Jeremy (March 2010)

Jeremy Morris have released 50 albums since 1983. Mostly under our radar. But he have a dedicated fan base around the world. The music is very diverse. But some of his albums is progressive rock and Pilgrim's Journey is a classic album. 

I sent Jeremy Morris some questions about the the albums I thought would interests us and some more general issues.

My questions are in bold and his answers are in bold italic blue.

What are you up to these days ?

I am working on recording 5 different albums right now.  These albums are all 
different styles ranging from progressive rock, spiritual, power pop, rock, 
instrumental, etc...

The next part of the interview is a “this is your life” and “the record collectors dreams” part where I ask you some more or less intelligent questions about your music and your albums before we move on. How was your formative years ?  

I started my first band at age 15 and we began playing professionally right away.  This was 1973. Besides playing originals, we were playing the bands of the time like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull,  Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, and many others.

How did you get your first record deal ?

KINESIS RECORDS (A progressive rock label in the USA) heard my music and they liked it. 
They offered me a great record deal, so it was a really easy decision.
I released two albums with that label:  Pilgrim's Journey and Celestial City.

Please tell us more about your debut album Alive from 1983. The music, the recording and other points of interest. 

I put that album out on the JAM label which I formed that same year in 1983. We pressed 5000 
copies of this vinyl lp "ALIVE" which are now a real collectors item.  These days I see my 
old lps on the internet  selling for hundreds of dollars.

Please tell us more about your album Open Your Heart from 1987.
The music, the recording and other points of interest.  

My second album was OPEN YOUR HEART released in 1987.  Again we pressed 5000 copies and 
today people are paying hundreds of dollars for originals. We also made a lot of music 
videos back then which can be seen on Youtube today.  
My first music video is called  "I don't want to see you cry" from 1983

Please tell us more about your album Dreams Come True from 1993. The music, the recording and other points of interest. 

Dreams Come True was my 8th album I released on the Jam label. It was my first all 
instrumental progressive rock cd. It was this album that led to a record deal with the 
KINESIS label. 

Please tell us more about your most known album Pilgrim's Journey from 1995. The music, the recording and other points of interest. 

For me this album was a long time making. The 25 minute title track was a lot of work. 
This music was inspired by my love for Anthony Phillips, Steve Hackett, Mike Oldfield, 
and Gordon Giltrap.  These are some of my favourite instrumental 
artists.

Please tell us more about your album Celestial City from 1997. The music, the recording and other points of interest.

This album was a bit more cosmic...showing my love for  Tangerine Dream, Camel, and  
Ashra's instrumental works.

Please tell us more about your album Salt The Planet from 1999. The music, the recording and other points of interest.

This was released on the "MOONCHILD" label  and this time it was my most electronic 
album sharing my love for Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre, Michael Garrison, and Ashra.  
I made really heavy use of the Roland Guitar Synthesize for this album.

Please tell us more about your album Kingdom Come from 2002. The music, the recording and other points of interest.  

This time I recorded my longest song ever.  Kingdom Come was a 35 minute track.  
It many years in composing and recording this song.

Please tell us more about your album Fruit Tree from 2003. The music, the recording and other points of interest. 

I decided to make a real album of real acoustic piano with no electronics at all. 
Fruit Tree was recorded live on a very expensive Grand Piano in Atlanta, Georgia.  
For me this was a real organic recording with great atmosphere.  It shows my love 
for Tony Banks piano style along with George Winston. This pattern of acoustic recording 
continued with "Home in the Sky" 2005 and "Rays of Hope"  2007 ...2 more albums of pure 
piano. I am working on a 4th album in this style.

Please tell us more about your album Yesterday, Today and Forever from 2007. The music, the recording and other points of interest.

This is my tribute to the Beatles. Also, The Beatles were the first album I ever 
owned as a child , and one of my favourite bands. So after many years of 
comparisons to their music, I finally decided to do this.

Please tell us more about your third album 2007, New Day Rising.
The music, the recording and other points of interest.  

This was an all acoustic guitar album.  It's similar to my album "Still Waters" 
from 2004 . I am making pure acoustic guitar music.
This shows my love for Anthony Phillips, Steve Hackett, Gordon Giltrap, 
John Fahey, and Leo Kottke.

2008 was also a busy year with three albums. Please tell us more about your album Mystery and Illusion. The music, the recording and other points of interest.

This was my second album to be released on the Russian MALS label "The Pearl of 
Great Price " 2005 was the first. Both albums have been a great success selling 
out all the copies very quickly. 
MALS is a great label giving me freedom for making artistic progressive rock.  
I am working on a third release for MALS which I hope to complete it soon.

Please tell us more about your album Pop Explosion from 2008. The music, the recording and other points of interest.

This album is the 4th in a series...  Pop Heaven 1998,  Pop Rules  2001, Pop 
Dreams  2003,  and now Pop Explosion.
I have many fans who enjoy my power pop releases. These are inspired by groups 
like The Beatles, The Byrds, The Kinks, Badfinger, Big Star, The Raspberries, and 
many others.   
I enjoy this genre of music also,. I like many styles.!

If I am not mistaken, you also co-operated with a guy from Fromuz, Uzbekistan on The Pearl of Great Price. Please tell us more about this cooperation and album. Do you also work with other musicians and in other projects and bands ? 

In 2005 I recorded with a Russian musician known as PROGRESSOR. We recorded the 
album Pearl of Great Price which is a very progressive album.
In 2008 I recorded with  John Rabbit Bundrick (The Who, Free, etc...) and 
John Dawson. We released a cosmic album called  "Electric Forgiveness"
I am sure there will be many more collaborations in the future!

What is the current situation regarding availability and distribution of your albums ?

I have a website   http://www.jamrecordings.com   which is a great place for 
locating a lot of my music.  

Is Jeremy a studio project or do you gig ?

I have been playing with a live band since 1973. I never stopped playing live. 
While most members changed over the years. I have had the same band members for 
10 years now. We play often across the USA and also Europe.

You have labelled yourself a powerpop progressive Christian artist on your Myspace page. Personally, I would call your music for meditative music. What do you mean by your own labelling and how would you define your own music ?

If you go to www.myspace.com/jeremyamorris, you will find all these different style 
descriptions.  It's because I make many styles in a different genre series of 
music.   For example King of Kings,  
Lord of Lords, and Faithful and True... are all albums of Christian music Pop 
Heaven, Pop Explosion, etc.. is pure power pop.   Pilgrims Journey, 
Celestial city , etc... is progressive rock. Fruit Tree, New Day Rising, etc.. 
is acoustic, or meditative music.   
So I record whatever I like!

What is your plans and where do you want to take Jeremy ?

To make a lot more music!  So far I have made about  50 albums ....and I am sure 
I have at least another 50 albums in me!
Maybe a whole lot more!

A big thank you to Jeremy Morris for this interview. 
Jeremy may not be the most highly profiled band/project 
in PA's database. 
But credit due where credit is due. 

Jeremy's PA profile can be found here and his 
webpage here