Jazz Monthly.com Interview with Cathy Morris

“Jazz Monthly Feature Interview” Cathy Morris

Smitty: Joining me at JazzMonthly.com is an incredible violinist. She has the skills to give you a thrill and you must check out this young lady. She hails from Indiana and her latest record is called Latin Jazz and you’ve got to check out her entire catalog of music. It is just an incredible experience to feel her music. Here to talk about her music and her great career, please welcome the incomparable Ms. Cathy Morris. Cathy, how are ya?

Cathy Morris (CM): Hello, Mr. Smith. How are you?

Smitty: I’m okay. How are you doin’?

CM: Well, great after that introduction. My goodness!

Smitty: That’s from the heart, my friend.

CM: Lovely. Thank you so much.

Smitty: You are so welcome. I should call you the lady in the hat because whenever I see photos of you, somehow I always find one with you wearing a hat. You must enjoy that.

CM: I do. I really just enjoy the whole concept of presenting myself in a way that, I don’t know, is a little entertaining, I guess, and hats definitely do the trick.

Smitty: Yeah, it adds a bit of intrigue too, you know, to see who’s under that hat.

CM: That’s right.

Smitty: Well, now, because we don’t find a lot of violinists in this genre of music, was the violin your first instrument?

CM: Indeed it was. I was about seven years old and I was given this instrument by my wonderful father, a bass player, who turned me on to all different styles of music, so consequently he opened my mind and opened my heart to the full buffet and I’ve been going at it ever since.

Smitty: Wow. So, now, you literally come from a musical family.

CM: Yeah, pretty much. My father taught music in schools and played jazz clubs at the tender age of 14, and then all of his seven children took up an instrument at some point and I’m one of the last remaining players.

Smitty: Wow, so you’re sticking with it, huh?

CM: I have no choice. It truly is in my blood and I can’t stop. As a matter of fact, my daughter’s the first to tell you “If Mom doesn’t have a gig, she’s in a bad mood.”

Smitty: (Laughs.) Well, speaking of gigs, you’ve got a wonderful new gig now. I know you’re doing the Sunday brunch for the Smooth Jazz station there in Indianapolis. That’s gotta be cool.

CM: That’s right. WYJZ 100.9 has invited me to come play at our only five-star hotel here in Indianapolis, the Conrad Hilton.

Smitty: Well, that’s gotta be cool and that sounds like a fun gig.

CM: It’s a great, great gig, a duo, which is a nice different medium for me to play in. I’m usually out with a four to six-piece group, and the duo and the environment of the Conrad allows me to explore a more demure side of myself that most people don’t see very often.

Smitty: Yeah, and you’ve performed before so many different audiences as well.

CM: Exactly. Just like there’s the buffet of musical styles out there that I like to taste, I also really get a kick out of playing in a variety of different venues, so I’ve played at indy jazz fests and ala carte jazz fests, also on concert jazz stages in front of 10,000 people as well as in small venues, private settings. I’ve opened for, gosh, Burt Bacharach, Fourplay, Rick Braun, Joyce Cooling, lots of folks in a smaller concert venue, and then, gosh, one thing that’s near and dear to my heart is my educational effort. I go to the schools and perform my arranged original music that I’ve put together for orchestras, so I play as a guest soloist with student orchestras and give them a taste of what it’s like to play with a band.

Smitty: What’s that like when you’re working with students? Because you go from working with an accomplished band and then now you’re in the education mode of sharing techniques and styles with students. What’s that like?

CM: Well, it’s art with a purpose. It’s not about “Oh, these kids don’t have it together, they can’t play.” No, no, no. It’s not even really about the end product of the performance but, rather, it’s about the journey getting to that performance and trying to enlighten them to what’s outside of the box that they’ve been living in and just what potential there is for them musically. So I’m trying to inspire and foster a rejuvenation for instruments that kids are getting burned out playing or, you know, it’s just purposeful art.

Smitty: Yeah, well, talk about some of the positive consequences of working with the students. Have you had some great stories to tell or some great consequences of working with them?

CM: I have. I have had lovely feedback from students. Either parents telling me that their child was inspired to take up an instrument because they saw me perform or teachers telling me that students who were going to quit playing had decided to go ahead and continue to play. I got a beautiful letter from a young lady just the other day telling me she had seen me perform when she was in middle school, she’s now in college and, just like me, she wants to go out and try to make a living playing in all the different ways that I had shared with them, whether it’s playing in the beginning days, at retirement homes or strolling in restaurants and then going into the clubs and, you know, when you get that kind of feedback, you can’t be anything but inspired to keep doing that and keep trying to impact lives.

Smitty: Absolutely. Well, speaking of impacting lives and influencing others and creating inspiration for others, I have read so many times that your live performances are some of the most enthusiastic and inspirational experiences there are. How do you describe your live performances?

CM: Well, I describe them as pretty much, fun. I just like to have a great time myself and I think what people witness in my extroverted enthusiasm is just my pure bliss to have that fiddle, violin, whatever you wanna call it, underneath my chin playing and to be able to make music alongside my associates. When people can pick up on that bliss and that feeling, then it’s very reciprocal. The audience gives back to me and pretty soon it’s just an exchange….I don’t care how large the audience is either. I’ll still feel as if I’m playing to each individual person out there and make eye contact with them. It’s a very personal exchange. So I think between the enthusiasm and energy and bliss, it’s just nothing but fun.

Smitty: (Laughs.) It sounds like it. I had a conversation with Jean Luc Ponty, great violinist, just an incredible player, and a couple years ago we were talking about the violin and that whole relationship of the artist and the instrument, and he said that he was so comfortable with it because he felt like the instrument being placed under your chin and the whole interaction with it is totally different from any other instrument because he said it becomes a part of you when you place it under your chin. Do you feel the same way?

CM: It’s definitely an extension. It’s another appendage. You have arms and hands, but this is yet another piece of your body at that point through which you’re able to express yourself. Now, I’m doing a little bit of singing with my voice these days, but I’ve always felt as if I’d been singing with my violin for years.

Smitty: Well, that’s gotta be a beautiful thing to experience that. Now, because there’s a whole diverse variety of gigs that you do….

CM: Right.

Smitty: .…talk to me about this Party Jazz thing. (Both laugh.)

CM: Well, Party Jazz is a phrase I’ve coined to try to encapsulate what you’ll get when you hear me play. I am known mostly for my original compositions and performing original music by a guitarist named Royce Campbell, and they cover a gambit of different grooves. We do funk, we do Latin, we do some Cajun, we do, of course, some classic standard swing as well, and so Party Jazz is just to give everybody the idea that this is not your ordinary, oh, heady, cerebral, laid back kind of stuff.

Smitty: Yeah.

CM: And I don’t like to be put in a position to try to make people dance necessarily, however, yeah, we definitely get into the electric slide every now and then and some salsa and so, yeah, it’s quite the party, I guess.

Smitty: Yeah, it sounds like a diverse gig. (Laughs.)

CM: Mm-hmm, and of course I always try to tailor my performances to each different venue. So fortunately I have a large enough book from which to do that, that I can really, oh, kinda musically design my performance. My husband always wondered why I would deliberate so much over a set list for each individual event. “Why don’t you just use the same set list? It would be so easy.” Then it’s like “No, no, this is impossible.” It’s impossible because it needs to be tailored to that specific concert and then the band would go further to say “She makes the set list but never sticks to it.”

Smitty: (Laughs.)

CM: And that reason is because I like that reciprocal exchange with the audience.

Smitty: I get it, yeah.

CM: Once we set a vibe with one particular tune, then I wanna take ‘em on a journey and I wanna transcend them through the music by sharing just the wide range of grooves and styles that keeps them surprised and intrigued and I guess I like the word “engaged.”

Smitty: Yeah, absolutely. I like to be engaged when I’m in the audience, so I like that.

CM: Mm-hmm.

Smitty: Yeah, that’s beautiful. Now, you’ve got this whole Brazilian thing working. You’ve gotta tell me about that.

CM: Well, after five CD’s of all original music, I decided to redefine my efforts a little bit and I’d always had a natural resonance with Latin and, most specifically, Brazilian music. I met a gentleman named Roberto Monsalves from Chile and engaged a couple other players, so I had quite an international group: a Venezuelan percussionist, a Chilean pianist, a Puerto Rican percussionist, and threw in a couple middle-aged white guys too, Barry Eason….anyway, between everybody on stage we found this synergy of Brazilian sound that’s really different even though we’re playing traditional Jobim, Airto, Tanya Maria. Even though we’re playing classic Brazilian songs with the violin and the voice together and the international approach on the stage, I think we’ve really come up with our own sound.

Smitty: Well, that’s always beautiful. Talk to me a little bit about this Latin Jazz CD that you did in particular because speaking of Brazilian music, I love this record and you know the whole story of how I came by this record. (Laughs.)

CM: Yeah, you’re not gonna share that with everyone. (Laughs.)

Smitty: No, we won’t do that. (Laughs.)

CM: My bad housekeeping. (Both laugh.)

Smitty: Well, I think it’s a great story. One of these days we’ll get to tell that.

CM: You really have my permission to share. I am what I am and always get the authentic honest Cathy Morris, so there you go.

Smitty: (Laughs.) Well, I was so intrigued by that record because when I first received it, I didn’t know what to think because it was among this pile of music that I had just received, but this one stuck out because of the lady in the hat….that was intriguing to me….and there was this hair sticking out from the mailing label.

CM: It was like my cat’s, right?

Smitty: (Laughs.) I don’t know.

CM: Didn’t we attribute it to cat hair?

Smitty: I think so. So I’m thinking, okay, they’re sending me hair.

CM: (Laughs.)

Smitty: And she’s got this hat on and she’s got this “come check me out” look and so I had to listen to that record first, and you know the story. It was just mind blowing, the experience of listening to that Latin record was so amazing.

CM: Thank you so much.

Smitty: You are so welcome.

CM: It’s a meaningful project to me. I had to admit what you received is probably going to end up being an, what’s the word? I’m gonna add to it. I’m making my way down to Chile to meet back up with Roberto, I’m gonna get some South American players to put on this CD. “Embellish.” That’s the word I was looking for.

Smitty: (Laughs.)

CM: So I’m gonna be embellishing this even further and re-releasing it, and then I also have ten additional songs, Brazilian songs, and we’re gonna put out a double compilation disc.

Smitty: Wow. Well, I can’t wait to hear that.

CM: Aimed for ’07.

Smitty: Wow. Well, I can’t wait to hear that because if it’s anything like what you already have put together, it’s gotta be a kickin’ hot album.

CM: Thanks so much.

Smitty: But you’re gonna keep, hopefully, those original songs because I love, what was it? Is it “Favela”?

CM: “Favela,” yes. Now, that one is not an original tune.

Smitty: Right.

CM: But yes, I’ll definitely keep the original approach to all of these songs, so they definitely won’t sound like anybody else.

Smitty: Yes, and what was the other one? “Jorgral”?

CM: “Jorgral,” mm-hmm. A gentleman named Javan wrote that song and he’s quite popular in South America and worldwide, as a matter of fact, and I have to admit that Party Jazz phrase also to some degree connotates almost a pop jazz sound. Jazz is so difficult to describe. It’s such a small word and such a large world of music.

Smitty: Yes.

CM: And this Latin Jazz, actually, the only reason I named that CD Latin Jazz was because here in my parts everybody knows me to be playing all original music, so I was trying to make it very clear that this is something different. It actually should say Brazilian Jazz because it is Brazilian-specific as are the ten additional tunes that I’ll be adding to the second disc.

Smitty: Yes, and speaking of the other discs, I like Welcome to My World.

CM: Mm-hmm, that was a 2000 release.

Smitty: Yeah, I still like that record and I still remember and still listen to Smooth Talk.

CM: Mm-hmm.

Smitty: And Midnight Drive.

CM: Yes.

Smitty: And, what is it? Red Hot?

CM: Oh yes!

Smitty: Those are great tracks.

CM: Thank you.

Smitty: And that Calypso thing. (Both laugh.)

CM: That one needs a name. I just simply bailed on that effort. I just named it Cathy Calypso.

Smitty: Yeah. (Both laugh.)

CM: But it really needs a name, Smitty. You need to offer me a name for that song.

Smitty: I’ll see what I can do, but I just love the tune. (Laughs.)

CM: It’s very fun.

Smitty: It is, and so we’ve got some great things to look forward to from Cathy Morris in 2007, huh?

CM: Yes, you do, if I may say so. I am back in the saddle again working very hard to get myself in a more international arena and the pavement has been laid and I’m just ready to walk the yellow brick road.

Smitty: Well, you’ve got some great tools to work with because I went to your Web site and I love that whole collection of violins.

CM: Mm-hmm.

Smitty: And, oh, I love that “Jordan 7”.

CM: Mm-hmm. John Jordan out of Concord, California, near San Francisco, makes those seven-strings, and it’s a violin, a viola, and those two last strings are bass strings. I don’t even have cello strings. It’s a violin, viola and bass so that when I’m playing duets at the Conrad with the keyboardist, I can actually cover the bass part every now and then.

Smitty: Yeah, it’s a beautiful sound and, oh, I just love the look. Those are kickin’ violins.

CM: You know, I started out with the Zeta back in the early nineties and then went to a John Jensen violin and then the Jordan violin, and now actually I’ve been honored with the title of being a Yamaha violin artist.

Smitty: Oh, wow. Congratulations!

CM: And what I’ve done is collected all these instruments, to be honest with you, for their looks as much as their sound, but the looks are what really engage the students and get them excited and when it comes to the sound, you plug it into an effects processor and you can pretty much make all of ‘em sound any way you want. So you can make it sound any way you want, but those looks are what really intrigue people.

Smitty: Oh, yeah, it totally intrigues me. It makes you wanna do something with it, you know? So, now, speaking of all the great things that you have on your Web site, give me your Web site.

CM: That would be www.cathymorris.com.

Smitty: All right, and there’s a lot of great things to see on your Web site. It’s a very engaging Web site with a lot of information about yourself and about the music, and it’s an inspiration to see some of the things that you’ve accomplished and what you have put together as far as music as well.

CM: Well, you know, it’s a historical archive to share with people where I’ve been in the last ten years and then, of course, there’s a newsletter they can sign up for so I can keep ‘em updated on the present, but I like to invite people to get online and see the kind of world that I’ve been fortunate to build around my music.

Smitty: Yes, and Indiana certainly knows about that, don’t they? (Laughs.)

CM: Oh, yes. Yes, I’ve been in these parts for about 15 years now and, yeah, it’s pretty fun. I get recognized on the street and it’s a pretty good time.

Smitty: Yeah, absolutely. We look forward to the new record and hopefully we’ll get to see you live and I would encourage everyone to go to your Web site to see what you’re doing and look at your itinerary, your schedule, and speaking of that, you also have a nice fan club because I get your newsletter, which is very cool. I love the newsletter. Tell me, how can people get your music?

CM: Oh, it’s very simple, Smitty. Have ‘em come to www.cathymorris.com and order online from my Web site or they can go to www.cdbaby.com, www.amazon.com. I’m pretty accessible in the regular Web venues.

Smitty: Excellent, wow. Well, I’m sure that many will love to get this great music and I highly recommend it because all of your albums, I think, are fantastic, it is a very nice diverse collection of music, and I just love what you do with that violin because it’s a totally different vibe and I think it gels well with some of the great violinists that are out there today. I think you stand right with them and that’s a beautiful thing.

CM: Well, that really means a lot coming from you. Thanks so much and hopefully we’ll get a chance to connect in person sometime. I’ll come down your way or you up mine and we’ll get you out to a live performance.

Smitty: Hey, I would love that. You know I’m gonna take you up on that too. (Laughs.)

CM: Perfect.

Smitty: Very cool. We have been talking with the amazing Ms. Cathy Morris. You must go to her Web site, check out her great music, and if anytime you’re in the Midwest and the Indianapolis area, please check out her itinerary and catch a live show because it is all of that. Cathy, thanks again and all the best to you and look forward to that great record in 2007.

CM: Thank you so much.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.cathymorris.com and www.cdbaby.com and www.amazon.com and www.apple.com/itunes.