Bruce Morris Bruce Morris conceives of  musical performances as musicians conceive of a composition: he finds a theme and then arranges around that theme.  Only with Bruce, the theme is a composer and the arrangements are musicians.  In the mid 1980ís  he FOUNDED Convection around Matt Shipp (PIANIST, COMPOSER)and arranged a group which comprised Abdul Wadud, Aku Dixon Turre, Steve McCall, Kaneo Yamashita, William Parker, and Leo Smith.

THEN, BRUCE FOUNDED the Renaissance String Ensemble. THAT  group OF NEW YORK MUSICIANS performed the works of 19th and 20th century African American classical composers. He now blends his PASSION FOR CONTINUITY AND INNOVATION with performance ideas centered on Trudy Silver, a pianist and composer WITH STRONG CLASSICAL EDUCATION.

A living example of Bruceís vision is the creation, with Trudy Silver, of the 5C Cultural Center.  5C IS CURRENTLY TRAINING MUSICIANS FOR THE FUTURE BY OFFERING low cost music classes.  A performance venue for poetry, music and  theater, 5C features  emerging artists as well as great masters. 5C ALSO HAS AN ONGOING DISPLAY OF exquisite photographs of musicians, out of print books,  rare records, independent labeled COMPACT DISKS, cassette tapes and other cultural artifacts.

Trudy Silver leads listeners through dark forays into repetitive rhythms that, although written in conventional western notation, are used as launching pads to explore uncharted territories. Her fully honed compositional devices clearly affect the mode of travel and eventual destination for the musicians in solo and collective improvisation.
 
Certain melodies and motifs have become part of Trudyís compositional vocabulary since her early classical training as a child in the 1960s under Maria Louisa Fiani , who later became head of Oberlinís Piano Department. Trudy was Fianiís only child student.

Further compositional studies with the German composer Armin Loos helped Trudy draw connections between the European sensibility and Bill Evans, Sun Ra, Andrew Hill and Don Pullen. Growing up in Connecticut, she was drawn to Weslyan Universityís sphere of influence, which, for her, included   Marion Brown,  Abraham Kobena Adzinyah,  Ed Blackwell, The Gamelon Orchestra and Leo Smith.

At the State University of New York at Old Westbury, Trudy studied with Makanda Ken McIntyre. He stressed, among other things, the power of music to change or motivate listeners. From that training evolved Trudyís sense of the social responsibility of the contemporary artist.

As a music educator, Trudy has broken ground  by developing methods to help voluntarily mute children in New York Public Schools. At Hunter College she has trained teachers in the use of these voice execution techniques.  She is currently teaching at a performing arts high school in the INTERNATIONALLY famous Town Hall.
 
 
 
RECORDINGS of Trudy Silver

CDs:
Silver Plays  Stork  CD1028 recorded 1994
Focused Trudy Silver and Kaneo Yamashita (unreleased) recorded 1998

LP:
Heroes/Heroines  Open Sky ST01 recorded 1986

Tapes:
Trudy Silver Live in Hamburg with Olaf Plotz  (unreleased) recorded 1992
In Flight  (a Stork compilation)    Stork 1025
For Brother Bruce William Connell and Trudy Silver  Stork V101 recorded 1991
Conversations Trudy Silver with Melene Bey   Stork V10X  recorded 1995
Even the Sounds Are Blue  Jeanne Lee with Trudy Silver Miyoshi Smith- A205 recorded 1993
 
 
 
CONTACT INFO:   212-477-5993