Dr. Dave Morgan
Professor
Dana School of Music & University Theatre
Bliss Hall 3041
phone: (330) 941-1830
Bio
The composer and double bassist Dave Morgan has collaborated with a wide range of jazz, pop and classical artists. Morgan was a recipient of a “New Works: Creation and Presentation” grant from Chamber Music America, which resulted in his recording, The Way of the Sly Man (2010), featuring Jack Schantz, Howie Smith, Jamey Haddad, and Dan Wall. Morgan also composed the music for The Surprise of Being—Live at Birdland (2006) by the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra featuring Joe Lovano.
A Tri-C Jazz Fest concert of Morgan’s transcriptions and arrangements of the music of Frank Zappa for the Jazz Unit featuring Ernie Watts and Mark Wood earned an Award of Achievement from Northern Ohio Live. He performed this music as guest artist with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. Morgan collaborates in crossover projects with Apollo’s Fire, the Internationally-acclaimed Baroque ensemble, and occasionally performs with The Cleveland Orchestra as a jazz bassist and bass guitarist. He has a duet project, Beyond Boundaries (2014), with Apollo’s Fire vocalist Amanda Powell.
The American Wind Symphony Orchestra has commissioned several pieces, including “Colors of Your Dreams,” “Reflections and Mediations”, and “The Art of Seven.” Several of Morgan’s orchestral pieces are recorded on Centaur Records. The YSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble directed by Stephen Gage released Made in Youngstown (2019), including three of his compositions for wind ensemble, featuring several Dana faculty members as guest soloists.
Blue Is More Than A Color (2020) is recording of his recent works for large jazz ensemble, featuring many extraordinary soloists including Pete Mills, Theron Brown, Howie Smith, Nathan Davis, Jack Schantz, Dave Kana, Chris Coles, and Sam Blakeslee. It was made possible by a generous grant from the Knight Foundation. He is currently working with the Nine Lives Project. Created by Dana alum Chris Coles, this multimedia project is shining a light on social issues of our time in the wake of the 2015 Charleston Church tragedy.
Dr. Morgan joined the faculty of the Dana School of Music faculty in 2001, and has taught applied bass, applied composition, jazz ensembles, jazz improvisation, jazz theory, and music theory seminar courses. His article “Superimposition in the Improvisations of Herbie Hancock” is published in Annual Review of Jazz Studies, Vol. 11.
More information is available at davemorgan.com
