Antennae (album)

Antennae is an album by the American jazz guitarist Joe Morris, recorded in 1997 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. It features a trio with Jerome Deupree, who was the original drummer in the rock band Morphine and played with Morris on some of his early Riti albums, and bassist Nate McBride. The pieces on Antennae took their inspiration from a collection of visual graphic aids created by Lowell Davidson, a pianist with whom Morris worked fairly extensively before his death in 1990.^[1]

Antennae
Studio album by Joe Morris
Released	1997
Recorded	July 5 & 6, 1997
Studio	The Outpost, Stoughton, MA
Genre	Jazz
Length	73:59
Label	AUM Fidelity
Producer	Joe Morris, Steven Joerg
Joe Morris chronology
Invisible Weave (1997) Antennae (1997) Racket Club (1998)

Regarding the track titled "Stare Into a Lightbulb for Three Years," Morris stated that, given Davidson's background as a biochemist, "I figured he was always trying to reconstitute the biochemistry of his brain. The story of him staring into a lightbulb for three years is something he actually did. This chrome painted lightbulb, with little dots on a piece of aluminum foil, he stared into it so that the shapes, as he said, would burn into his synapses."^[2]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
DownBeat	[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[5]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz states: "The tracks on Antennae are among the most intense Morris has produced. He seems more inclined to dwell on notes and to explore the light and shade that gather between attack and delay."^[5] The DownBeat review by John Corbett thought that "Antennae is a rich trio outing from Morris, who continues to stretch jazz guitar into strange, beautiful new shapes."^[4]

Track listing

All compositions by Joe Morris

1. "Synapse" – 8:17
2. "Antennae" – 13:21
3. "Silent Treatment" – 7:35
4. "Stare Into a Lightbulb for Three Years" – 13:30
5. "Human Pyramid" – 9:22
6. "Elevator" – 15:09
7. "Virtual Whatever" – 6:45

Personnel

• Joe Morris - guitar
• Nate McBride – bass
• Jerome Deupree – drums

References

1. Antennae at AUM Fidelity
2. Weiss, Jason (2012). Always in Trouble: An Oral History of ESP-Disk, the Most Outrageous Record Label in America. Wesleyan University Press. p. 215.
3. Ankeny, Jason. Joe Morris – Antennae: Review at AllMusic. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
4. Corbett, John. Antennae review. DownBeat March 98: page 46. Print.
5. Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (6th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 1070. ISBN 0140515216.