Thomas Morris

Jazz cornet and trumpet player, born August 30, 1897 in New York, died in 1945. Morris was a prolific member of the early New York jazz scene with over 150 recordings. He had his own ensembles such as Thomas Morris And His Seven Hot Babies, and recorded with such luminaries as Fats Waller, Sidney Bechet, and Clarence Williams. He also accompanied blues singers such as Margaret Johnson (5), Eva Taylor, and Sarah Martin. With a brief appearance in the 1929 Bessie Smith film "St. Louis Blues", Morris left the music business in the late 1930's, dedicating his final years to the fundamental Christian group Father Divine's Universal Peace Mission Movement. Uncle of Marlowe Morris.