Feb 3, 2026 12:10 AM
In Memoriam: Ken Peplowski, 1959–2026
Ken Peplowski, a clarinetist and tenor saxophonist who straddled the worlds of traditional and modern jazz, died Feb. 2…
Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris (Photo: Cathie Marquesee)
(Photo: )Bandleader, conductor and cornetist Butch Morris died on Jan. 29 at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., from cancer. He was 65.
Morris was famous for a method he invented and named “conduction.” Morris trademarked the term, which referred to the improvised interaction between a conductor and an ensemble.
Morris conducted ensembles using his own unique set of gestures and symbols. He introduced the concept in 1985 and documented it with recordings such as Conduction No. 1, Current Trends In Racism In Modern America, which included saxophonists John Zorn and Frank Lowe; Conduction No. 22, Documenta: Gloves & Mitts; and Conduction No. 41, New World, New World.
On Morris’ website, a page devoted to conduction workshops lists this definition: “Conduction (conducted interpretation/improvisation) is a vocabulary of ideographic signs and gestures activated to modify or construct a real-time musical arrangement or composition. Each sign and gesture transmits generative information for interpretation by the individual and the collective, to provide instantaneous possibilities for altering or initiating harmony, melody, rhythm, articulation, phrasing or form.”
Morris taught conduction workshops around the world and was the recipient of numerous grants, including ones from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Prior to his career as a bandleader, Morris established himself as a cornet player. He collaborated with his brother, bassist Wilber Morris; trumpeter Bobby Bradford; soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and tenor saxophonist David Murray. In recent years, he worked with the band Burnt Sugar.
Morris taught music in France and the Netherlands in the late ’70s and then moved to New York in 1981.
Lawrence Douglas Morris was born in Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 10, 1947. As a boy growing up in Los Angeles, he played trumpet in the school orchestra.
Morris (whose father served in Navy) served in the Army in 1966 and was stationed in Germany, Vietnam and Japan.
Morris is survived by a son, Alexandre; a brother, Michael; and a sister, Marceline. (Wilber Morris died in 2002.)
At midnight (EST) on Friday, Feb. 1, radio station WPFW (89.3 FM and www.wpfw.org) will pay tribute to Morris with a two-hour program titled “His Friends Called Him Butch.” The first hour will include excerpts from a 1989 interview with Morris, and the second hour will include comments from George Mason University professor Dr. Thomas Stanley, who wrote his dissertation on Morris’ conduction process.
Information on Morris and conduction is posted at the artist’s website.
—Bobby Reed
Peplowski first came to prominence in legacy swing bands, including the final iteration of the Benny Goodman Orchestra, before beginning a solo career in the late 1980s.
Feb 3, 2026 12:10 AM
Ken Peplowski, a clarinetist and tenor saxophonist who straddled the worlds of traditional and modern jazz, died Feb. 2…
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Richie Beirach was particularly renowned for his approach to chromatic harmony, which he used to improvise reharmonizations of originals and standards.
Jan 27, 2026 11:19 AM
Richie Beirach, a pianist and composer who channeled a knowledge of modern classical music into his jazz practice,…
“I play what I want and what I like,” said Andrew Cyrille. “I use my knowledge artistically and professionally.”
Feb 3, 2026 12:15 AM
Midway through August, a few days after concluding a week at the Village Vanguard with the quartet that Andrew Cyrille…
Marsalis will, if he chooses to use it, have a strong voice in perpetuating his vision through a role in choosing his successors.
Feb 3, 2026 12:09 AM
For the better part of a year, rumors have been swirling that Wynton Marsalis was going to step down as artistic and…
