I know what you're thinking: what is Joan Morris doing in an issue dedicated to divas?(On The Beat--interview with Joan Morris and William Bolcom)(Interview)

I know what you're thinking: what is JOAN MORRIS doing in an issue dedicated to divas? Certainly Morris is anything but; she is something much rarer--a real artist. Recently, Morris and her husband, the eminent composer WILLIAM BOLCOM, flew from their Michigan home to kick off New York's fall concert season with a program of the complete Cabaret Songs of Bolcom and ARNOLD WEINSTEIN, presented at Manhattan's Flea Theater under the auspices of the New York Art Ensemble. It was marvelous to hear classics such as "Song of Black Max," "Amor," "George" and "Toothbrush Time" next to more recent efforts such as "Timomarchus's Picture of Medea, in Rome."

The next morning, I spoke with them all at Weinstein's apartment at the Chelsea Hotel. Morris came to New York from Portland, Oregon, in 1965, to carve out a career on Broadway. "I auditioned for various things, but by the time I got here, the vocal style had already changed. The style was belt. I had been listening to Camelot, and I thought the JULIE ANDREWS style of voice was still there." She soon met up with Bolcom, who thought she resembled a favorite singer of his, RUTH ETTING, and together they worked up a version of the old Etting hit "Ten Cents a Dance," which they later recorded on their famous Rodgers & Hart album for Nonesuch. "I can't say I ever thought we would do cabaret," says Morris. "I still saw myself as performing in the context of a show with other people around me. To perform as a solo was really hard. I still have nerves."

Morris has long been hailed as one of the great interpreters of American song; I ...