WILBER MORRIS
Genres: Avant-Garde Jazz, Hard Bop • United States

Accomplished free jazz bassist and bandleader Wilber Morris was born November 27, 1937, in Los Angeles, and was the older brother of cornetist Lawrence "Butch" Morris. He began playing drums as a child, and joined the Air Force in 1954; during his tour of duty, which lasted until 1962, he switched to the bass. In his off time, Morris played around San Francisco with the likes of Pharoah Sanders and Sonny Simmons, and when he left the service, he returned to Los Angeles and played with Arthur Blythe and Horace Tapscott. He moved back to San Francisco in 1969, but his jazz career didn't really take off until he relocated to New York in 1978. Morris soon found work with violinist Billy Bang and saxophonist David Murray, the latter of which would grow into a long-standing association that lasted well into the '90s. While performing on Murray's classic early-'80s octet read more...