One
advantage to making a belated debut is the depth of life experience that
enriches an artist's work. Scott Morgan may be a name new to listeners outside
of New York City, where he's garnered a devoted following for his moving live
performances, but Songs of Life reveals a vocalist with a lifelong passion for
and immersion in music. The title reflects both a songbook developed over a
lifetime's listening and performing, but also Morgan's expressive
interpretations, deeply imbued with the loves and losses that accumulate over a
life well lived.
The
repertoire on Songs of Life (September 12 via Miranda Music) span the spectrum
from Great American Songbook standards to pop classics by revered songwriters
like James Taylor and The Beatles to more recent contributions by
pianist/composer Fred Hersch, Morgan's partner in both life and music. Hersch's
sensitive accompaniment can be heard throughout Songs of Life, along with the
singer's flexible, supportive rhythm section of bassist Matt Aronoff and
drummer Ross Pederson. The impeccably eloquent tenor saxophone of Joel Frahm
graces three tracks, while Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel is Morgan's duo
partner for the soaring "I'll Follow," with lyrics by Morgan to
Hersch's piece "Mandevilla."
"Every
song has its own story," Morgan says, "and I hope that when people
listen to the record they can identify with some if not many of the songs in a
personal way. Everybody's had unrequited love as well as fulfilling
relationships. And I imagine most people have suffered existential angst as
well - so Songs of Life is a musical photo album of the touchstones in our
lives."
Some of the
songs in particular offer snapshots of very vivid memories from Morgan's past.
The breathtaking coupling of Dave Catney's "Little Prayer" and the
Lerner and Loewe standard "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" is a particular
standout. The first half is the work of a jazz pianist/composer who passed away
from complications of AIDS, sung by Morgan in memory of a friend lost to the
disease in the 1980s. The latter half wistfully captured the imagined dreams of
a woman that Morgan met while traveling in Tanzania, widowed by HIV and living
in a mud hut. "She took me into her house and fed me though she had
nothing at all," he recalls. "I thought that from her perspective,
wouldn't it be lovely to have heat, chocolate, someone to care about."
Morgan
brings the same profound humanity and empathy to all of his work. In part, his
gift for storytelling and capturing character in song stems from his earliest
experiences with music, performing in musical theater productions in his native
Sarasota, Florida. "Without my musical theater background I wouldn't be
able to tell the stories the way that I'm able to tell them, particularly in
live performance," Morgan says. "It's very easy for singers to just
get up and run through the songs jazz singers are expected to sing, but I try
to make every song special and really engage the audience with what's going on
in the story."
After
playing piano and singing throughout his time at Florida State University,
Morgan took a 15-year break from music while he concentrated on his career in
the technology and then in the nonprofit sector, a pursuit that continues to be
rewarding off the stage. It was his arrival in New York City in 2001 that led
to his reengagement with music, which was only fueled further a few months
later when he met Hersch and was ushered into the thriving NYC jazz scene. He
studied with influential modern jazz singers like Kate McGarry, Peter Eldridge
and Rene Marie, gaining confidence from their encouragement and from the
enthusiastic response of audiences as he performed live. Hersch says, "I
always knew Scott was a great musician - I am glad that he is now finding that
out for himself."
"I've
always been close to music, and I was looking for a creative outlet to round
out my life," Morgan explains. "I felt like all I was doing was
working, working, working, so music started calling me back. I never thought it
would turn into anything initially, but I gradually got more serious and my
desire to do something more with music than just sing around the house started
to grow."
If the arc
of Songs of Life can be seen as the story of a life, then it's clear that in
Morgan's view love, in its many facets, is central to existence. The album
begins with a brisk romp through "It's You or No One," a lively ode
to fidelity by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne with a dazzling vocalese lyric by
Morgan to a classic Chet Baker solo. New romance is celebrated on "I Just
Found About Love" and "This Heart of Mine," while Dori Caymmi's
bossa nova classic "Like a Lover," performed in an intimate duo with
Hersch, luxuriates in the morning light on a lover's face. The first of two
James Taylor compositions on the album, "Don't Let Me Be Lonely
Tonight," becomes a poignant plea for connection. The second, "Secret
O' Life," resonates with Morgan's Buddhist leanings in its celebration of
being present in the moment.
The album
closes with The Beatles' "I Will," rendered in Morgan and Hersch's
duo performance as a tender promise of devotion. Its sentiments are echoed in
Morgan's lyrics to Hersch's music on "I'll Follow," with Morgan and
Siegel painting a vivid portrait of two people in love worthy of a Broadway
stage. "It's a story about how when two lives and loves intertwine with
each other, things can happen in a beautiful way," Morgan explains.
All of the
moments that have inspired Songs of Life are expressed with the same sense of
beauty and passion. Like the love stories woven throughout the album, Morgan's
auspicious debut combines the thrill of the new with the wisdom and depth of
feeling that can only come from a lifetime of experience.
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