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Steve Morse Part 1 Introduction Alright, in case you are wondering what this is all about: this basically is a tribute to Steve Morse, kind of a portrait of this very unique and remarkable musician. It also is a trilogy... this first part focusses on Steveīs biography, influences, gear and discography. Part II will focus on Steveīs guitar playing, Iīll present you some of his coolest and most interesting licks, while Part III will deal with Steve as a composer and arranger, plus it will feature some general thoughts on Steve and his music... I hope I can maybe get some of you to get interested in Steves music... check it out ! Well, why am I doing this? Basically, I have been into Steves music for a very long time, and Iīd really consider him an influence on my playing. Since Steve is touring the States quite a lot with all kinds of different bands ( the Dregs, SMB etc ) I had a chance to meet him quite a few times, and I also got to know some of his bandmates at least a bit. One time, after one of the shows I was sitting with Steve in the lobby of the venue, and we were talking. Right then I realized once again that it is true what many people have said about Steve in the past: he is one of the nicest guys in the biz, who really tries to do everything for his fans, and he never behaves like a rockstar... you know, never seems to have attitude problems. A very nice, humble man. He also is one of the most hard working guys in the biz, playing out almost all the time, constantly involved in several projects. I personally consider him one of the most versatile players in the world, his technique is just jaw-dropping, his dedication and determination very motivating, and his attitude and outlook on life is at least to me, quite inspiring. So lemme start telling you a bit more about Mr. Morse... Some biographical information... This is a rather loose, short biography. There are several great sites on the web dedicated to Steve. If you need more info, go look for them, check them out. Steve was born and Ohio, but he and his family moved to Georgia pretty soon, where he started to play the guitar and soon formed his first band. His early influences included the Beatles, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page a.m.o. He later went to study at the University of Miamiīs School of Music, where he studied with players like Juan Mercandel and Pat Metheny while hanging out with Jaco Pastorius quite a few times, too. It was then that he formed the Dixie Dregs (which were mostly inspired by the Mahavishnu Orchestra) and they recorded "The Great Spectacular" there, a demo which nowadays is very much a collectors item. Throughout the next years the Dregs recorded several albums and soon had a dedicated following. They toured all over the States, and even played the famous Montreux Jazz Festival (where the B-side of the "Night Of The Living Dregs" album was recorded). Their albums became underground classics, and for many music fans they are some of the most important progressive rock- and fusion-albums. The Dregs never were megaselling acts like other bands from that period, but they infuenced many artists that are very popular today. Players like John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Jimmy Herring (Jazz Is Dead, Allman Bros...), Jon Finn, Reb Beach and many others consider Steve and the Dregs as one of their main influences. However, throughout the late 70īs the Dregs toured all over the place and interrupted those periods of touring only to record new material. They later experimented with vocalists (a short-lived attempt to become more of a household-name, to be heard on the "Industry Standard" album), until they eventually split up due to personal problems and the money-situation. This was the end of that first Dregs-era. Steve was the musical head of the Dregs, he wrote most of the material (even many of the instrumental solos) and arranged and later co-produced their music, so when he decided to leave the band, the Dregs split up The music of The Dixie Dregs "The Great Spectacular" (1975) This is a collection of demos and rough versions of songs they recorded at the UoM. The record was printed in a limited quantity and today is a collectors item. A slightly remastered version on CD is available again, although Steve is not really happy with the sound-quality of it. Most of the songs were re-recorded later for the following Dregs-Studioalbums ("Kathreen", a short song with remarkable country solos by Morse was not re-recorded and can only be found here, while the acoustic ditty "TO Witcher" later was redone for the Kansas-album "In The Spirit Of Things", when Steve was part of that band). I still think that this record is quite interesting though, the low-budget production adds a certain flair to the songs, and especially the early version of "What If..." sounds quite mysterious on this album... "Freefall" (1977) Their first official release. The band was still kinda looking for their sound, so itīs a wild mix of fusion and progrock with many other elements. The album features the beautiful acoustic pieces "Northern Lights" and "Sleep" though, and the song "Holiday" later was redone in the early 90īs for the "Bring Em Back Alive"-tour. The album also features the classic "Cruise Control", which is some kind of a Dregs-trademark songs and has been covered by Dream Theater on their “Change Of Seasons”- album. "What If..." (1978) This is considered the best Dregs-album, and it sure is a progrock-classic. It was produced by Ken Scott, and shows not only the technical abilities of the guys, but also displays the amazing songwriting- and arranging talent of Morse and the others. Many of the songs on here are still being played by both the Dregs and the SMB. The album includes the amazing epic "Odyssey", the mysterious "What If", the funky "Ice Cakes", the classical violin / guitar duet "Little Kids" and the wonderful, lush "Night Meets Light". If you have never heard the Dregs, try to get this one ! "Night Of The Living Dregs" (1979) This one consists of 4 studio recordings and 4 liveperformances from the Montreux Jazz Festival. One of the latter is the stunning Country-jam "The Bash", which still is part of the Dregs-setlist and features some extremely scary leads and unisono-passages by Morse and violinist Allen Sloane. Also great: the atmospheric "Long Slow Distance", the very "prog-rock-ish" "Leprechaun Promenade", the quite aggressive "Punk Sandwich"... This album got them their first Grammy-nomination (Morse and the Dregs were nominated quite a few times over the years, they never won one though...) "Dregs Of The Earth"- This one introduces keyboard-prodigy T.Lavitz as a new member. The album might be the most versatile they ever did, and it features such classics as "The Hereafter" and "Pride Of The Farm" "Unsung Heroes" This one is right up there with "What If...", and it features an awesome remake of "Cruise Control". This one has Morse written all over it. Check out the wonderful "Day 444", which IMHO is one of the best songs on the album "Industry Standard" The last album from that first Dregs-era. The new violinist is the legendary Marc OīConnor (who also played some guitar live), and he lets the virtuosity-meter rise even more. The Dregs also wrote two vocal tracks for this one (surely caused by the pressure from the record company), and preformed those songs live with a playback. This album also features the Steve Morse-Steve Howe duet "Up In The Air" Shortly after the release of "Industry Standard", the band split up. In 1988 they reunited,went on tour, recorded two remakes of old Dregs-songs. In 1992 the Dregs went on tour again (with Dave LaRue on bass) and recorded a live-album ("Bring Em Back Alive", which features the amazing Zeppelin-cover "Kashmir"), and in 1994 they released "Full Circle", their first studio recording in more than a decade. On "Full Circle", you can hear the influence of Steveīs work with the Steve Morse band, the album rocks a bit more and features shorter songs. The violinist on this one is John Goodman (formerly a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and The Flock), bassist is Dave LaRue (of the Steve Morse Band). In 1999, they met up once again to tour again and record a new livealbum, "California Screaming", and since then they have played several short tournees (including a few shows as the support act for Dream Theater in early 2000) The Steve Morse Band and Kansas After the Dregs split in the early 80īs, Steve left the music business for a while, a decision based on disappointments on the business side and a deep frustration caused by that. After a little while, he decided to give it another try and get in touch with former Dregs-drummer Rod Morgenstein. Together with newcomer Jerry Peek (bass) and the guests Albert Lee and T.Lavitz they recorded the first album of the Steve Morse Band (SMB): "The Introduction" From the driving opener "Cruise Missile" through the beautiful title-track to the country-style piano / guitar-feature "The Whistle", the record showed all the facets of Steveīs musical personality in a more rock-inspired, heavier setting. This album remains a classic and inspired many players such as Vinnie Moore, Reb Beach and John Petrucci. Another album was recorded, "Stand Up". Again, Steve invited some friends to participate: Peter Frampton, Albert Lee and Eric Johnson. This album didn't get much public attention and was out of print for a long time. It was recently re-released. In the mid-80īs, Steve joined the band Kansas, replacing guitarist Kerry Livgren. He can be heard on the Kansas-albums "Power" and "In The Spirit Of Things". Although those albums are not the most popular Kansas-albums, they feature some awesome guitar work by Mr. Morse. After he left the band, Steve again felt like he wanted to leave the music business. He longed for a rather ordinary way of living, the inconsistencies and business problems of the music biz bothered him. So he quit the professional biz and started to fly planes for a large american flight company. He still kept practising and composing though (he had a short-scale guitar that he played while driving to the airport... steering with his knees. Donīt try this at home!) Steve returned to the music biz with his first actual solo album, the beautiful "High Tension Wires". This is still the favorite album of many Morse-fanatics and it definitely features some of his most beautiful compositions, like the celtic-style "Highland Wedding", the beautiful "The Road Home" and the etheric "Ghostwind". Also featured was his neoclassic parody "Tumeni Notes", which features stunning displays of Steveīs flawless alternate picking technique. The next album was with the Steve Morse Band again, featuring Berklee- graduate Dave LaRue on bass guitar and NY-session player Van Romaine on drums. The album was called "Southern Steel" and was way heavier than "High Tension Wires". An editor of the GUITAR WORLD magazine said the following about it "This is for 1991 what Steve Vaiīs "Passion & Warfare" was for 1990". Still, the band didnt manage to make a big break and sell as many records as Vai did, unfortunately. Steve moved to Florida, and based on that move from CA to FL, he called his next SMB-album "Coast To Coast". Again, it was a collection of uplifting, driving rock instrumentals, featuring his jaw-dropping guitar technique on tracks such as "The Oz", "User Friendly" and "Morning Rush Hour" 1994 the band released "Structural Damage", which to me sounds like a combination of "High Tension Wires" and "Southern Steel", both atmospheric and lush songs and driving rock-tunes. The album unfortunately is out of print as of now... 1995 saw the release of "Stressfest". This album sounded quite different than previous SMB-records, which might be due to the fact that Steve had become the new guitarist for Deep Purple by now. The title-track is an amazing picking-workout, while "4 Minutes To Live" shows Steveīs emotional side, and "Delicate Balance" is another baroque-style acoustic guitar / bass duet (he had classical-style duets on almost every record he released with the Dregs, solo, or with the SMB ) In 2000, Steve released his second solo-album (which still featured Romaine & LaRue). The album is called "Major Impacts" and is based on a very special concept: Steve pays tribute to his main influences. He wrote tunes in the style of each of his heroes and based his guitar playing a bit on the style of each of his heroes... it is amazing to see how he manages to adapt to the styles of players like Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson, while still having his own sound & style be present... "Major Impacts 2" is slanted for a release in october 2002. The latest SMB-album is called "Split Decision", released in March 2002. It again has a lot of changes and fresh sounds, while still featuring some of the signature elements of the SMB-sound. Steve still is able to impress as a great guitar player with both chops and ideas, and his playing on SD sounds innovative, fresh and inspired. Sounds, Style and Tone First of all, Steve has an impeccable alternate picking-technique. He is right up there with "speed-meisters" like John Petrucci (who was influenced quite a bit by Steve and the Dregs). Steve even plays fast arpeggios ranging over several strings, at tempos that make it seem impossible to play them without using sweep-picking (evidenced in tracks like "Tumeni Notes" and "User Friendly") He does not play legato-style (Hammer On / Pull Offs) a whole lot, but that does not mean he canīt do that too. Just listen to the solo in "The Oz", where Steve plays a lightning-fast pull off-passage that sounds quite a bit like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. On top of that he does have a very versatile vibrato-technique and uses several different vibratos, ranging from slow, microtonal bends to extremely wide and fast vibratos. What always impressed me about him is that he never stops practising and developing (he does finger exercises when thereīs a drum solo going on on stage!), and he posesses a flawless technique on BOTH electric and acoustic guitar. His baroque-style pieces display perfectly that he really knows how to play the gut-string guitar convincingly. Gear Regarding gear, Steve is a "if it works donīt fix it" guy, he seldomly makes changes about his setup. From his early days with the Dregs until the "Stand Up"-album he used a modified mongrel-Tele loaded with 4 ( !!! ) pickups and several additional switches that allowed him to dial in several different pickup combinations. He always used that to great effect, i.e. switching when changing the position he played in on the neck. Like, when he played in the lower areas of the neck, he played a rather trebly-sounding pickup-combination and switched to a different one when he moved up higher on the neck. When you see him play live, you see him using the switches and knobs a lot. He really integrated that into his flawless playing and it DOES make a difference. The Tele is out of pasture these days, and since the mid-80īs he has been using a signature model by Ernie Ball / Music Man which features a pickup- and switch-configuration similar to that of his old Tele. Ampwise he used an old Ampeg V4 for his signature mid-loaded lead-sound (he still does use it in the studio), while using 5150īs (with Deep Purple) and Marshall Jubilee-models (with the Dregs & the SMB) live. Itīs interesting to see how much thought he invested in his setup, and to see how good it works... his leadsound might sound very mid-heavy when he plays solo, but it blends perfectly with the whole band when they play together. (As opposed to a sound that sounds awesome by itself but disappears once the band starts to play). Steve also uses a guitar synth, especially when playing with the SMB live. He manages to add some interesting layers and textures with it. He controls the mix of his dry/wet-sound with several volume-pedals and is therefore able to control eg. the amount of echo... so when he plays a fast lick he blends out the echo and blends it back in when playing slower parts. General Things In my opinion, Steve is one of the most interesting, impressive and most underrated players in the biz. He also is an amazing composer and arranger (he wrote about 99 % of the Dregs-music, including all the violin- and keyboard-leads !!!) and a wonderful human being. He has a flawless technique on both the electric and the acoustic guitar, and never ceases to practise, improving and developing his technique. I think thatīs extremely inspiring, and am constantly inspired by his attitude and approach in playing and practising. To be continued... In the second issue of this trilogy, weīll take a look at some licks and riffs courtesy of Mr. Morse, some of his impressive techniques... In the third issue weīll take a look at some of his compositions and arrangements... focussing on the songwriting...see ya next time ! |
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