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Morgan’s Organ

Morgan's Organ - a concert series by Morgan Fisher

About Me


Morgan's Organ is the title of an ongoing series of monthly solo improvisation concerts performed by Japan-based British keyboardist Morgan Fisher since November 2003 at a club called Superdeluxe in Tokyo, Japan. The improvisations have evolved into two long continuous pieces of about 40-60 minutes in length, accompanied by slide shows of Morgan's abstract photography and/or selections from his avant-garde video collection.
All the concerts have been recorded and the first five are now available as downloads on iTunes, Amazon.com and other sites - the rest will be made available gradually.
The instruments Morgan plays are generally vintage analogue instruments, some extremely rare and up to 50 years old. As well as organs they include electric pianos, synthesizers, lo-fi circuit-bent samplers, drum machines, accordions, melodicas, bells and whistles, bird calls, percussion, and Morgan's voice. Almost the only digital equipment used are the delays and looping devices which allow Morgan to create rich, sometimes orchestral or even choral layers of sound which can be further manipulated in real time.
The purpose of this website is to do what cannot be done at iTunes and similar websites: offer longer samples of the music, provide information and photographs relating to the concerts and the instruments, and invite discussion of the music.
More information about the ongoing concerts can be found at www.super-deluxe.com

Here is a short biography - more information about Morgan can be found at www.morgan-fisher.com
Morgan Fisher was born in London, England, on January 1st, 1950.
1966 - 1970: played the organ with soul / pop band The Soul Survivors, who in 1967 were renamed The Love Affair. They had a number one hit in 1968 with "Everlasting Love".
1972 - 1973: formed progressive rock band Morgan, with singer Tim Staffell (the vocalist with the band Smile, who later became Queen). Recorded two albums and a solo album "Ivories".
1973 - 1976: after a brief liaison with Third Ear Band, joined seminal British rock band, Mott the Hoople, whose biggest hit "All The Young Dudes" was written and produced by David Bowie. The band later became Mott, after singer Ian Hunter left; then with the addition of vocalist John Fiddler from Medicine Head it was renamed British Lions.
1978: set up a home studio and recorded, by himself, the Hybrid Kids album, an experimental/parody/art-punk covers album. A sequel entitled Claws soon followed.
1980: conceived and produced the unique Miniatures album (51 one-minute tracks by Robert Fripp, Gavin Bryars, Michael Nyman, The Pretenders, XTC, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Robert Wyatt, The Damned etc). A sequel was released in 2000. Also recorded his first ambient album, Slow Music, with sax supremo Lol Coxhill.
1982: played with Queen on their 1982 tour of Europe, then took a long break from music and travelled in India and the USA.
1985: moved to Japan, where continued to make ambient and improvised music, and evolved a style of abstract photography he calls Light Painting. Japanese artists he has worked with include Yoko Ono, Dip in the Pool, The Boom, Heat Wave, Kina Shoukichi, Kokoo, Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra.
2005: collaborated with Austrian musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius (of Cluster and Harmonia) on the ambient album Neverless.
2006: Performed with The Minus 5 and Robyn Hitchcock. Composed music for "A Zen Life", Michael Goldberg's documentary film on D. T. Suzuki, the renowned Zen scholar.
2007: Arranged and sang on a Soft Machine track for the Delta Saxophone Quartet, England's leading contemporary saxophone quartet. Two exhibitions of light paintings in Tokyo.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/10/2008
Band Website: morgan-fisher.com
Band Members: Morgan Fisher
Influences: Alice Coltrane / Hamza El Din / Brian Eno / Robert Fripp / Keith Jarrett / Augustus Pablo / Sun Ra / Mike Ratledge / Terry Riley / Erik Satie / Booker T / Robert Wyatt / and the divine ever-present inner light...
Sounds Like: see Influences
Record Label: Medama Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Light Paintings now online

I have just uploaded two albums of Light Paintings (30 in all) in my Pics section. These are images made in the camera by moving the camera, the light source, or both. Computers were only used for col...
Posted by Morgans Organ on Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:28:00 PST

Morgan’s Organ Now On Sale!

At last, through the new Superdeluxe label Medama Records, the first five Morgan's Organ albums are now on sale as downloads at iTunes, Amazon.com and other online vendors. The basic facts are these:...
Posted by Morgans Organ on Sun, 10 Aug 2008 02:55:00 PST

Greetings

[originally posted March 11 2008, then lightly edited]Greetings from Tokyo on a sunny but cold almost-spring Tuesday afternoon. The plum blossoms are flourishing, and soon cherry blossom will transfor...
Posted by Morgans Organ on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:32:00 PST