1, 2, 7), by Philip Weinrobe at Figure 8 Recording with assistant engineer Tyler Hicks; August 30, 2024 (track 4), by David Luke at Opus Studios; April 14, 2024 (track 5) and November 26, 2024 (track 8), by Michael Coleman at Figure 8 Recording; and October 30, 2024 (track 6), by Adam Muñoz at Opus Studios Gary Snyder, "Here" from This Present Moment: New Poems. © 2012 by Gary…

Tracklist
1Around You Is A Forest5:06
2Eddies6:48
3Dream Sequence6:02
4Through The Trees16:07
5In The Dark4:47
6Assembly Of All Beings9:08
7Rising From The West11:00
8Murmuration8:36
9Here5:29
Credits
Tal R
Artwork
Claus Due Studio
Design [Cover]
Emi Makabe
Edited By
Joseph Branciforte
Edited By, Mixed By
Nate Mendelsohn
Edited By
Thomas Morgan
Edited By, Producer, Programmed By [WOODS virtual instrument], Typography [Booklet typeset in LATEX]
David Elberling
Mastered By
David Breskin
Producer
Jakob Bro
Producer
Adam Muñoz
Recorded By (6)
David Luke
Recorded By (4)
Michael Coleman
Recorded By (5, 8)
Philip Weinrobe
Recorded By (1, 2, 7)
Bandcamp Daily

“Hearing Morgan deploy his strange machine, featuring a stacked guest roster that includes Bill Frisell, Ambrose Akinmusire, Henry Threadgill, Gerald Cleaver, and others, runs amok, updating and evolving the algorithm as the mood dictates—it’s a glorious mind-melt.”

Jazztrail

“Still absorbing its many layers, I have no doubt Around You is a Forest is the work of a visionary—distinct, immersive, and profoundly original. Each piece feels self-contained yet essential to the whole. Traditionalists may balk, but this may well be the year’s most imaginative and best debut.”

★★★★★
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The Wire

“For his debut as a leader, he plays WOODS a virtual instrument he designed using SuperCollider software which emulates pan-global string instruments. Morgan calls upon an impressive line-up including trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and Henry Threadgill on flutes, for a series of duets and it works like a charm.”