Peter Morgan jazz musician at the piano

Peter Morgan from his latest smooth jazz CD

Peter Morgan jazz musician at the piano

Peter Morgan's IABC award for Sacramento Zoo jingle
Sacramento Ad Club Award

Peter Morgan receives Crystal award for Sacramento Zoo jingle
International Association of Business Communicators Award

 Pacific Audio Records recording artist Peter Morgan latest milestone brought the release of his second album "Window to Paradise", nearly an hour of light and breezy contemporary instrumental jazz delivered with a coastal island flavor. His forthcoming and anticipated new CD is nearing completion. "It's been too long what with life and all, but we are working toward releasing the CD as soon as possible," says Peter Morgan. When asked what we can expect on the new CD Morgan replies, "Many of the melodies are built around the guitar this time so you'll hear a little more blues influence mixed with mellow acoustic treatments". There's still plenty of sax and melodic harmonica in addition to the guitar work. As always they sit atop big contrary motion chord structures and intricate arrangements.

As with his first two CDs, Morgan composed, engineered and produced this new project. His versatility as an instrumentalist is showcased by his performances on acoustic, classical and electric guitars, as well as harmonica, bass, keyboards, guitar synthesizer and percussion. Morgan continues collaborating with friend and band mate of twenty years Bill Sidney.  Sidney is a veteran saxophone artist whose jazz stylings complement Peter's contributions that are based in rock, country and jazz.  Sidney wrote two pieces on Window To paradise, collaborated on others and co-produced most of the project.  "Bill is the greatest" comments Morgan. "We have played together for a lifetime and still love working together. He's a great talent that has taught me much and always pushes me to be the best we can be. Our diverse styles and instrumentation blend well together to give us a unique sound."  Joining Peter and Bill is Eric Parsons on bass and fretless bass. "Eric has played with me for even longer that Bill making it over twenty two years as best we can remember. sates Morgan.  "Eric is a great musician and an even better friend. We vacation together. Our kids are the same age and our families both hail from California's Central Coast. We share a love for music, scuba diving photography and so much more".  Vel Selvan  performed much of the sax parts on Morgan's first CD Looky Hear. His smooth and sexy saxophone style can be heard  "Mow Mow Mombo" on "Window to Paradise" and plans are in the works to have Vel do a song on Peter's forthcoming third CD. "Vel is a wonderful Saxophone player with a world of experience and list of credits most musicians could only dream of.  I am very lucky to be able to collaborate with so many wonderful players" says Peter.

One of the things that makes Peter Morgan unique is the breadth of his professional experience above and beyond his artistry. Since graduating from Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo, where he studied music and earned a BS degree in Graphic Communications, Morgan has been a commercial photographer, graphic designer, and creative director for advertising agencies and in-house marketing departments. He currently is a senior marketing communications manager for Intel Corporation, an international manufacturer of microcomputer components. Through it all, he has stayed active in music composing, recording and entertaining.

Peter Morgan has performed alongside some of the biggest names in jazz including Fattburger, Michael McDonald, trumpeter Chris Botti and keyboardist Phillipe Saisse to name a few. Recently the band was booked to perform in the Southern Caribbean aboard the Summer Breeze Jam Cruise along with jazz legends Nancy Wilson, Diane Schuur and Norman Brown. The band can also be seen at the Sacramento Jazz festival, the world's largest jazz festival.

Peter has received national exposure as the music director for a number of public television specials including The Boston Computer Museum's Computer Bowl and The Software Publishers Associations 10th annual Excellence in Software Codie Awards. Both broadcast on PBS' Computer Chronicles.

In his "spare time" Morgan unites his passion for music with his marketing career to create original jingles, corporate motivational music, trade show sound tracks as well as film, multimedia and video scores. Peter Morgan Creative Services has been honored with awards for excellence in communications from both The Sacramento Ad Club and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).  Click here to hear a fun example of Peter's world-class commercial work with an MP3 file of his original Sacramento Zoo jingle.  Peter also just completed music for a TV commercial for the Folsom Tourism Bureau.

Even with a busy performance schedule Peter and the band find time to give back to the community performing and donating CDs for The March of Dimes, St. John's Home for homeless Women and Children, Muscular Dystrophy and a number of local schools.

Morgan has studied and performed many diverse music styles including ensemble, big band and contemporary jazz, as well as rock, country and even bluegrass. His instrumental influences include Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Jimmy Messina, David Lindley, Albert Lee and Norton Buffalo. Peter's compositions show influences of Mike Post, David Benoit, Spyro Gyra and The Rippingtons.

Click here to see a complete listing of Peter Morgan's instruments and gear