Keith
Morris Tribute Pages
| Tragic
death of Keith Morris the founder of Schmazz
Keith
and his friend and fellow-musician Joe Scurfield, were killed
in a hit & run incident late on the evening of Wednesday
8th June 2005. Our thoughts go out to the families of both
musicians.
It
was Keith who established the monthly ‘Schmazz @ the
Cluny’ gigs towards the end of 1999, and ran them
for the next four years. Even when he decided to pass on
the responsibility to a small committee in order to concentrate
on other musical activities, he maintained a close interest,
and it was his vision that continued to guide the Schmazz
programme.
But
that was just one part of Keith’s gift to the musical
life of the area. He was a superb multi-instrumentalist
(one recording lists him as contributing soprano, alto &
baritone saxes, guitar, keyboard, cuatro, panpipes, percussion
and vocals), a great bandleader (his own performances for
Schmazz were always one of the highlights of the year),
and a wonderful composer, who was equally adept at straight
jazz work, music for theatre, and song settings. He was,
in fact, one of the finest all-round musicians not just
in the North-East, but anywhere in Britain, and was increasingly
receiving commissions from elsewhere in the UK and Europe.
Most
of all, though, Keith was one of the nicest people you could
ever hope to meet, endlessly supportive of the other musicians
with whom he worked, or whom he booked for gigs at Schmazz.
He will be mourned and missed by everybody who ever had
the privilege of working with him.
Keith
is irreplaceable, but his legacy lives on. Those of us who
now organise the Schmazz gigs will try to continue programming
the kind of original, stimulating music to which he was
so committed, as our way of saying “Thank you Keith”.
|
Celebration
Concerts at The Sage Gateshead
on
Saturday 22nd April 2006
THIS
SONG
When, together with fellow musician Joe
Scurfield, Keith Morris was killed in a hit and run accident
in June 2005, the news was hard to take in. Much loved, Keith
inspired so many on Tyneside and elsewhere, as a composer as
a player and as a teacher. Raising self-deprecation to an art
form, he brought humour, integrity and love to his work with
groups, orchestras, political cabaret, theatre companies and
choirs. He wrote his own words and he loved collaborating with
poets, lyricists and playwrights. His own line-ups included
Plain Truth, the Kent Moped Orchestra (after seeing his name
in Cyrillic) and Metal. He was a central force in Red Music,
in Grand Union Orchestra and in Big People. He set up Schmazz
to promote innovative jazz in Newcastle.
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Updated
30th March 2011 |
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