Kenneth Morris

Kenneth Morris (b 28 Aug. 1917, Jamaica, NY | d 1 Feb. 1989, Chicago, IL), son of Ettuila White and John Morris, studied music at the Manhattan Conservatory of Music, initially drawn to jazz. His jazz band traveled to the World’s Fair in Chicago, and Morris stayed. He worked for the Lillian Bowles House of Music publishing firm (succeeding Charles H. Pace) and took the position of organist and choir director of First Church of Deliverance. Through the church’s radio ministry and recording sessions with Mahalia Jackson, Morris introduced the electric Hammond to gospel music. With Sallie Martin, he formed the Martin & Morris Music Studio (1940). He premiered many of his songs at National Baptist Convention annual meetings. As a publisher, he eventually acquired the catalogs of Lillian Bowles, Roberta Martin, and Theodore Frye. At the time of his death, his business was described as “the last black gospel music store still going in Illinois.”

—Chris Fenner, Hymns & Devotions for Daily Worship: African American Edition (2025)