ABOUT

Following up on a great year in 2019, including a tour of Great Britain, and worldwide chart recognition with her song "Mardi Gras" reaching #1 on US iTunes Jazz charts and #3 on the Billboard Jazz Digital Sales Charts, "Unto Light Unbroken" reaching #37 on US singer/songwriter charts (#7 in Canada), and "Silently" becoming a featured summer release in Jazziz Magazine, 2020 was also a year of true forward motion for Elise Morris' bright career.

As a professional studio and stage musician, Morris' credits cover a wide range of experiences. She was the featured keyboardist/vocalist with Joe Jackson on the international Heaven and Hell tour; she headlined The Water Festival in Sweden as a core member of the fusion band GeWaDoKa; she was music director in concert for Ronnie Spector, and she was featured vocalist and master of the prepared piano, playing the highly improvisational score of Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) for the play America Dreaming at The Vineyard Theatre in New York City. She has played and/or sung with Cy Coleman, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Peter, Paul and Mary, among others, and has performed with many artists of the vibrant NYC music scene over the years, including music directing the current Stoned Soul Picnic project featuring the music of Laura Nyro. 

With the release of her album "Dancin' With The Boys," listeners were introduced to her inventive songs that blend influences of jazz, pop, theatrical, classical, progressive, world, experimental, and folk. Elise calls her unique style "jazzbo" because it captures the enigma of music that doesn't fit into one genre alone but rather crosses stylistic borders.

As a composer, Morris has written underscores for Scholastic Audio Books for children, for documentary film shorts, and for straight plays, as well as music and lyrics for musicals. Her dance scores have often included her performing live with dancers all around the globe.

As a lyricist, she has written for Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden.

As a singer, Her voice has brought life, color, and a world of sounds to myriad TV commercials, and as a voiceover artist, she created the character voice of Candy for the animated Moviefone promos in theaters. On TV, she is the voice behind the plaintive wail at the top of the series COLD CASE.

She is a recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Music Composition, the I-Park Sound Sculpture Award and has been awarded multiple artist residencies, fellowships, and grants.

2021 saw the release of Elise's newest album, LOVEISALOVE, a world album in multiple languages, recorded in Mali, the Ivory Coast and New York, featuring the talents of Alou Sam, Michèle Kaniba Traoré and Sory Ibrahima Diakité.