Jorge Morel, revered classical guitarist and composer, dies at 89
JORGE Morel, an influential Argentine classical guitarist and composer who added a vast repertoire to his instrument and performed to packed concerts around the world, died Feb. 10 at a hospital in Orlando, Fla. He was 89.
His daughter, Francesca Scibona, attributed the death to an apparent cardiac arrest. He had been living in Florida for about the past 10 years, having moved from his longtime home in the New York borough of Queens.
In addition to converting piano sonatas to guitar, Morel looked beyond a purist approach to classical composition. His songs including ‘Pampero,’ ‘Sonatina,’ ‘Romance Criollo’ and ‘Guitar Concerto’ — reflected his roots, with Latin melodies, harmonies and rhythms from tango to samba. But they were also influenced by the jazz and other forms of music he embraced in his adopted hometown of New York.
Morel’s 1978 appearance at Manhattan’s Town Hall performance space dazzled New York Times music critic Joseph Horowitz, who called him an ‘extraordinarily suave guitarist (who) stylishly applies a broad range of color and dynamics, and scampers up and down the fingerboard with dazzling assurance.’
Horowitz highlighted Morel’s arrangement of Leonard Bernstein’s score to ‘West Side Story,’ and said his take on the huapango rhythm of ‘America’ was ‘ingeniously embroidered, and Morel’s performance was scintillating.’
In between classical concerts, Morel paid his bills by performing nightly at the New York jazz nightclub the Village Gate. At various times, he shared stages with pianist Erroll Garner, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and even country guitarist Chet Atkins, who helped promote Morel’s recording career, played some of his arrangements and became a lifelong friend. In return, Morel wrote a choro he dedicated to Atkins.
His early recitals — starting with his 1960s debut at Manhattan’s Carnegie Hall, on a bill with the Kingston Trio — offered compelling hybrids of jazz and classical pieces.
They featured compositions by George Gershwin and Dave Brubeck as often as Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia and Argentine pianist Fernando Bustamante.
Morel arranged and played his own guitar version of Bustamante’s piano piece ‘La Misionera,’ which has become a favorite of many younger guitarists. His work had been recorded by countless guitarists, among them eminences such as David Russell and Pepe Romero.
Morel latterly became as noteworthy as a music educator as he was a performer and recording artist.
He was an adjunct professor of music and classical guitar at the City
University of New York’s Lehman College. During his annual European concert tour, his itinerary was specifically designed to emphasize his role as a musical mentor.
One British classical guitarist he helped inspire was Alexandra Whittingham, now 23, who was namedyoung guitarist of the year in 2015 at the
Gregynog Young Musician Competition in Wales. She often plays one of Morel’s best-known compositions, ‘Danza Brasilera’ (Brazilian Dance), which he wrote in the 1970s.
The piece combines rhythmic chords with dazzling arpeggio patterns and snatches of catchy melody, giving the essence of Brazilian music with its echoes of sambas and choros.
“Jorge Morel brought so much to the world of guitar,” Whittingham said. “His contributions to our instrument’s repertoire are unique in their compositional style and character, and will continue to inspire many generations of guitarists to come.”
Morel was born Jorge Scibona in Buenos Aires on May 9, 1931, to a family of Sicilian heritage. His father, a musician and stage actor, taught him the fundamentals of guitar. At 14, he became a pupil of guitarist and composer Pablo Escobar at the University of Musical Studies in Buenos Aires.
Two years later, he gave his first professional performance on the radio, alongside Escobar.