William Morris

Double bassist, William Morris is one of a growing number of musicians who has successfully merged the two worlds of classical and jazz music. His extensive experience in both fields has led him from the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland to the stages of Carnegie Hall and around the world.

While in New York, he performed as principal bass of the Chelsea Opera Orchestra and the Red Bull Artsehcro. Mr. Morris also performed as principal bass of the Manhattan Chamber Sinfonia, which appeared at Merkin Hall and Trinity Church, under the direction of such conductors as Kurt Masur, the late Sergiu Commissiona, Phillipe Entremont, Lawrence Layton-Smith, and Joanne Falleta while in attendance at Manhattan School of Music. He was solo bassist as a member of the Claremont Ensemble, a group committed to presenting masterpieces of twentieth and twenty-first century masterpieces. Additionally, he has appeared as a member of Manhattan School of Music's Contemporary Ensemble, Tactus, at Merkin Hall and at the Bang-On-A-Can Marathon at the World Financial Center.

Since moving to New Orleans, Mr. Morris has immersed himself in the jazz community performing with such local jazz greats as Irvin Mayfield, Marlon Jordan, Ellis Marsalis, Ed Anderson, Annais St. John, and Harry Mayronne. Nationally, Mr. Morris has performed with jazz greats Benny Green, the YellowJackets, Bob Mintzer, Terrell Stafford, Peter Erskine, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Houston Person, and Luís Conte.

Educated in both classical and jazz music at East Carolina University and Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Morris studied with Orin O'Brien, Leonid Finkelshteyn, Winston Budrow, and Carroll V. Dashiell, Jr. He has been a scholarship recipient at the Brevard Music Center, where he received the Outstanding Musician Award, and most recently the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles . He is currently on the faculty of Tulane University. In January of 2008, Mr. Morris joined the string faculty at the University of Alabama, where he teaches double bass.