I have to post this second James Morrison video because Youtube wouldn’t let me watch it without a jarring advertisement that WOULDN’T QUIT, no matter how much I shouted, or clicked around the ad, on the ad, or anywhere on the screen because I didn’t see an obvious killswitch and the BUY THIS USE THIS assault had my ears by the lobes, refusing to let go.
I was like the sweaty red-faced guy in the movie who punches a bomb’s keypad at random, hunting for the code that will kill the bomb, except my situation was worse because the movie bomb was still ticking and mine had already blown into a thousand jagged sound bites, shredding my ears with shrapnel.
So here I am, taking a deep breath, waiting for my ear drums to heal.
James Morrison — if that’s his real name, and not some alien garble impossible to pronounce with the human tongue — is inhuman. Or superhuman. I let out a grunt when I saw him at the piano. Come on. Give me a break. It’s hard on the ego of a so-so trumpet player/cartoonist to watch him play a trombone along with his trumpet, and to play it so well you can’t tell if he’s a trombone player doubling on the trumpet or vice versa. But now he’s at the piano. I know he plays drums. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard him play sax.
Is there an instrument he can’t play? Does he, finally, have a limit, like every other musician on this planet, when it comes time to solo?
Yes. Absolutely.
Without a doubt.
Most likely.
Possibly.
I haven’t seen him play a double-reed instrument. Nor a violin, guitar, bass or harp.
But I haven’t seen all of his videos.
Mark Heath cartoons 