“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.”
Thomas Morgan is an in-demand American jazz bassist but, 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. With Bill Frisell, he approximates a donso ngoni while the guitarist weaves acoustic webs smeared with electric swells. A meeting with 95 year old Beat poet and Zen prophet Gary Snyder matches suitably koto-like cascades with rich and unhurried spoken meditations. "Why are we here?, asks Snyder. To make and appreciate art like this, of course.
Originally published by The Wire.Read it on The Wire