Steve Morrison-Reviews

“Confident and varied and accomplished set of songs ranging from virtuoso Spanish guitar to train whistle blues, dipping into reggae, music hall, good old fashioned pop and whatever else the store-cupboard had to offer. Breathy vocals suggest Tom Waits covering cast-off Martin Stephenson tracks. In a better world this man would already be a legend.”

Musician Magazine

“If you closed your eyes you would have thought they had sneaked on a slap bass player, such is the virtuosity of Steve’s guitar playing. Steve performs with a definitive blues voice, which is creamy rich and crisp.”

Helen Rich - Blues In Britain

There are three things about Mr. Morrison that need to be said. The first is that his command of unusual tunings and the slide are in a class all by themselves; people who maintain they keep hearing two guitars on Robert Johnson records obviously haven’t heard Steve Morrison. A shadow of a doubt about possible overdubs will inevitably remain with a contemporary studio CD, but I quite honestly kept hearing three guitar parts live and in person – and yes he does sing, too

Secondly, Steve Morrison is one of the most purely musical guitarists I know, using his bluesy slide to weave together rockabilly rhythms, jazzy melodies and folksy chords. Every note is there for a reason – there are no extensive solos here, no hi-fi guitar processors and earth-shattering volume levels, no fast-finger noodling for the sake of showing off. Of course, Steve doesn’t need to show off – the Malmsteens and the Bonamassas can’t touch him, and he knows it.

Which leads to the third thing: Steve Morrison is very obviously his own man. That goes for both the songwriter and the interpreter: whether performing songs by artists as diverse as Lightnin’ Hopkins, Canned Heat or George Gershwin (all represented on this CD) or presenting one of his own compositions (which account for half the album), he sounds unmistakably like Steve Morrison from London, England, his Britishness further stressed by his restrained vocals and thoughtful lyrics.

It would take too long to go over this 10-track CD one song at a time, so let’s just say the material ranges from solo to full-band tracks, with my personal tastes leaning slightly towards the sparser arrangements. And that on one hand, I wish there were more original Morrison compositions included, but on the other, I would not dream of having any of these wonderful covers omitted.

The verdict: if you have any interest in contemporary blues guitar and slide guitar in particular, your CD collection won’t be complete without this disc. And if you would just like to know what’s happening in the blues between the Black Keys and the Sweet Home Chicagos, you can’t afford to miss it, either.

ANDRES ROOTS

Steve Morrison: One Step At A Time. Blues Abuse Music, 2008

Steve Morrison (guitars and vocals), Al Richardson (harmonica), Tom Fairs (bass), Roy Tempest (bass), Richard Ansell (piano), Al Hughes (drums).

Reviews

“Steve’s pounding right thumb sets the rhythm and bass on his mish-mash Fender dropped to the thunderous low ’C’ open tuning. His right fingers pull out the melodies at the same time (how does he do that?) with a tone of honey poured over toasted marshmallow.”

Mike Windus - Blues In London

“Steve Morrison scores some points with his discretion, which gives the impression of never having played a single wrong note in his life. Every time he attacks the strings he seems to treat music as an exact science (this is a compliment), as if there was no other note to take the place of the one he selects. “

Coimbra Blues Festival - By Gonçalo Frota

“A virtuoso slide-guitar player born in London and of Scottish parentage, intertwined, like very few, traditional USA Blues riffs with sounds related to rich Celtic music. The folk tones gave an unusual accent to the sounds of black culture. Original, melodic and beautiful.”

Américo Sarmento - Empresa do Jornal de Notícias S. A.

I first heard Steve Morrison at Oliver’s in Greenwich, London in December 2006, where he was accompanied by harpist Al Richardson. I was stunned. This summer, I saw Mr. Morrison again as a solo act on the main stage of the Augustibluus festival in Estonia; sandwiched between bigger and louder bands, he literally stole the show, breaking all CD sales records since 1993 in the process. In fact, he sold all the albums he had with him, so I ended up waiting a few weeks for my review copy to arrive by mail – but it was well worth the wait!

Photo by Nadia Anufrijeva