Thomas Morris Past Jazz Masters - The Original Charleston Strut

Thomas Morris (August 30, 1897 – 1945) was an American jazz cornetist. Born in New York in 1898, jazz critic Scott Yanow noted that Morris's primitive style was "an excellent example of how New York brass players sounded before the rise of Louis Armstrong". Morris' many recordings include dates with Clarence Williams, Charlie Johnson, Fats Waller and many jazz and blues singers including Mamie Smith, Eva Taylor and Sippie Wallace. His most notable dates were with his band, the Seven Hot Babies, resulting in eight songs in 1923 and ten in 1926. For a time, Morris served as a porter at Grand Central Station. In the last few years of his life, Morris became associated with Father Divine's strict religious movement, changing his name to Brother Pierre. This was a predominately African American fundamentalist Christian cult that believed in the equality of all people and that the leader of the group, Father Divine was the second coming of Christ. The Universal Peace Mission Movement demanded a life of celibacy, no smoking, drinking, obscenity, profanity, vulgarity, receiving of gifts, presents, and tips. Thomas Morris was the uncle of Jazz pianist Marlowe Morris. As for this hot recording (an acoustical side of most remarkable technical quality), it was waxed in 1923.