Singer-pianist Audrey Morris was an icon of Chicago cabaret, much in the same way that the late Julie Wilson came to be adored and revered in New York City. Her colleagues and fans readily agreed that among Morris’ talents was the ability to find the very essence of a song and interpret it with consummate, evocative skill. Morris died on Sunday, April 1 at the Presence Resurrection Medical Center in the Norwood Park West section of Chicago. She was 89 years old, having been born on November 12, 1928 in the South Side of the city. She was probably best known as a jazz artist, much admired by the likes of George Shearing and piano great Oscar Peterson, both of whom she played with at the London House club.
Growing up, Morris wrote lyrics and was especially attracted to the talents of Lee Wiley, Mildred Bailey, Billie Holiday and Peggy Lee. She developed her piano skills–––and eventually her singing chops–––making her debut in 1950 at the Capitol Lounge and moving to the newly opened club, Mister Kelly’s in 1954. From that gig Morris became well enough known to appear on the NBC TV show “Moonlight in Vermont” and to begin recording albums. Her first was Bistro Ballads in
1955 for the RCA label, Label X. Many more albums would follow, with The Saturn Sessions – Piano & Song being her last, in 2001. She was offered a Warner Brothers contract to play on soundtracks and record in Hollywood, but turned it down as being too limiting on her artistic freedom. In the late 1950s, Morris led a trio at the London House, a jazz piano club, where she played until retiring in the late 1960s to concentrate on family and because the rise of rock ’n’ roll eclipsed the music she played.
In 1981 Morris began performing publicly again, appearing in Chcago’s Palmer House. and in the now long-gone cabarets such as Yvette’s and Toulouse. She released another album in 1985, with husband, the reed player Stu Genovese, entitled Afterthoughts. By this time Morris’ repertoire was so extensive that Oscar Peterson (who became a close friend) referred to her as “a walking musical encyclopedia.” Paul Marinaro, a Chicago vocalist with whom Morris often sang, attributes her greatness to her belief in the lyric. If she didn’t believe in the song Marinaro has said, Morris wouldn’t sing it.
Morris had trained as a pianist at Chicago’s American Conservatory of Music, graduating at a time in American culture when there were plenty of clubs in the city (many of them late night venues), full of jazz and popular music. She told the Chicago Tribune in a 1991 interview, “I started out in an era when there were two or three great new tunes coming out every week, when Randolph Street, Rush Street and other great boulevards overflowed with superb music. What a time.”
Audrey Morris appeared last in public in April 2017 at an Orchestra Hall homage to Oscar Peterson (who died on December 23, 2007). A three-CD recording was made from that tribute, which included Ramsey Lewis, Michel Legrand, Chick Corea and one singer-pianist, Audrey Morris, playing her concert highlight, “Look What You’ve Done to Me.” The performance is now regarded as a fitting and final testament to Morris, whose last work was in honor of the man she called, “her idol.”
NiteLife Exchange would like to thank Elena Bennett for supplying us with photos and the video that enhanced this piece.
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