Released in October of 1957. One of Atlantic's very first recording artists. Joe Morris (1922 -- November 1958) was score canadien ce soir an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter and bandleader.
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, United States, Morris began his career as a jazz trumpeter, working and recording with Earl Bostic, Milt Buckner, Arnett Cobb, Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Griffin, Buddy Rich, Dinah Washington, Big Joe Turner, and Lionel Hampton. After working with Hampton as a writer, arranger, and trumpeter, he left in 1946 to set up the Joe Morris Orchestra. This featured, among nurses week others, Johnny Griffin, Elmo Hope, Percy Heath and Philly Joe Jones. One of his first credited recordings as bandleader was with Wynonie Harris on "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee".
Morris signed with the then fledgling Boston Records, and released "Anytime, Any Place, Anywhere", with vocals by Laurie Tate. This rose to number one on the U.S. R&B chart in 1950, and he followed up with "Don't Take Your Love Away from Me". The band functioned as the unofficial house band for Atlantic Records in the early 1950's, and several future stars passed through its ranks, including Ray Charles and Lowell Fulson.
In 1953, Tate left for a solo career, and Morris replaced her with his new discovery Faye Adams. He moved to Herald Records, where he backed Adams on her number-one R&B hit, his own composition "Shake a Hand", and its follow-up, "I'll Be True", also an R&B number-one hit. At the same time, he had his own hit with "I Had eurolega basket a Notion", featuring vocals by Al Savage.
Morris died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1958, at 36.
