Now, in all without words, Justin Morell was asked to write a large-scale orchestral jazz piece. Morell's son, named Loren, face challenges with communication from a tender age. By the time the child was three years old, he had lost all ability to speak. Morell took the opportunity to write about the bond of love between a parent and child, a love that is unchangeable and eternal. Morell wrote of the difficulties, the challenges, the successes, and especially the affectionate and tender moments in raising a non-verbal son. The story is about love breaking through barriers.
John Daversa has taken that mood and that music and has beautifully given voice to Loren through his eloquent and radiant trumpet. The music is emotional and profound and only the coldest of hearts cannot be moved by it.
Morell explained the music by saying, “the theme on which 11 variations are based is built around the spontaneous vocalizations of my nonverbal son, Loren. 1 evening, I sat with him and listened to the singing and sounds that he often makes, recording them on my phone. I quickly returned to the recordings and transcribed two different segments of beautiful melody. The theme as arranged in this piece features these two phrases slow down, played by the trumpet, and accompanied by the orchestra. In each variation, I use elements of the theme to reflect on my life with my son, the struggles of learning how to connect with the child who has difficulty with the most basic aspects of communication, and the triumph of even the smaller successes. What began as a mission to celebrate neurodiversity became an opportunity for me to connect with my son and hear his voice in a way I had not before. The music is born of intense emotion, sometimes painful and sometimes joyful, and a hope for a compassionate future where all people are loved and respected for their humanity.”
Given that foreknowledge, listen to All Without Words over and over again. The results of the Daversa/Morell collaboration are incredible—I would even say miraculous.
Justin Morell is not only the composer, arranger, and orchestrator of the album, he also adds his guitars to the recording. Morell is an excellent guitarist and it shows on the album.
The titles of the songs are telling: Searching But Never Finding, Seeing It Again for the First Time, The Urgency of Every Moment, The Smallest Thing, A Day is Forever—Like Any Other, and Learning Simply to Be. The final track is titled It’s Enough to Be Here, Now.
All of this should be enough to make you want to hear this work of Love and Grace and Beauty. If not, then I don’t even want to know you.
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl