Morris Acevedo profile picture

Morris Acevedo

About Me

Untitled Document

I have a regular website with all the regular stuff...
http://www.morrisacevedo.com

I play guitar. I like to make up stuff to play. I like to play things that some people think sound like Jazz. Mostly I've been in other people's bands as a Rock / Pop session / studio player.

I live in Sebastopol, CA about an hour north of San Francisco in th Sonoma Co wine country..

I have a "super cool" wife (Janine). In 2002 we had a "super cool" child (Olivia).


I have performed with an unusual variety of Jazz and Pop artists. In the Boston area, I played with Joshua Redman, Jim Black, Ken Vandermark, the Either Orchestra, the Charlie Kolhase Quintet, organ Trio Be-3 and the Matt Wilson group. In the San Francisco Bay Area performances include Richie Cole's Alto Madness Orchestra, Dam East and various groups lead by me. I also spent several years in one of the early incarnations of Charlie Hunter drummer, Scott Amendola's group. Pop music performances include motown / top-40group the Marsels and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in the Boston area. The strangest gigs I ever had was an acoustic "un-plugged" performance with pop legend Boy George as part of a dance music conference in San Francisco. Last but not least, I have been a proud member of eclectic pop-groups lead by Emily Bezar, Jessie Turner and Noe Venable. I've also been a member of Jazz vocalist Ann Dyer's quartet.


I am now the music teacher at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, CA. Thats a guitar based music program and I'm really proud of my students there.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 16/07/2006
Band Website: http://www.morrisacevedo.com
Influences: Guitarists: (no order)Hilmar Jensson, Steve Howe, Jimmy Page, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Manuel Barrueco, Jim Hall, Mark Ribot, Andres Segovia, Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow, Ben Monder, Jimi Hendrix, Arto Lindsay, David Gilmore, Julian Bream, Eivind AarsetComposers & Bands (no order) Bob Dylan, The Band, Duke Ellington, Wayne Shorter, Morton Feldman, Johannes Brahms, Arto Lindsay, Yes, Gentle Giant, the Stones, Miles Davis, Leo Brouwer, the Jam, MC5, Paul Desmond, John Coltrane, Andrew Manze, Square Pusher
Sounds Like: Here is the band I had with Mike Waters back in San Francisco. We had a weekley gig for several years. This night we were lucky to have bassist Devon Hoff helping out.When I lived in San Francisco I got to play with a wonderfull musician named Smith Dobson Jr. He is certainly one of the most "natural" musicians I've ever worked with. Here is a video of Smith and I at a Jazz club in Santa Cruz, CA. I think it's from 2001.I like to teach Guitar Improvisation. Here is a video lesson I did on soloing harmonically (more than 1 note at a time). This is a video I did about improvising with the roots of the chord progression. Its an alternative to using the "chord solo" approach.Here are a couple of videos of the Trio I had in San Francisco called Dam East. Originally it was me on guitar, Kevin Stevens on drums and Jon Christiensen on bass. Both are from a live concert in Oakland CA at TUVA Space. This song is an original called "Derailer".This song is an original calle Cloud's RestSome of the stuff I've done is straight ahead. My San Francisco trio DAM EAST, was a trio that was influenced at bit by Ben Monder and Kurt Rosenwinkle. The "new" music I'm working on is a bit more groove based. I'm recording originals using Logic on the Mac with loops, samples, synths etc... I've been really interested in seeing how I can fit a improvisational guitarist's approach into a more "Electronica" landscape. I'll try and post some of the works in progress soon.In the meantime....here is a live Video from Quartet Doloroso; a group I playing based in New York. We do the music of the Paul Desmond Quartet that featured Jim Hall on guitar. Enjoy....
Record Label: Quartet Doloroso @ http://www.evandermusic.com/
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity | Video on TED.com

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbe...
Posted by on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Morris and family Back out west !!!!

July 5th, 2008This is an blog /message to of my west coast friends, my east coast friends and non-costal friendsMorris back in out west? YesLots of changes have come up in the last few months, good o...
Posted by on Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:20:00 GMT

5 Minute Guitar Workshop

I'm going to do my part to add to all the digital content on the web by filming myself doing what I call the "5 Minute Guitar Workshops". I really enjoy teaching guitar and improvisation. I had about...
Posted by on Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:44:00 GMT

On the Corner

iTunes is having a sale on Box Sets (or whatever that means in iTunes land). I just picked up the Complete Miles Davis "On the Corner" Sessions. I really love the late 60s and early 70s funky Miles....
Posted by on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:46:00 GMT

Online Music Collaboration

I've been kicking around a bunch of almost finished music that I've made on the computer with Logic and GarageBand.  The music is kind of Electronica, Loopbased  groove music with some Guita...
Posted by on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:38:00 GMT

Back from Banff...can I keep the magic?

Well, I had a great time at the Banff Center for the Arts. 3 weeks of constant music. The faculty was great. The students were all super players. There were a couple of folks my age but generally...
Posted by on Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:36:00 GMT

Always wear your helmet

Last friday I went for a bike ride in the afternoon by the ocean (at least that's what they tell me). 7 hours later I wake up in the hospital with a concussion and no memory of the event that got me ...
Posted by on Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:37:00 GMT

the Blooming concert in Brookline

I just performed a concert last weekend with The Blooming".  The Blooming is a quartet I've been playing with (Jeff Song, cello and acoustic bass guitar; Curt Newton, drums, percussion; Tom Hall,...
Posted by on Fri, 30 Mar 2007 07:40:00 GMT

Morris goes to summer camp (sort of)

Back in the mid 1980s when I was going to college at North Texas State University (now known as the University of North Texas), one of my guitar teachers and biggest influences at the time was Rick Pe...
Posted by on Thu, 29 Mar 2007 06:38:00 GMT