The Gregory Morris Group

Artist Information

Biography

The Gregory Morris Group (Cincinnati, Ohio) combines fundamental elements of a traveling storyteller, jazz influenced dynamic percussion, bittersweet folk roots and east coast horn creating a bastion of invention that shanghais the senses into a hyper real environment rich with [un]savory characters. One part jazz, one part folk, one part punk, one part rock, but it's really all about the songs. Bank robberies, pregnant pirates, time travelers, voodoo spells, allegory and plain old sex drugs and rock n roll conspire to reveal a world of simple feelings in exotic places. A broken heart by any other name...

A genuine enjoyment of the art and the opportunity to play together keeps the music and the performer fresh and sincere and the songs, like any good story, can never really be told the same way twice.

The Cincinnati quartet was nominated for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award (2005) and has played with such musicians as Katie Reider (Columbus, Ohio), Edie Carey (New York), Allison Tartalia (New York) the Katie Todd Band (Chicago), Ralph Jones Band (Lexington, KY), Stephanie's Id (Asheville, NC), Adam Evil & the Outside Royalty (Pittsburgh) and many local favorites including The Walker Project, Buckra, Len's Lounge, Emily Strand, and Derrick Sanderson's Soul Expression. GMG has also been featured at MidPoint Music Festival 2004, 2005, and 2006. WinterStar, Starwood, and Chicks Rock Fest 2005.

GMG is currently working on their 2nd full length album, RoofTop, BoomBox, UFO, to be released late 2008.

Instrumentation

Jay Ensminger - saxophones, keys, flute, voice
Katherine Monnig - percussion, drums, rhythm, things you hit
Gregory Morris - guitars, violin, mandolin, voice
Michael Sadoff - bass, mandolin, banjo, voice

Discography

Houses in the Sky - May 2005
Never Enough for You and Baylight Lullabye can be heard on WNKY 89.7 FM in greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentuky area.

Official Website

http://www.gregorysmusic.com/

Audio

• Bad Day
  Listen   Download
• Never enough for You
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• After the Movie
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• Friend I never Had
  Listen   Download
• Long Road Home
  Listen   Download

Lyrics

• Long Road Home
• Houses in the Sky
• Baylight Lullaby

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Excerpt from Cincinnati's City Beat [+ Show ]
  

  Playful, fluid, spontaneous, sometimes frantic but always cool. The band's primary instigator and na...Playful, fluid, spontaneous, sometimes frantic but always cool. The band's primary instigator and namesake, Morris is a self-taught guitarist who's been at it for 20 years, forging his unique style and adding other stringed instruments such as violin, mandolin and sitar to his repertoire. He plays each of these right-hand-strung instruments left-handed, and therefore upside-down. As a songwriter, his world is equally topsy-turvy, cobbling jazzy acoustic melodies into oddly structured songs, not freeform, but rarely formulaic. His poetic lyrics reflect a childhood rich with travel (he was a P&G kid who grew up all over Europe) and always evoke a specific setting, even if it is not explicitly described.
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  Cincinnati City Beat Interview by Ezra Waller
  http://www.citybeat.com/2004-07-14/musiclocalsonly.shtml

• Murder Creek [+ Show ]
  

  These guys frequent the Murder Creek Assembly for good reason. It's not the upside down backwards sm...These guys frequent the Murder Creek Assembly for good reason. It's not the upside down backwards smooth as jazz frenetic as Django guitar playing of leader Gregory Morris or the tight and versatile rhythm section of Mike and Katie, but the cool, progressive blues seated groovey folk they lay down.
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  Jeff Roberson
  Len's Lounge
  Host of the Murder Creek Assembly

• I thought he was playing git-tar all wrong. [+ Show ]
  

  I used to live with Greg. We jammed a lot while I was there. At first, seeing him pick up a right-ha...I used to live with Greg. We jammed a lot while I was there. At first, seeing him pick up a right-handed guitar, flip it over, and play it left-handed, I thought he was playing git-tar all wrong. After a while I realized it was me who was playing it wrong.
  --------------------
  Mark Szabo
  Cincinnati Veteran
  Working for The Man
  Playing with Whitney Barricklow/Chris Walker™, Kohai, and The JC3

• Garageband.com Reviews [+ Show ]
  

  Garageband reviews of a solo recording of Baylight Lullaby Best ranking: #11 of 147 in Blues on Sep...Garageband reviews of a solo recording of Baylight Lullaby
  Best ranking: #11 of 147 in Blues on September 9th 2004
  Track Of the Day on August 7th 2004
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  fantastic
  wonderful guitar work throughout this tune. the licks are thoughtful and played with feeling. i love the lead singer. he reminds me of a mix between los lobos and jack johnson. this is a great piece of music, and i'd love to hear more from this performer.
  Reviewed by: popinskijazz from New Orleans, Louisiana
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  A breeze of Havana freshness
  I really like this. I love the attitude of the vocals. A lot of presence. That's pretty rare. The guitar is absolutely sublime (especially considering he's playing solo). Makes me want to play rythm behind him. The lyrics are classic, for all that's worth. Simple but effective.
  - jf_mo
  Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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  Melancholy magic
  Lovely Spanish intro. Nice vocal although I was more captured by what the guitar was doing than the particular lyrics so I will listen again. It's great that it's sparse. Any more instruments would have made it cheesy. It would have been nice to hear the guitar licks even clearer. Sounds like a haunting version of Cat Stevens which is not faint praise.
  Extra Credit: Beat, Mood.
  - Garoupa
  Lamma Island, Hong Kong
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  HOT Spanish Pepper Tune!!!
  This is really cool! Great guitar harmonies on the guitars. For a bare bones recording of guitar and vocal this is absolutely splendid. The vocal cut right through and fit this spanish flavored gem to a tee. This is a 5 star gumbo, sambo yes o REO!!!
  Extra Credit: Male Vocals, Guitars, Production, Lyrics, Beat, Mood, Originality, Most Rocking Track.
  - stringman3
  Parker, Colorado

• "The Sky" Drops - CD review [+ Show ]
  

  "The Sky" Drops The Gregory Morris Group releases its new CD, Houses in the Sky, Saturday at the ...
  "The Sky" Drops
  The Gregory Morris Group releases its new CD, Houses in the Sky, Saturday at the York Street Café in Newport. The release party also features performances from P.J. Herrington and Foxy McCoy.
  
  It is nothing short of sheer joy to hear an artist's new CD and then become a hardcore fan after one listen. Houses in the Sky made a hardcore GMG fan out of me. Sensual. Evocative. Emotionally and lyrically eloquent. A treat for the ears and a feast for the rest of your senses. The Greg Morris Group is Jay Ensminger (sax, piano, flute, vocals), Michael Sadoff (bass, banjo, vocals), Katherine Monnig (percussion) and Morris himself on guitars/violin/mandolin/vocals. Houses was a long time in the making -- recorded from September 2004 to March of this year -- and the long haul to completion really paid off, as the production is pristine, but far from sterile. The songs are a potluck dinner of jazzy international dishes served up by gypsies passing for servants in the big house. And that's truly what the GMG plays -- roving gypsy music with a Rock edge. The songs range from the Latin groove of "Baylight Lullabye" and the ingenious Celtic Jazz flute/Rock guitar combo of "Long Road Home" to the Parisian vibe of "Josephine" and everything in between. Morris is not so much a songwriter (although he's that too ... and a damn fine one) as he is a troubadour, and his raw-edged tenor suits his picturesque tales perfectly. It's music played expertly, but with passion and fire. Do yourself a big favor and live in Houses in the Sky for a while. For more on the group, go to gregorysmusic.com. (Dale Johnson)

Setlist

GMG sets usually span between 45-60 minutes long (depending on the event), consisting of 8-10 songs. They can chose from a repertoire of over 50 original songs and growing. No covers. Currently audiences will most likely hear songs from the groups latest album such as:

Baylight Lullaby
Long Road Home
After the Movie
Temple Tooth
Friend I never Had
City On the Hill
Josephine
never enough for you
lunchtime bandit
Houses in the sky

as well as hits like

North East Kingdom
Bottle Green Waters
PTA
All around this Town
Red Wine and Chocolate
Fortunes Flame
Fool for Love
Vanity
Shiny Old Soul
Kite
Quazimodo

and many more

Basic Requirements

Calendar