Chicago Jazz Magazine
March/April 2008
in her own words... Audrey Morris grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where her relationship with songs began. Studying classical piano as a child, she was drawn to the radio, which played all the latest tunes from the Hit Parade, and she sat in school writing lyrics in her notebook while pretending to do her lessons. Her favorites were Billie Holiday, Lee Wiley, Mildred Bailey, and Peggy Lee. In 1950, Morris began singing and playing at the Capitol Lounge on State Street, and in 1954 moved to the newly-opened Mister Kelly’s. She quickly became a magnet for other performers, from the fine local singers to visiting jazz royalty. Morris made her first album on the tiny “X” label, a division of RCA, in 1955—Bistro Ballads—and the next year, Bethlehem Records signed her to record The Voice of Audrey Morris with arranger Marty Paich. Warner Brothers offered her an exclusive contract to record movie theme songs and to perhaps appear onscreen. But rather than surrender her freedom, Audrey turned them down. Instead she began a five-year stint as leader of the intermission trio at Chicago’s London House, a jazz piano club. There she shared bills with virtually every great jazz pianist, notably George Shearing and Oscar Peterson, both of whom became lifelong friends and fans. In the late sixties, Morris reduced her work schedule to a night or two a week in order to raise her newborn son. Not until 1981 did she accept another full-time booking, at Chicago’s Palmer House. Over the past three decades, she has played top rooms in Chicago, including the Embers, Yvette’s, Toulouse, Maxim’s, the Big House and the Whitehall Hotel. She may currently be seen frequently at Cornelia’s. Morris has introduced several generations of audiences to the glories of the Great American Songbook. Chicago Jazz Magazine: What is it about Chicago that kept you from leaving, and going to either New York or L.A. or some of the other places you could have gone? Audrey Morris: I lived in L.A. for a short time and couldn’t wait to get back. I just missed the attitude here. The people here are so friendly and they are very knowledgeable, but they don’t brag about it. This is a good city—I love living here. And we have some pretty swift musicians here. Chicago Jazz Magazine: When you think of the Chicago jazz scene versus the scenes in L.A. or New York is there anything about Chicago that’s different? Morris: I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I think we have some of the very best players who elect to stay here. Number one, a lot of them are family people—they want to be around their families; they are not particular interested in becoming big stars, they just want to do what they love to do. And they are able to do it here because Chicago does support music and always has. Some of the best ever have come out of Chicago. Chicago Jazz Magazine: In your mind, who are those people? Morris: Well, the Dixieland groups early on—the beginning of jazz—that came up the river to Chicago, as did Louis Armstrong. It doesn’t get better than that. You know Chicago has played a huge part in the history of jazz. There are all kinds. I was just on a program in Toronto and Quincy Jones was also on it—he’s from the South Side, and I’m also from the South Side. Ramsey Lewis has lived here all his life. Willie Pickens. A remarkable player, Judy Roberts [leans into mic as though speaking directly to Judy] Come home Judy! She’s gone to Arizona, but I’m hoping she comes back home, because she is such a marvelous performer… a wonderful player. Chicago Jazz Magazine: You are sort of the elder statesman of the Chicago jazz music scene right now. Morris: Well, to tell the truth there are three war horses and I’m one of them. Dave Green is also one of them and, of course, Buddy Charles. Another great Chicago musician is Johnny Frigo, and
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Audrey Morris
he is a South Sider—he grew up in Roseland. Steve Allen is another, and Ramsey Lewis is from the South Side. There are all kinds of good players are from the South Side. I mentioned Willie Pickens. His daughter is a wonderful player,too. But Willie’s been here all his life same as I have. Somehow or other we don’t want to leave. Chicago Jazz Magazine: When would you say the club scene in Chicago was in its peak? Morris: I would say late twenties, through the thirties and forties. And then television and the media started keeping people at home—people could see so much without leaving the house and without spending a lot of money. But it was quite different in those days. There were more singers than there were flavors. Chicago Jazz Magazine: It’s interesting you say that, particularly since you have such a broad perspective. Most people think of the fifties and sixties as the golden age of the club scene in Chicago. You’re saying it was actually in decline by then because of television. Morris: I think so, especially with the jazz musicians coming up from Mississippi and working in Chicago— Louis Armstrong in particular. But then he came up to work with Joe Oliver, who also came up from Mississippi—a remarkable man that no one was familiar with, but he caught on. So Chicago played a very important part in jazz. Chicago Jazz Magazine: How did you start playing the piano? Morris: I had a piano, an old player piano, in the house that was inherited from my father’s family, and it had piano rolls on it. So we would play that once we learned how to do it—we would start the rolls going and then we’d see the keys going up and down. And then I said, I think I’ll try that myself! [laughs] And that’s how it started. I think I started around age six. And I was actually terrible, because I paid no attention whatsoever to the left hand—wherever it landed that was okay with me. But I did learn the right hand. And finally my mother said, you just better get you some lessons before the neighbors call the police! Chicago Jazz Magazine: So were you more interested in melody than you were in rhythm and chord structure? Morris: Apparently, that’s what got to me. The rhythm was important to me and I was playing rhythm in my left hand, but wherever was close, that’s where it landed. [laughs] Chicago Jazz Magazine: When did you begin to learn jazz? Morris: Actually, you know radio was very good in those days, because the songwriters were writing something new and beautiful every week. You could turn on the radio and hear very good music regardless where you were. However, in Chicago, there’s a gentleman who’s one of my top idols, and that’s Studs Terkel. He had a radio show called The Wax Museum. I had chores—and my Mother was a working Mom, and so when I came home from school there were chores that were mine to do. And so I’d turn on the radio for company. And as I was turning the dial I heard this sound coming, and it was a show called The Wax Museum. And the man doing all the talking and giving us a lot of information was Studs Terkel! Chicago Jazz Magazine: And did he play jazz on his show? Morris: Absolutely. The first time I ever heard Billie Holiday was on his radio show. Chicago Jazz Magazine: So it was through the media that you picked up on jazz? Morris: Absolutely. Conscientious people like Studs, because he wasn’t there to be a big star; he was there basically, I think, as an educator. He wanted everyone to enjoy what he knew was good. Chicago Jazz Magazine: So Studs Terkel has been a part of your life since you… Morris: Absolutely one of my idols.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: Have you met him? Morris: Oh yes. Yes, I’ve known him for many years—since I first started out. He happened in one night when I was first at Mr. Kelly’s, and I knew it was him. And it made me so nervous: Oh dear, now what am I going to do, because he knows all the good stuff and here am I—what am I going to do? But ultimately we became friends—we still are friends. Chicago Jazz Magazine: You’ve played a lot of different styles but you’ve settled into cabaret and jazz. Do you have a preference and do you consider yourself more adept at one or the other? Morris: No. No, I don’t consider myself necessarily a jazz player, although I will alter the chords and change them to suit what I want that chord to say. With singing I will phrase in the jazz style. Chicago Jazz Magazine: What do you think is the difference? When does the music you’re performing become jazz? Morris: I think it is definitely a process. In jazz, you’re composing as you go along—you are writing a new sound. Not physically writing—but you are creating a new melody to the chord structure as it exists. And as it gets more sophisticated the chord structures change, too. The inner voicings change a lot… Am I getting to weird? Chicago Jazz Magazine: No, no. And is that something your were born with or were you taught that? Morris: I think I heard other people doing it. Well, to tell you the truth, you know the group from Tin Pan Alley—you know, Gershwin and Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart. Their lead sheets are really quite boring. They are very basic chords without imagination. I think that’s because people would buy sheet music in those days. A lot of people
played the piano and they wanted to do the latest songs. So the composers made it understandable for the masses. But the jazz players will figure out a chord that is subliminal without people knowing it. It will express sadness or happiness—various emotions. Chicago Jazz Magazine: That’s really the key, isn’t it? Morris: One of them. I don’t know all of the keys. I wish I did, but it’s one of the things. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Doesn’t all great art transfer an emotion of sorts from the creator to the audience? Morris: That’s why it’s art. It’s called art because people see it, hear it, read it, and we move to it, and it makes people feel that they are not the only ones in the world who have these particular feelings. It’s very important. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Let’s talk a little more about your career. At what point did you realize you were going to be a full time professional musician? Morris: I always wanted to play the piano. So when I was only still in grade school I would go to the dime stores. Remember the dime stores? They had a pianist working there, and they would encourage people to buy the sheet music. That was my idea of a great job—you could see all the latest music, play the piano all day and get paid for it. I can’t imagine what they might have made for doing that, but that was my ambition: to play the piano in the dime store. Chicago Jazz Magazine: And that inspired you to become better at the piano? Morris: I always wanted to become better at the piano. As you can see I have very small hands, so if you don’t hear some of those octaves—not that you would anyway, but in order to play a tenth I have to whip my thumb down to play the tenth. [laughs] So I was never going to scare anybody on the piano. But
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I wasn’t counting on singing. I was working with an allgirl band, and the arranger was a gentleman named Gene Gilbert, who was well known in his day. And one day he brought me an arrangement and he said, “This is for you. You’re supposed to sing it, because all piano players are supposed to sing.” I didn’t know how to sing. I never thought of it, but I tried it and I liked it. So I kept on. Chicago Jazz Magazine: How old were you at that time? Morris: I would have been nineteen. Chicago Jazz Magazine: How did you get hooked up with them? Morris: In order to pay for my piano lessons I had a job in a dancing school. I would go from school to the dancing school and then would play the piano, because there wasn’t the electronics that we have now. Now they just punch in a song and they don’t need a pianist. But we would do Morris was once offered a movie contract. It’s easy to see why. the tempos for the time steps. So that was my job. And one hand was washing up maybe two or three mornings later the other—I was playing the dancing and I said to my husband, “I’m going school and paying for my piano lessons. home.” And he said, “I’m going with you.” Chicago Jazz Magazine: Is it true And I’ve never regretted it. that you were once asked to sign a movie Chicago Jazz Magazine: So how contract? did that come about? Did someone see Morris: That’s true. you playing in a club somewhere? Chicago Jazz Magazine: Tell us Morris: Yes, I was working in Las about that. Vegas and they were with Warner Morris: I saw the contract—I still Brothers and they came in one night and have it—and I read it. And they would they were very interested in me. What have complete control over you—they were they called… A&R men. They came would show you where you could work or in and they thought that things would what you were supposed to play or sing. I work out. It’s very important to me to was living in L.A. at the time, and I woke maintain principles of what I will and
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Morris was a fixture at Mr. Kelly’s in the mid1950s. will not do musically—I’m not a Top Ten singer. Sometimes you search for hours for a song that you think is more deserving of attention. And they are out there—I certainly haven’t finished Cole Porter and Rogers and Hart yet. I buy everything that I can that I haven’t seen. But all of a sudden another one will turn up. Chicago Jazz Magazine: After you play a gig do you feel energized? For instance, could you play a gig and go to sleep right away? Morris: No way. No way. Chicago Jazz Magazine: So you still get energized by gigs, as long as you’ve been doing them? Morris: Yeah, singing songs of the nature that I sing, you become the person in the song. It’s kind of emotional. I sing sad songs even though I’m not sad, but you get wrapped up in this melancholy and it’s very hard to turn it off sometimes, because after midnight people want to hear the torch songs. And you go along with it for quite awhile and all of a sudden you’re in it, and it’s not that easy to come out of it. Even though it’s not really you, you can still feel the emotion. Chicago Jazz Magazine: There’s kind of an irony there because on one hand it’s an emotional release… Morris: And that’s a luxury. And you don’t have to go to the psychiatrist! [laughs] You feel disencumbered by whatever it is that was bothering you, because you get it out in a song. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Isn’t there also something in knowing that you’ve just transferred a part of who you are to the person listening? Morris: I think that’s important, but I think that what happens is that the people who are listening—if they’ve had an unpleasant experience or an unhappy love affair—I think it gives them a feeling of not being the only one in the world, and that’s pretty comforting: I’m not the only one that feels this lousy. But for me it’s a tremendous outlet, because if something is bothering me I can get it out in the music. Even if you’re not performing in public—sometimes something is really on your mind at home—you can sit down at the piano and play for a while and work it out. You might not find a solution, but at least it’s not bothering you that much—you’ve expressed something. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you play everyday? Morris: No. Maybe I do. I go from room to room and as I pass the piano
sometimes I’ll give the girl a little touch. [laughs] You get very attached to your instrument, regardless what instrument it is. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Let’s talk about your love life. Morris: My love life? Chicago Jazz Magazine: You married a long time Chicago musician, Stu Genovese. Morris: Yes I did; a good musician, who is no longer with us. From the South Side. So aside from that, my love life consists of my four cats. [laughs] Chicago Jazz Magazine: Where did you meet your husband? Morris: I was working with a trio on the South Side, and he knew one of the players in the group. And he was on the road with the band and he stopped in to see his friend. And that’s how we met. Chicago Jazz Magazine: How old were you when you met him? Morris: I was eighteen when I met him, so I was very young. We got married when I was twenty, which was also very young. Chicago Jazz Magazine: So your marriage lasted fifty-four years. You made it past the golden anniversary. That’s wonderful. Morris: Yeah. I was lucky. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Did you and he spend a lot of time performing together? Morris: Very little. Once in a while we would work together, but I don’t think it’s a good plan, because if you do something wrong or if somebody else does something wrong, the husband or the wife is the first one to say, Why did you do that? It’s just one more thing to disagree about. Chicago Jazz Magazine: So you consciously avoided that tension? Morris: I don’t think I necessarily thought of it that way. He was more an orchestra band player and I didn’t work with a six- or seven-piece band. In a short time, I was working alone and I was my own leader, and I knew what I wanted to do… sometimes. [laughs] Chicago Jazz Magazine: There’s that old saying that domesticity is the enemy of the artist. Career-wise was there any reluctance in getting married or did that really never cross your mind? Morris: I don’t guess it did cross my mind at the time that I got married. As time went on you realize there’s a very delicate balance. You learn certain things not to do: you learn that if something quite wonderful happens to you and it doesn’t happen to the other person, or vice-versa, to lay low or whatever. It’s a delicate balance. It’s two different lives: you have one person away from home and the other person at home. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Having children had to change the dynamic of your career. Morris: I started to work less when my son, Stuart, was a baby, because you like to be around and you don’t want to miss those years. But I did continue to work one or two nights a week. And it worked out. I don’t regret it at all. I think it was a good idea. I think parents need to be around, especially because he was always an exuberant child and he
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March/April 2008 got into various degrees of trouble in school and so forth. He was doing things to get attention, for one thing. As a matter of fact, I’ll tell you a secret—I joined the P.T.A.! [laughs] Because at first I thought, These teachers are abusing my angel. Well, once I was around the school I found out what the truth was! [laughs] Chicago Jazz Magazine: Didn’t you have a record contract with Bethlehem prior to having children? Morris: Yes. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Did that in any way interfere with the terms of the contract? Morris: No. No that was… as a matter of fact, something came up today and I was writing to a friend about the man that hired me, and so forth. I was extremely pleased when I was asked to record for them. But even more pleased when I found out that it was going to be with Marty Paich, who did the arranging for that album. He was so brilliant. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Tell us about your recording contract with Bethlehem. How did it come about? Morris: Well, my first contract was with RCA. They were thinking of expanding to a certain degree they wanted to get some singers going and so forth, and they came into the place I was working, called The Streamliner, and asked me if I’d like to record. And of course that scared me to death, but I said sure. So that’s when we did this recording. Chicago Jazz Magazine: What year would that be? Morris: Nineteen fifty-four. I was three years old. [laughs] Morris: On my first album, which was strictly ballads, I was able to do anything I wanted. I got to choose the tunes, et cetera, et cetera, which was very lucky, because sometimes you have to sing something you don’t want to sing or something you don’t like. But they said, “You choose the tunes.” And then, by chance, Red Clyde, the founder of Bethlehem Records, heard it and contacted my manager at the time and said, “Do you think she would like to record for us?” Of course I did, because all of my idols were recording for Bethlehem at the time. It was a little scary, but I was very honored to be asked. Chicago Jazz Magazine: It’s still around as a CD, isn’t it? Morris: Yeah, they keep re-issuing it, which I’m delighted by. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you still get royalties from that recording? Morris: No, that runs out after a given amount of time, but on the original contract I had with them, they gave me “X” amount of dollars to record it and that was it. So I’ve never seen any royalties on that. I don’t care, I didn’t do it for money. Chicago Jazz Magazine: You did it for posterity? Morris: I don’t know about posterity. You do the best you can and hope somebody likes it. Actually, I hate to record, because every mistake you make is there forever. [laughs] Whereas if you are working in a club you can, you know, cough in the middle of a phrase or something and it’s gone. People might remember, but certainly it would be overshadowed by something else. There’s one note—I’m not even going to tell you what it is—but there’s one note on one of my albums that I just cringe when I hear it. Man, it’s just out of tune! I hate to hear it—it’s one of my favorite songs and I won’t listen to it. And it won’t go away. Boy, it will ruin your ears when you hear that one! Chicago Jazz Magazine: After having children, when did you get back into the music scene full-time? Morris: When Stuart graduated from grammar school I started to work full time. In the late seventies. Chicago Jazz Magazine: What was your impression of the music scene compared to when you left it several years earlier? Morris: How can I say this nicely? I felt it had deteriorated somewhat. I didn’t feel it deteriorated, I know it deteriorated! [laughs] It had deteriorated! Chicago Jazz Magazine: What was it that deteriorated? The number of venues, the kind of music people were listening to? Morris: In regard to what you heard on the radio. I feel that the young people nowadays are being cheated to a large degree. There are all the songs with the
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stupid rhymes, if they even are rhymes. I don’t mean to be as arrogant as I may sound on this, but they’re not Rodgers and Hart and they’re not Cole Porter. There isn’t that “art” that is very special—it takes a very special person to be able to create a good lyric. You know, everybody can rhyme “moon” and “June,” and that’s what they are doing now, if they rhyme at all. And some of it is quite hostile, which I think is unfortunate in this day and age. I think the more people love each other the better off they are. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Beyond “unfortunate,” do you think the lyrics are destructive? Morris: I do if somebody’s troubled in some way. I think it can stir up a negative emotion and there’s a possibility that somebody would act on something that they wouldn’t have acted on without that encouragement. Chicago Jazz Magazine: You’ve had so many opportunities over the years to meet some of the legends of jazz. In a lot of cases, people who have been gone now for many years. If you don’t mind, maybe we could talk a little bit about some of the people you’ve known over the years. For example, you recently did a musical tribute to Carmen McRae, whom you knew. Morris: I met Carmen when I was a host at Mr. Kelly’s. She was a total individual. She either she liked you or she didn’t and there was no question and she let you know right away. Chicago Jazz Magazine: What did you think of her singing? Morris: I adore it—absolutely adore it. She was very creative and she had wonderful, wonderful ears. She could do whatever she wanted by way of changing the melody. But even when she was singing you knew how big her heart was
and how much she knew about what she was singing. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Did you know her well? Morris: Yes I did. We were very good friends—very good friends. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Didn’t you get into some trouble together? Morris: Oh yeah, we won’t go into that. [laughs] Chicago Jazz Magazine: We were hoping you would! Morris: Oh, she would call me— maybe the day before she was working— and the phone would ring: Hello, Audrey? This is Carmen. Gather up the troops, we’re going listening tonight. And I’d say, okay. So this one night there were five of us, five ladies. We had planned out where we were going to go. So first we went to hear Dave Reeves, and we stayed there for maybe one or two sets—and it was a winter night: snow up to your knees and cold and so forth. And we decided that we’d go up to Old Town because Sonny Stitt was playing there and Carmen wanted to hear Sonny Stitt—we all wanted to hear Sonny Stitt. So off we went, five ladies, in this car. And in the meantime, I didn’t notice this, but while we were listening to Dave there was a gentleman at the bar. So we were all enraptured in what Dave was doing. Afterward we got into the car and took off. So we’re going down this side street and the snow is up to our knees and we are going very, very slow. And all of a sudden we hear [raps the table twice] “Stop the car!” It’s Carmen. “This guy’s been following us since we left the other place and I’m going to go out and have a little conversation with him.” Well, Carmen had very colorful language, and she got out of the car, went to the driver’s side of his car, and went rap, rap, rap. “Roll down this window! Listen, there’s five of us in this car and there’s only one of you. Now what are you going to do about that?” And with that, he backed up out of all the ruts on this snowy street and we never saw him again. Carmen told it like it was! Chicago Jazz Magazine: Didn’t you meet Frank Sinatra? Morris: That was very brief. A very brief meeting, but I thought he was great fun. And it’s kind of interesting: a friend of ours knew him, Frank Sinatra. Didn’t know him, but knew Jimmy Van Heusen, who was with him all the time—a songwriter, a wonderful songwriter. And so it was after the last show and we were all sitting around this table, which was quite thrilling for me of course: Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Van Heusen, my husband, Stu, myself and my lady friend. And we were having a good time and joking and so forth—it was about five in the morning—and this lady came in, and she was beautiful. She had this cardigan sweater and her hair was all fixed and
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Audrey Morris by Victor Skrebneski ©2006, all rights reserved
her make-up was all in place—she was gorgeous. She looked like she just stepped out of a bandbox. And so she went over to the slot machines, which were, maybe, fifteen feet away from where we were sitting. And she was playing very seriously—put the quarter in the slot, pulled the lever, studied it— she was very precise about what she was doing. She was serious—this was business. So all of a sudden Frank called the waitress over and he said, “Give me a roll of dollars.” So she brought it back. And there was an empty slot machine next to where she was playing, and he leaned on her for maybe five minutes, just staring at her. And you could see this anger growing in her—she was getting pretty hostile and disliking it a whole lot. And she had this bowl of silver dollars, and finally he said, “Honey, we’re moving you up!” And he gave her the roll of silver dollars and off he went. She had no clue who he was! [laughs] Chicago Jazz Magazine: Another great pianist-vocalist was Nat Cole. Morris: I met him briefly, just once. Nat was, of course, one of my all time idols. He was a complete gentleman. Chicago Jazz Magazine: As piano player-singers go, they don’t come any better. Morris: Oh yeah, you’ve got that right. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Another piano player-singer that people like is Dinah Washington, though not everyone realizes she could play. Morris: I love Dinah. One night she came into Mr. Kelly’s and it was after hours. Carmen was working and Dinah came in, and we were all sitting around after the place was closed playing and singing for each other. So Carmen was up in the bandstand, and she didn’t see Dinah come in, and so she had said something—somebody played something that she didn’t like—and she didn’t care what she said or who she said it in front of—
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she just let them know in front of everybody she didn’t like that chord or whatever. So Carmen didn’t know Dinah was there. And it was between sets and we were in the ladies room—Carmen was in one of the stalls and I was standing outside. And all of a sudden the door opened and Dinah goes, “Carmen!” And a little voice answers, “Dinah?” She was afraid of Dinah Washington. [laughs] I love Dinah’s singing. I love both of their singing. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Sarah Vaughan could also play piano. Morris: Yes, she could play. As a matter of fact, when she was with Hines, Father Hines liked to socialize, and so he’d be out talking to people at the tables, and she’d be playing the piano. As a leader, he was supposed to be up there, but as the leader he could also do as he chose. So he was socializing and Sarah was playing the piano. [laughs] Chicago Jazz Magazine: There’s a story about you and Duke Ellington: that when he heard you perform one of his songs he complimented you. Is that true? Morris: Yeah, he said, “You make my song sound pretty.” What a gentleman he was—a charmer and a brilliant man. And Billy Strayhorn was brilliant. Another idol. Very unrecognized for the things that he did. And I don’t think Billy Strayhorn always got the credit he deserved for the things that went on in that band. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Did you ever get a chance to perform with the Ellington big band? Morris: No, I don’t even know if I was good enough at that time. I don’t even know if I’m good enough now! But I never sang with a big band. That would have been terrifying for some reason, I would have fainted dead away. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Peggy Lee? Morris: I adore her. I think she’s great. She knew what she was talking about. And then she had such… she could master any kind of jargon she wanted to deal with. I think she was
JAZZ
great, but boy, she could bring tears to my eyes when she sang some of those ballads. I felt that way from the minute I heard her, when she was singing “Fever.” Chicago Jazz Magazine: Billie Holiday? Morris: I saw her a lot. I have pictures of us together. Yeah, she is an idol of mine. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Tell us what Billy Holiday was like. Morris: On the night that I first met her, I was playing the piano, and the maitre de said, “There is someone here to see you.” And I said, “Where?” He said, “Up at the door.” And I looked up, and there was this lady standing in the door. It was Billie. She said, “I want to sit next to the piano.” Well then she came over, and if you think my knees weren’t knocking together! And she was sitting there and all of a sudden she said, “Move over, I want to sing this with you.” It was a piano bench, not a stool. Well, lucky me, I knew all her songs because I had been listening to her since I was in my teens. So she sat there and she sang with me. And I loved it. So then my husband and I went out to visit her—to listen to her— she was out on the South Side at Calcutta’s Grove. And she called the camera girl—you know, they used to have a camera girl in all the places to take pictures. And she had our picture taken together. She’s written all over this picture—nice things—and I cherish it. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Why do you suppose when it comes to vocalists that so many of the great names that we remember are woman vocalists rather than men? Morris: I’ll have to sort this out. I’m trying to compare the numbers, that’s why I’m being quiet for the moment. [under her breath] Let me see: Frank Sinatra, Nat, Mel Torme indeed, Billy Eckstine… Ella, Carmen, Sarah, Billie, Anita O’Day, Nancy Wilson, June Christie… Yeah, there were more women. Now I’m thinking. Looking back, in the big band days, very often there
AT THE
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March/April 2008
would be a lady vocalist and there would not be a male vocalist. You know, there would be a lady vocalist, and there might be a guy in the orchestra that would come up and sing a little tune or something. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Do you think it was just a matter of the bandleaders wanting somebody attractive out front? Morris: I think that had a lot to do with it, you know, someone in a fancy gown. And maybe I shouldn’t say this— because somebody might come after me and say, What do you mean by that?—but I don’t think they were as creative, because they always sang on the beat as the music played. I mean they got it out, but you didn’t hear that much emotion. I think Audrey with her good friend and fellow singer, Carol March. because they played for Photo by Steve Starr dancers that everything first heard of Judy when she first startwas sung on the beat. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Let’s talk ed. I went to hear her and I was extremeabout a couple of Chicagoans that you ly impressed. I love the way she plays— know very well—Johnny Frigo and Joe I love her singing too, but her playing is Vito. You did an album with them, didn’t so “Judy.” It’s always right and it’s full of surprises. you? Chicago Jazz Magazine: When you Morris: Yeah, and it was wonderful. That was a thrill for me to record with recorded together is she playing behind them. I think that it is so sad that John your singing? Morris: Yes, that’s just a start of a is no longer with us, but he certainly left a tremendous legacy: an absolutely mar- new CD. And it’s a great pleasure to sing velous violin player, and he wrote some with her. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Why is quite nice songs too. And so far as Joe is concerned, I love sing with Joe and I love she a good accompanist for singers? Morris: She has E.S.P. about where to be around Joe. He has the biggest heart in the world and he is great fun. you are going. And she’s right there with And he wants everyone to think he is a you. She knows what you are about to clown, but he is one of the most brilliant do, and she’s right there. And sometimes she rephrases something and it opens up men I have ever met. Chicago Jazz Magazine: How a whole new door for you as your sitting about some more recent people in there and, Oh, I wasn’t thinking of that, Chicago who are some of your favorite and then all of a sudden something new happens. musicians these days? Chicago Jazz Magazine: When you Morris: Well, Joe Vito for one. Judy Roberts. I wish she would come back sing, do you think your vocals are better home because I think she is absolutely when you accompany yourself or when marvelous. There are all kinds of people you’re accompanied and can focus solely from Chicago that are very proud that on your singing? Morris: Maybe it should be the other they live here, because there is a certain something that Chicago musicians have. way around, but I think I feel more freeIt’s the Chicago style—I’m used to it and dom when I’m playing for myself. Because my phrasing is kind of eccentric so I love it. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Talk at times—and I think it’s a problem with about Judy a little bit. Didn’t you just drummers in particular—but I’m a late phraser, and so I would not be coming in record with her? Morris: Yes, we recorded three songs. when they expected, and they’d be laying They are the start of an… I was going to back. And pretty soon the tempo was say “album.” That’s an old way of saying slower, and then I would have to say, Don’t listen to me, just keep time—I’ll be a “CD.” Chicago Jazz Magazine: And will there. You know, in your head the beat is the album be just you and Judy or are always there. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Is there you going to include other artists? Morris: I’ve been thinking of a few any part of your career that we haven’t other people and a few other songs. I’ve touched on that you think deserves note? Morris: I don’t know maybe that part got to get busy on that now and get it finished. I know what the title is going to be is still coming up. Chicago Jazz Magazine: You are but I won’t tell you. I know what the name of the song is going to be on it but not someone to talk about yourself in I won’t tell you, because then you will tell terms of your accomplishments, are you? Morris: I don’t know, I just think I’m all my rivals. [laughs] Chicago Jazz Magazine: What is it very lucky to have been able to make a that makes Judy Roberts a great musi- living doing what I wanted to do. I’m grateful for that. cian? ■CJM Morris: She is a great musician! I