Morrissey–Mullen were a British
jazz-funk
Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat (groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creatio ...
/fusion group of the 1970s and 1980s.
[
Considered one of the most popular jazz groups in London, the band was led by ]Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin Morrissey (9 May 1940 – 8 November 2000) was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and flute.
Biography Background
He was born in Horley, Surrey, England. Dick Morrissey emerg ...
on tenor and soprano saxes and flute, and Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen (born 26 November 1945) is a Scottish, Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum.
Biography
Jim Mullen was guitarist with Pete Brown & Piblok ...
on guitar, who joined forces in 1975, playing together for sixteen years, during which they came to be known as "Mr Sax and Captain Axe" because of their hallmark call and response
Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...
style between guitar and saxophone.
History
The band began in New York City where Dick Morrissey and Jim Mullen were recording and touring with their mutual friends in the Average White Band
The Average White Band (also known as AWB) are a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track " Pick Up the Pieces", and their album ...
and Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (incl ...
.
''Up'' (Atlantic, 1977) included Average White Band as a rhythm section, Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive P ...
and Cissy Houston
Emily "Cissy" Houston ( ''née'' Drinkard; born September 30, 1933) is an American soul and gospel singer. After a successful career singing backup for such artists as Roy Hamilton, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin, Houston embar ...
on vocals, and New York session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
s. A six-week residency at Mikell's Mikell's was a jazz club on the corner of 97th Street and Columbus Avenue, in New York City.
Run by Mike MikellJon Pareles"Mike Mikell, 80, Owner of an Influential R&B and Jazz Club, Dies" ''The New York Times'', November 21, 2005. and Pat Mikell, ...
in New York City attracted Boz Scaggs
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until h ...
, David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 1 ...
, Steve Gadd
Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the ''Modern D ...
, Steve Ferrone
Steve Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Average Whi ...
, Richard Tee
Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", "Slip ...
, George Benson
George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...
, Ray Barretto
Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Lati ...
,[''Billboard'']
23 October 1976 Vol. 88, N.º 43 Nielsen Business Media, Inc. ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...
, and Randy Brecker
Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B.
Early life
Brecker was born on Nov ...
.
On their return to the United Kingdom, Morrissey–Mullen concentrated on the small-club/pub circuit, including a residency at The Half Moon, Putney for many years.
In 1979, Morrissey–Mullen recorded an instrumental version "Love Don't Live Here Anymore
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is a song written by Miles Gregory and originally recorded by Rose Royce. It was produced by former Motown songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield for Whitfield Records. Lead vocals were sung by Gwen Dickey a ...
", originally a hit for Rose Royce
Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B group. They are best known for several hit singles during the 1970s including "Car Wash", " I Wanna Get Next to You", " I'm Going Down", "Wishing on a Star", and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore".
Career
Th ...
, backed with a piece by Jim Mullen entitled "Don't You Worry" - released as a 12-inch single, EMI 12DIG 1001, this was significant in being the first non-classical 100% digitally recorded and mastered record released by EMI
Morrissey–Mullen's backing band included British jazz musicians such as Martin Drew
Martin Drew (11 February 1944 – 29 July 2010) was an English jazz drummer who played with Ronnie Scott between 1975 and 1995 and with Oscar Peterson between 1974 and 2007.
Career
Martin Drew was born on 11 February 1944 in Northampton, Engla ...
, David Sheen, Chris Ainsworth, Tony Beard, Neil Wilkinson, John Mole, Clive Chaman, John McKenzie, Joe Hubbard, Trevor Barry, and Pete Jacobsen
Pete Jacobsen (16 May 1950 – 29 April 2002),
Retrieved 5 December 2011.
, John Critchinson
John William Frank Critchinson (24 December 1934 – 15 December 2017) also known as "Critch", was an English jazz pianist.
Biography
Critchinson was born in London in 1934. He worked as a part-time musician with Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, and J ...
, Martin Blackwell, Geoff Castle, and John Burch (with whom Dick Morrissey would form an octet in 1984). Although members of the band had included two session musicians from New Zealand, Frank Gibson Jr.
Frank Gibson Jr. (born 1946) is a New Zealand jazz drummer and drum tutor. His father, also Frank Gibson, was drummer and leader of the first rock’n’roll band in the country, Frank Gibson's Rock’n’Rollers.
Before going to the UK in 197 ...
on drums and Bruce Lynch
Bruce Lynch (born 1 June 1948, in New Zealand) is an electric and acoustic bassist, producer and arranger.
Music career
Arriving in the UK in the mid-1970s, Lynch became a commercially successful session musician, touring extensively with C ...
on bass, the band was also a springboard for a generation of young British musicians, including Chris Fletcher on percussion, Henry Thomas on bass, Gary Husband
Gary Husband (born 14 June 1960) is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist, keyboard player and bandleader. He is also a composer, arranger and producer.
Husband is a member of John McLaughlin's group The 4th Dimension, he also regularly pe ...
on drums, Rob Burns
Rob Burns (born Robert George Henry Burns, 24 February 1953), earlier also known as Robbie Burns, is an English-born New Zealand bass player, author and academic. Burns' career spans five decades, encompassing musical genres such as pop, rock, ...
on bass, Claire Hamill
Josephine Claire Hamill (born 4 August 1954) is an English singer-songwriter. In addition to her solo career, she has collaborated with Wishbone Ash and Yes's Steve Howe.
Life and career
Claire Hamill was born in Port Clarence, County Durham ...
and Carol Kenyon
Carol Kenyon (sometimes spelt Karol; born 1959) is a British singer. She is best known for her vocals on the Heaven 17 hit song "Temptation", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1983. When the song was re-released as a remix by ...
on vocals (both on whom appeared with Dick Morrissey on the 1981 Jon & Vangelis
Jon and Vangelis was a music collaboration between British rock singer Jon Anderson (lead vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes) and Greek synthesiser musician Vangelis. The duo released four albums between 1980 and 1991.
History
In 1974, V ...
album ''The Friends of Mr Cairo
The Friends of Mr Cairo is the second album by Jon and Vangelis, released in 1981. There are two editions of the album, with different sleeves. Both were released in 1981 within a few weeks of each other. The title track, "The Friends of Mr Cai ...
''), Tessa Niles
Tessa Margaret Niles ( ''née'' Webb; born 27 January 1961 in Ilford, Essex) is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of contemporary artists. She began her professional singing career in 1979.
Early life and ca ...
, Linda Taylor, and Noel McCalla
Noel McCalla (born 5 November 1956, in London, England) is a British rock singer. He was the lead vocalist for the rock group Manfred Mann's Earth Band from 1991 until 2009.
Early life
McCalla was born to Hubert Sylvester McCalla, a minister in ...
.
Morrissey's failing health required too many visits to hospital for the band to be viable. When the band dissolved in 1988, Mullen and Morrissey continued meeting for jam sessions with what they called "Our Band", usually with the same musicians that had accompanied them in the past. They appeared at the 1991 Cork Jazz Festival in the Metropole Hotel in Cork, Ireland.
Morrissey died on 8 November 2000, aged 60, after many years fighting various forms of cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
.
Discography
*1976: ''Up'' (Embryo
An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...
)
*1979: ''Cape Wrath''
*1981: '' Badness'' – UK No. 43
*1982: ''Life on the Wire
''Life on the Wire'' is the fourth studio album by British jazz-funk duo Morrissey–Mullen, released in 1982 by Beggars Banquet Records. It peaked at No. 47 in the UK Albums Chart.Guinness World Records''British Hit Singles & Albums'', p. 34.Guin ...
'' – UK No. 47
*1983: '' It's About Time'' – UK No. 95
*1985: '' This Must Be the Place''
*1988: ''Happy Hour''
References
External links
*Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrissey-Mullen
Jazz fusion ensembles
British jazz ensembles
Harvest Records artists