Lawrence “Butch” Morris February 10, 1947 – January 27, 2013

 

Hangin with Butch, NYC April 2012

 

“Butch’s approach gave us a new way to express and control the improvisational impulse with a larger group.

 
He figured out the pratical means of keeping ideas cohesive. This is a game changer. With the Conduction technique in hand, large format ensembles will be liberated, tooled with the means of expressing that illusive, “urgent spontaneity”  that has served to fortify black cultural expression and identity of Africans in the Americans. This has until now been mostly the exculsive domain of the trio or quartet. Not any more.

 

 

On the personal level Butch was somewhat of a social genius. He had a way of handling people of all walks of life that was very special and personal.

I was in a Turkish bar with him in Berlin once and he had such a deep friendship with the bartender neither of them could speak the others language but they had a great communication, irony, jokes all of it.
It was all non verbal and intimate. That was Butch. ”

 

It was a great honor and pleasure to learn from him through the years and be effect by this innovative thinker.

 

 

 
JP Bourelly

 

http://www.conduction.us/

Forces of Nature

I have been hearing a lot of musicians at Frankfurt this year talk about the new business atmosphere that we find ourselves in. What I am hearing is that the promise of being independent against the backdrop of the enabling force of the internet is coming to a fork in the road. A lot of notions about sitting at home or in the studio and watching your downloads click with the speed of Lewis Hamilton’s, tachometer, seems to be developing into a dream to no where.

Going out and playing live is the ultimate exposer for your music and the most durable bonding force for you and your fans. It seems almost everyone agrees, at least that has become clear. The net is not a cure for an ailing career, its just an enhancement tool.

But you gotta have something to enhance.

 

 

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Thoughts on the new cd “Truth to Power”

The album Truth to Power, is  a reflection on what I believe is the theme of our time. That is the re-balancing of values and for the first time since the 60’s a real questioning of our system.

What are the monetary systems the social systems, defense systems really doing for the people of the land. What should we really expect our government to provide for us as citizens and considering the new global power shifts, how are the old arcane ways of dividing and controlling a society holding us back in this new global day and age.

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Jean-Paul Bourelly’s 50th Birthday Celebration Performance

MAGIC OF THE NOW
JEAN-PAUL BOURELLY’s 50TH ANNIVERSARY PERFORMANCE

I am honored and excited to announce that my friends Archie Shepp, Jamaladeen Tacuma and Joe Bowie are coming to play with me on the 22 Nov to ring in my 50th birthday at the A-trane. I can’t think of a better way to begin the next half century.

I first met the legendary Archie Shepp in 1998 when when we played together at popkomm in Koln. My brother Carl and I used to listen to his records when we were kids. My favorite songs was called “Steam” and Archie and I played that song in that first Koln concert. Later we got the chance to collaborate in a wonderful way on my record Boom Bop.

The amazing Joe Bowie I first heard at the Peppermint lounge in New York with his group Defunkt. In those days all the guitar players wanted to get into that group because he was known to give the guitar space to expand and with Joe as the front man, it was clear they were destined for stardom.
He invited me later at New Yorks Knitting Factory, to record the  Defunkt Special edition, “Tribute to Muddy Waters”.

My friendship with the irrepressible Jamaaladeen Tacuma started out in Philadelphia in 97 after a European tour with the recording of the group Brotherzone. Tacuma makes everyone just sound better. He is one of my favorite bassist of all time, mixing R&B with Jazz with harmolodic vibes that always keep his bass ideas cooking.

As for me Jean Paul Bourelly, I’ve been known as a force in new funk forms and I love to mix musical genre’s so this evening will surely turn into a high energy, multi dimensional groove party.