George Morrow will always be best known for being the bassist in the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet from 1954-56. A good swinging accompanist rather than a major soloist, Morrow never became too well-known. He started out on violin, switched to cello when he was 13 and a few years later permanently switched to bass. Morrow studied at the Fine Arts Conservatory in Los Angeles, served in the military from 1943-46 and then freelanced in L.A. He played with Charlie Parker, Sonny Criss, Teddy Edwards, Hampton Hawes and other musicians who were in town. Morrow spent five years in San Francisco (1948-53), often appearing at Bop City and continuing to work with the who's who of modern jazz (including Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Billie Holiday and Sonny Clark). Morrow joined the Brown/Roach Quintet (with whom he frequently recorded) in 1954. When the band was reformed after the tragic deaths of Clifford Brown and Richie Powell in a 1956 car crash, the bassist stayed with Roach's Quintet into 1958, also recording with Sonny Rollins on a few of his dates. After leaving Roach, Morrow mostly played outside of the jazz major leagues although he had an on-and-off association with Anita O'Day into the mid-1970s. He moved to Florida in 1976 and was a member of the house band at Disney World. Morrow never led his own record date but he can be heard at his best with the Brown/Roach Quintet. ~ Scott Yanow