15.12.05
Em 1998, quando saiu, o disco causou espanto. Através dele descobri um guitarrista com um discurso e uma sensibilidade novos, muito diferente do contingente geral das seis cordas do jazz e de fora dele, cumprindo um papel que vinha fazendo falta havia muito tempo: ser o primeiro de uma geração com verdeiro killer instinct, depois de Sonny Sharrock e de James Blood Ulmer, a afirmar um som personalizado às primeiras notas. Joe Morris procura conscientemente que o seu instrumento soe menos como uma guitarra (Les Paul), e mais como um instrumento de cordas tocado como um saxofone. Esta abordagem inovadora, que mistura soul com técnica (tocar nota-a-nota em conjuntos sinuosos que serpenteiam, tomando inusitadas direcções, em camadas assimétricas e descontínuas), faz toda a diferença e resulta numa mistura do tipo Jimi Hendrix meets Jimmy Lyons. Para A Cloud of Black Birds – disco inspirado no movimento colectivo de um bando de aves migratórias, cuja ideia-chave é o chaotic sense of order, de que Joe Morris fala nas notas que acompanham o disco – contribuem as frases curtas e parcas em notas de Mat Maneri (violino), o homem sombra que é o contraponto ideal para a enorme fluência de Morris; Chris Lightcap (contrabaixo) e Gerald Cleaver (bateria) estabelecem a base sobre a qual se desenrola o bailado entre os dois instrumentos de cordas. Passados alguns anos sobre a gravação, Joe Morris continua a ser a mais interessante voz da guitarra jazz, mesmo que ultimamente se tenha virado para o contrabaixo, com assinalável proficiência e sucesso perante a crítica. A Cloud of Black Birds, preservando toda a beleza e mistério inicial, continua a causar espanto.
«This was in the month of October. The leaves were changing colors and the wind was blowing hard. Every afternoon I watched large flocks of cross-migrating starlings fly from one side of the field to the other and from tree to tree. Their collective movement was held together by a loud and seemingly chaotic sense of order. Watching those birds quickly changed my focus from myself and my predicament to a kind of amazed contemplation at the natural beauty and mystery of that scene. The image has stayed in my head ever since. I'm sure that experiencing it helped me to grow and understand myself better.
«This was in the month of October. The leaves were changing colors and the wind was blowing hard. Every afternoon I watched large flocks of cross-migrating starlings fly from one side of the field to the other and from tree to tree. Their collective movement was held together by a loud and seemingly chaotic sense of order. Watching those birds quickly changed my focus from myself and my predicament to a kind of amazed contemplation at the natural beauty and mystery of that scene. The image has stayed in my head ever since. I'm sure that experiencing it helped me to grow and understand myself better.
During the winter of 1969, on a home visit, I learned to play my first chords on a friend’s guitar. Learning about music and attempting to create music over the years has given me the same sense of contemplation and understanding of my personal growth as I had watching the black birds. All of the musicians who have inspired me remind me of the birds in their ability to create an elemental kind of beauty by showing order where others find chaos. My own expression is an attempt to be like that and hopefully to inspire someone to pause and think about their time in this world». – Joe Morris
posted by eduardo chagas
@ 15.12.05 
