Dexter Morrill
Biography
Dexter George Morrill (17 June 1938, North Adams, Mass. – 2 July 2019, Ithaca, N.Y.) was an American composer and trumpeter.
Dr. Morrill began trumpet lessons at age eight and by 19 studied with Dizzy Gillespie at the first Lenox School of Jazz. At Colgate University in 1960, he studied composition with William Skelton and led a Dixieland jazz band, the Colgate Hi-Five. He began graduate studies at the Leland Stanford Junior University and studied composition with Leonard Ratner and orchestration with Leland Smith, completing his MA in 1962.
From 1962 to 64 Morrill was a Ford Foundation Young Composer Fellow in Missouri, and later taught at St. John's University in New York. He studied composition with Robert Palmer at Cornell University and received his DMA in 1970.
Morrill returned to teach music at Colgate in 1969 and established one of the first mainframe computer studios in the world, with help from colleagues at Stanford. He retired as professor emeritus from Colgate.
Morrill worked on a special jazz project for Wynton Marsalis and authored A Guide to the Big Band Recordings of Woody Herman and The American String Quartet – A Guide to the Recordings. In 1984, Morrill received a NEA grant to compose his most prominent work, Getz Variations. It was written for and premiered by saxophonist Stan Getz, and incorporated jazz improvisation and computer-generated sounds. During the 1980s, Morrill developed a MIDI trumpet instrument with engineer Perry Cook, and performed in many concerts around the world.
His compositions received performances in the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Great Britain, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and most West European countries, and for ensembles including the Northern Illinois Philharmonic and the Syracuse and Baltimore Symphonies. Throughout his career, Morrill was active in composing for ensembles and conventional instruments and recording works with solo artists.
Works for Winds
- Divertimento (1964)
- Symphony No. 2
References
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Morrill, Dexter." Accessed 26 August 2023
- "In Memoriam: Dexter Morrill (1938-2019)." International Trumpet Guild. Accessed 26 August 2023