Butch Morris Project - The Image of None, Performing Garage, NYC March 30, 1986

The late Butch Morris was a leading light of experimental music in NYC in the 1980s, someone who could as easily been chosen as John Zorn to get press attention, but he largely flew under the radar. A cornetist and jazz composer and arranger with great skills in more traditional forms of jazz (he was David Murray's right-hand man for many years in the 1970s and first half of the 80s), Morris chose to pursue more his esoteric interest in improvised music for large ensembles. Morris gradually developed his own theories and methods for conducting large groups in creating entirely improvised music, a process that he came to call "conduction." I saw this performance on Easter Sunday at an off-off-broadway performance space in Soho, The Performing Garage. It was a multi-media presentation including projected visuals in addition to the music. The images above were from postcard mailers printed to publicize the performance. Fans of Butch Morris, please check out the three other recordings I have uploaded to this channel, all of which I believe are equal to or better than this performance, including one from a week before this one, with largely the same ensemble. Butch Morris - conductor Jason Hwang - violin Eli Fountain - percussion and vibraphone Bill Horvitz - guitar Wayne Horvitz - keyboards Frank Lowe - tenor saxophone Mary Ann Brandis - flute Wilbur Morris - bass and others (vocals) Visuals - Alison Saar Text - Sekou Sundiata Recorded on a Sony Walkman Pro D6C with ECM-102 stereo microphone. Uploaded solely for educational purposes and historical interest. Enjoy.

Added 7 Oct 2026