New audio story: "The Conductionist"
The late Butch Morris, a figure from the outer edges of jazz, reimagined conducting as a form of composition, coining his own word for the combination of the two.
Dear Friends,
Welcome to our new Summer issue, which will focus on some unusual makers, masters, and innovators in the world of music.
This week’s feature story, which we first published in 2015, honors the late Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, an American cornetist, composer, and conductor. Morris was known to “split the difference between conducting and composing”—even coining his own term for his avant garde work (“conduction”)— and for his significant contributions in both categories.
I hope you’ll enjoy listening to this new audio version of “The Conductionist,” written by the veteran music critic, Francis Davis, and narrated by Mitch Greenberg, a New York actor. As with all of our audio stories, you can listen to it directly on our site, or wherever you like to get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also read the original story here.
Other news: We are continuing to develop our new offerings for paid subscribers here on Substack. While we build out these premium materials for paying readers, we humbly ask you, as one of our loyal followers, to become an early subscriber. Ever since our founding, in 2015, we have regularly brought you new, original stories—many of which take months of reporting, writing, and careful editing—at no charge, and with no advertising. Most of those offerings, including our biggest new features, will remain available to all our subscribers—paid or unpaid. We now hope that our new extras, along with whatever goodwill we have accumulated over the years, will entice you to support us with a paid subscription at a very affordable rate.
As a thank you if you join early (and as an extra incentive for doing so), we are currently offering a reduced subscription rate of $5/month (or $50/year). Anyone who subscribes before July 15, 2023, will lock in this reduced rate in perpetuity, even when our subscription rates go up in the coming years. Should you decide to unsubscribe—at any time, for whatever reason—you can always do so through your Substack settings. To become one of our early paid supporters, beloved forever, and to lock in the reduced rate, please subscribe today—with our heartfelt thanks.
Our Summer issue on “The Music Makers” will continue through mid-July. Each Friday until then, as is our custom, we will release a feature story, short article, mini-documentary, photo essay, or podcast that relates to our mission—to “create a world built to last.” Along with stories that speak to each issue’s theme, we always have works on other topics, so please, stay tuned.
In the meantime, I hope you'll always find something intriguing to read, watch, or listen to within our pages. We welcome your thoughts via email, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you for reading and sharing our stories, for donating to our cause when you can, and for being such a loyal part of the Craftsmanship community.
Sincerely,
Todd Oppenheimer
Editor & Publisher, Craftsmanship
Summer 2023: The Music Makers
There may be no other craft that lends itself to infinite experimentation more than music—an endeavor that has nursed human creativity ever since the earliest days of the Stone Age, on every continent and in every culture. This summer, as music festivals and concert tours return in full force, we offer you a fresh collection of stories highlighting some of our most interesting (and unusual) musicians, instrument makers, and other masters of music.