Wildlife

Personnel: Joe Morris (bass instrument); Petr Cancura (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Luther Gray (drums).
Audio Mixer: Petr Cancura.
Recording information: Riti Studios, Guilford, CT (03/16/2008).
Photographer: Joe Morris Orchestra.
Joe Morris plays bass, not guitar, on this set of four lengthy improvisations taped in March 2008. The trio features tenor/alto saxophonist Petr Cancura and longtime Morris collaborator Luther Gray on drums; their interaction is blustery and energetic, filled with the fire of free jazz as practiced by Charles Gayle, Peter Brotzmann, and other modern-day followers of Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, and Pharoah Sanders. Morris's bass playing is as fascinating as ever. He begins "Thicket" with an assault on the strings that's reminiscent of the guimbri, a gut-stringed instrument played by the Gnawa tribes of North Africa. Cancura picks up the hint and solos in a manner that echoes Pharoah Sanders' work with the Gnawa on his TRANCE OF THE SEVEN COLORS album. The third track, "Crow," is a bluesy ballad on which Cancura sounds like his tongue has swelled to twice its normal thickness, and the upbeat "Nettle," which closes the disc, features an astonishing, extended Morris solo as well as a fiery crescendo before things draw to a meditative conclusion.