Biography

Trumpeter, Flugelhornist and Vocalist George Morín is widely considered one of the leading and most recognizable voices in the Smooth Jazz and Latin Pop scene in Texas and California. His music has the West Coast flavor or Jazz Súave. George has opened shows for legends Arturo Sandoval, David Sanborn, Maynard Ferguson, Al Dimeola, Mongo Santamaria, Nancy Wilson, Stanley Jordan, Michael Brecker, Woody Shaw, and Chuck Mangione. He is a protégé of the jazz masters Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, and Chet Baker.

George is a superb entertainer. He has entertained people all over the continental United States and Mexico City. He performed in Hawaii for two years, with the world famous Harvey Ragsdale Orchestra and John Malo. George is a former CBS Recording Artist. As a vocalist he has had several number-one hits on his CD's. He has been playing his first love, Jazz, all of his adult life. But along with Jazz he has run the gamut of different musical genres. He has done R&B, Motown, Tejano, Top-Forty, Latino, and Rock. He has performed all the way from Anchorage, Alaska to Honolulu, Hawaii. He has always remained true to his real love, Jazz.

George has studied with the late, great, trumpeter Woody Shaw. He has also studied with Justo Almario, Morgan King, Paul English, and Luis Gasca. He has played the major jazz festivals in Texas: Jazz’SAlive, in San Antonio, the Houston International Jazz Festival, Texas Jazz Festival in Corpus Christi, St. Mary’s Jazz Festival S.A., Carver Jazz Festival S.A., Headliner at the San Antonio Summer Art and Jazz Festival, Eddie Durham Jazz Festival in San Marcos, St. Philips Jazz Festival S.A., and Headliner for the Austin Latino Music Association, "Latin Jazz Festival." At the biggest festival in Texas, the Texas Jazz Festival, he was given two standing ovations for his Jazz Sùave live concert.

His way with a melody is "emphatic," for his audiences. His inspiration and natural ability led him toward choosing the flugelhorn as his premier instrument, turning to its melodic sound for greater expression. You can hear the Baker influence along with Hubbard’s fire, accentuated with a Latin flare to give him his own, unique style. The ability to leap from one musical genre to another has often paid off for Morín, a handsome trumpeter/flugelhornist and vocal balladeer whose 6-foot, 3-inch frame, dark brown mound of hair, and dark mustache make him a striking presence on stage. Over the years, he's blown his horn for various jazz-fusion combos, recorded for the prestigious CBS International Record Label, as a Tejano singer, and gravitated to romantic, internationally flavored pop and original smooth jazz. It's hard to think of another musician who, in a given show, will cover Luis Miguel, John Coltrane, Michael McDonald,and his self, but that's exactly what Morín does.
Gilbert Garcia – S.A. Current Magazine

To many of his musician friends, he's a trumpet player who sings. To latter-day converts, he's a singer who takes the odd horn solo. If Morín blends his distinct musical identities in a live setting, he tends to keep them separate on record. His new release, JazzSuave, recorded with local songwriter/producer Eddie Aleman, showcases Morín's flugelhorn of plenty. Not really a jazz album, in the traditional sense, the record boasts slick, melodic, instrumental pop songs such as "Allure D'Amour" and "Forever Our Love," with subtle traces of Latin rhythm. It's more in the mode of Chuck Mangione than Miles Davis, but it also offers timbral hints of Morín's first trumpet-playing hero: Chet Baker. Like Baker, Morín's playing is unabashedly soothing and lyrical. Even when his parts are simple variations on a tune, his tonal purity is always unimpeachable. San Antonio Current Magazine

“I am a trumpet player but I have been geared towards the flugelhorn since the first time I heard Chet Baker," Morín says. "I fell in love with the tone. But at the time I could not find a flugelhorn anywhere. I finally found a horn that was sweet, in Houston. It is a different concept, a different embouchure, a different technique. Any flugelhorn player can play the trumpet, but there is not too many trumpet players who can play the flugelhorn." G.M.

George is working to establish a smooth-jazz niche for himself. "Traditional jazz is fine and I love it," he says, "but I really enjoy playing smooth jazz, music with rhythm and full of life. I want to give the people music with a groove that will get their neck bone moving when they’re sitting and their body gyrating when they are on their feet. I also want to give my fans and new listeners, music that they haven't heard before."

George has recorded six CD's. His latest CD is titled “JazzSùave”. It is a Smooth Jazz CD with ten original songs, one cover song and one live video. If you play this enhanced CD on a computer, you can see him performing live, with his band Jazz Súave, at the Texas Jazz Festival, or you can visit his website. “Beso Y Beso," a Latin Pop CD with jazz nuances, precedes this CD. You can order these two CD’s from the website georgemorin.com or buy them at your favorite record shop. He has just finished recording his new CD, "Fully Loaded." It is currently being mastered in New York City. Be on the look-out for its release. George will be playing some of the cuts off of it for his upcoming concerts in San Antonio, Austin, and Corpus Christi.