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Bill Morton Died on Tuesday 1st October 2013
03/10/13 - Just got home from The Shrimper where relatives of Bill Morton asked me to pass on the sad news that Bill died on 1st October. I know many people will remember Bill as a superb drummer who played with the Panama, Savoy, Alt River, Sans Pareil (which he formed with the late Bruce Bakewell) and many other local bands. Bill had been off the scene for several years following a severe stroke, but I'm sure many people will want to pay their respects. The funeral will be on Wednesday 9th October , 2.40 p.m. at Southport Crematorium. Phil Yates 03/10/13 - Bill was a great drummer, with equally forthright opinions on most things. Super to play with and talk to. Jon Critchley 03/10/13 - How sad to hear the news about Bill Morton. At the time that Bill had his tragic stroke in 1999, he was resident drummer and co-organiser of our Jazz Rendezvous sessions in Rainford and also drummer with Doctor Jazz. Also in the '90s we'd enjoyed many a great session with Razzamajazz. Bill was a fine player and a true jazz enthusiast, with tastes which spread across the spectrum of jazz styles. In the New Orleans idiom, he'd had a long asociation with Bruce Bakewell, whereas in Razzamajazz, alongside the likes of John Hallam, Laurie Cooper and Esmond Selwyn, he was totally at home in a more mainstream environment. His other great enthusiasm was the French language, which he had studied through night school and up to degree level and he would periodically take himself off to France to visit a couple of mysterious French lady friends.
I look back fondly on the many sessions and the many long conversations
we shared. It's very cruel that a massive stroke should have cut Bill
off, over such a long time, from the activities that had given him such
pleasure. 03/10/13 - Thanks for this latest sad news, Fred. As you know, Bill was drummer with us in Razzamajazz and Jazz Rendezvous until about fifteen years ago when he suffered the stroke. We have only recently had our tribute to the late Dick Nancarrow, Bill's successor, with us in The Jazz Gentlemen.
Derek Skepper.
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