A talk about the hardships faced by undocumented Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic and the stories of immigrants at a Georgia ICE detention center during the COVID-19 pandemic are just two of six documentaries making their world premiere at the annual 24h Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Operating outRead More →
Anthony Crawford was one of the wealthiest men in Abbeville, South Carolina, with over 400 acres of land; his farm was prosperous and self-sufficient. Crawford employed the black community. Anthony Crawford was murdered on October 21, 1916 by a mob of over 200 white men, then they lynched him. HOBORead More →
King Sukii , Associate Editor @KingSukii Susanna Osborne, more affectionately known as Sukii, is Associate Entertainment Editor for iOne Digital. The Spanish Harlem native started blogging in 2010 when she started covering hip-hop’s rising stars for GlobalGrind. Music (and entertainment in general) are areas Sukii continues to focus on asRead More →
March 16, 2021 Tennessee Watson, from left, Anya Tyson and Sam Dwinnell drive through western Wyoming in a scene from the documentary film ‘Deer 139’. The documentary film produced by the University of Wyoming will premiere online on Saturday, March 20. (Morgan Heim Photo) After a year and a halfRead More →
March 11, 2021, 4:12 PM The official poster of “Before We Was We”. Picture: Press Ska legends Madness are releasing a three-part documentary series to air in May. Madness’ Last Attempt Before we were usnamed after their 2019 biography of the same name, is a three-part documentary exploring the band’sRead More →
A short documentary about a Qualicum Beach-based jazz musician has been nominated for an award by an American film festival. This month, local Shaw TV volunteer, Kerilie McDowall, learned that the short film she created with the help of the Shaw Spotlight team, In the Zone: Rick Kilburn, is aRead More →
A short documentary about a Qualicum Beach-based jazz musician has been nominated for an award by an American film festival. This month, local Shaw TV volunteer, Kerilie McDowall, learned that the short film she created with the help of the Shaw Spotlight team, In the Zone: Rick Kilburn, is aRead More →
A short documentary about a Qualicum Beach-based jazz musician has been nominated for an award by an American film festival. This month, local Shaw TV volunteer, Kerilie McDowall, learned that the short film she created with the help of the Shaw Spotlight team, In the Zone: Rick Kilburn, is aRead More →
A short documentary about a Qualicum Beach-based jazz musician has been nominated for an award by an American film festival. This month, local Shaw TV volunteer, Kerilie McDowall, learned that the short film she created with the help of the Shaw Spotlight team, In the Zone: Rick Kilburn, is aRead More →
Blue Note took a while to release this session but even after a three year delay the music sounds great. Morgan’s trumpet style was virtually fully formed by the time he was twenty and has remained virtually unchanged since then except to become slightly more economical and refined. Morgan isRead More →
Soul co-director Pete Docter considered casting the lead role as an actor or scientist, but opted for a jazz musician due to the career’s “selflessness”. Pixar Soul was almost a very different movie. Early in development, co-director Pete Docter considered centering the film around an actor or scientist. However, onceRead More →
It was the kind of year that felt like a punch. Jamie Foxx not only coped with the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, but his beloved sister DeOndra, who had Down syndrome, passed away. There’s a quote from her new movie “Soul” that she loved. “The line is, ‘The worldRead More →
Lee Morgan’s life, though short, was filled with tunes that influenced generations of jazz artists to come. A hugely talented jazz trumpeter, Morgan shot to fame as a teenager, recording on John Coltrane’s legendary Blue Train and drummer Art Blakey’s band before embarking on a solo career. But along theRead More →
billy(Documentary film, directed by James Erskine. New Black Films. 96 Minutes. Film review by Tessa Souter) It is a testament to the depth and emotional intensity of billie holidayhis artistic talent which, more than 60 years after his death, still fascinates. She has been the subject of more than 25Read More →
No ordinary man (Canada) 80 mins. Stream online at the 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival from September 24 to October 7 on VIFF Connect We talk a lot about the importance of screen representation, but No ordinary man aims to vividly capture the emotional impact of acknowledging aspects of one’sRead More →
On Friday July 10, 2020, Christian Lee Morgan’s journey on Earth ended and he went to join our Lord. Christian was born on September 26, 1997 in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Troy High School. Christian loved his family and friends. Although calm, her heart was big. He wouldRead More →
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California. | Roll call Al Drago / CQ via AP On September 14, 2001, three days after New York’s Twin Towers were flattened by two hijacked airliners, with the ruins of the building still smoldering, 3,000 dead, more than 6,000 injured, Congress met to consider President GeorgeRead More →
The jazz collection has an archaeological aspect; it’s one of my favorite aspects of the hobby. More than most other genres, jazz evolved in its early decades, and it did so on record. Each musician was distinctive, changing from session to session, and interacting with other musicians in ways specificRead More →
In the 1950s, when jazz clubs dotted Los Angeles, Mr. Niehaus was a fixture on the scene, alongside other legendary musicians including Chet Baker, Hampton Hawes, Shorty Rogers and Bill Holman. But it was on the road with Stan Kenton’s band that Mr. Niehaus rose to national prominence as theRead More →
Although historically the music on this album doesn’t carry the dawn of hard bop, it always felt like it. Morgan and Shorter were his first vocals in Blakey’s quintet. Art was a diviner when it came to creative players, and in Morgan and Shorter he hit the jackpot. Tragically, heRead More →
Stanley Nelson’s deep dive into the world of a beloved music giant, Miles Davis: Birth of Cool, will make its nationally broadcast debut on the PBS series “American Masters” tomorrow night, February 25, at 9 p.m. Miles Davis during the “Round Midnight” recording session in June 1956. Don Hunstein/Sony MusicRead More →
Despite his somewhat limited output and even shorter life, Lee Morgan is considered one of the greatest trumpeters in jazz history. It’s his story. On a freezing night in New York in 1967, one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time didn’t own a trumpet. He was in theRead More →
Miles Davis was a genius. Miles Davis was also a bona fide jerk. Again, he was a genius. This genius is on full display in the documentary “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” a well-done account of the man’s accomplishments and his jerks. If director Stanley Nelson is leaning moreRead More →
Rumprollerhere in a new vinyl reissue, was the sequel to Lee Morgan’s 1963 hit album The Sidewinder. Sidewinder actually reached number 35 in Billboard‘s Top 100 and Blue Note could barely keep up with the demand. It became his best-selling LP and Sidewinder was usedRead More →
Lee Morgan hadn’t even turned 20 when he ventured into Rudy Van Gelder’s recording studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on September 29, 1957, to record The Cook. Born in Philadelphia, Morgan (1938-1972) was a trumpeter prodigy who idolized Clifford Brown (the innovative hard bop horn blower who had died inRead More →
Philadelphia horn blower Lee Morgan had been with Blue note folders for nearly nine years when he recorded corn breadhis 12th album for the label, in a single session held on Saturday September 18, 1965. to listen corn bread now. Originally from Philadelphia, Morgan was a precociously talented trumpet prodigyRead More →
As one of Miles Davis’ bandmates describes in “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” a Davis performance is like a chemistry experiment. Every night, the band took the stage to perform a controlled explosion, with Davis as the lead chemist: a little danger and a lot of precision. It’s justRead More →
Ridgefield provided the answer. One day, Watson took his car downtown to Bob’s Auto Shop and “created this friendship” with shop owner Bob Ford, he said. Ford is not the kind of guy who calls himself “cat”. “He’s a good old boy,” laughed Watson. What they have in common, WatsonRead More →
Adam Nely is a New York-based composer, vlogger and jazz bassist, and he has a problem with the movie Whiplash. Well, to be more specific, he has a lot of trouble with Whiplash. Damian Chazelle’s 2014 love letter to abusive student-teacher relationships invited audiences into the insular world of NewRead More →
On a freezing night in 1967, trumpeter Lee Morgan didn’t even own a trumpet. He had left his horn and winter coat at the pawnshop, all for the purpose of scoring heroin. He was often seen sleeping on the sidewalk outside of Birdland in New York, sometimes without shoes onRead More →
Miami-based artist Shira Lee is something of a Renaissance woman. She is a folk and jazz musician in several different bands, an actress and a writer, playing a starring role in the recently released web-series GROWN, which follows the story of two young Haitian-American men making their way through Miami.Read More →
King joined the UTSA faculty in 1995 and majored in jazz studies and music theory. (June 20, 2018) — Clarence Morgan King, Jr. lecturer in the music department of UTSA, died June 13 at the age of 63. A brilliant and passionate musician, King majored in jazz studies and musicRead More →
Wynton Marsalis has covered all the bases. Race. His role in removing Confederate statues in New Orleans last year. His deep antipathy for rap and hip-hop. And the damage he believes gender inflicts on African Americans. “I think it’s a lot more of a racial issue than tearing down theRead More →
The Nasher Museum presents “Precarity,” a new three-channel video installation created by London-based artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah. “Precarity” works with themes of risk, hybridity and the unfathomable to explore the city of New Orleans through the remarkable life and times of Charles “Buddy” Bolden, the first known person toRead More →
The film I called him Morgan chronicles the rise and tragic fall of trumpeter Lee Morgan, who grew up in Philadelphia. WRTI’s Susan Lewis spoke with sax master Odean Pope about her memories of Morgan, who in his short life made a lasting contribution. SL_ADLF_171113_OdeanPopeonLeeMorgan_slTM.mp3 Sax master Odean Pope talksRead More →
A first film as a director for Morgan Marceloriginal hamilton cast member, Sharing Our Stories: The Eliza Project is a 10-minute short documentary about the creation, purpose and promising legacy of The Eliza Project, co-founded by Philippa Sou (original ‘Eliza hamilton,’ hamilton) & Morgan Marcel. With Renée Elise Goldsberry, JonathanRead More →
Hear Morgan’s trumpet player Eddie Henderson November 3-4 at Lewers Lounge, then watch the Hawaii International Film Festival documentary “I Called Him Morgan” on November 5. Video and photos: Courtesy of the Honolulu International Film Festival ADirectors and directors make regular appearances at film festivals, but it’s rare to hearRead More →
Background photo courtesy of the Afro-American Newspaper Archives and Research Center Lee Morgan’s story as a promising and extraordinarily gifted trumpet player who was also a junkie seems like your typical piece of jazz tragedy, but his untimely death at age thirty-three did not come from an overdose. I calledRead More →
Kasper Collins’ film recently played as part of IDA’s documentary screening series. Jazz musician Lee Morgan was shot and killed in a jazz club in 1972 aged just 33 – by his wife, Helen Morgan. Kasper Collin brings the trumpet prodigy to life in the documentary ‘I Called Him Morgan’,Read More →
The main challenge in producing a documentary about jazz artists is choosing the best way to frame the story. How should a director talk about an artist’s life and music? Does the artist’s pure biography or mythology take precedence in the story? When it comes to music, a technical approachRead More →
Just as Lee Morgan seemed poised to break the cycle of drug addiction that had plagued him for years, the 33-year-old jazz trumpeter died in 1972, the victim not of an overdose, as so many similar stories have finished, but with a bullet. The documentary “I Called Him Morgan”, whichRead More →
Artistic, obsessive and intoxicating, “I Called Him Morgan” is a documentary with a creative soul, and that makes all the difference. It’s not just that it’s a haunting and deeply moving jazz tragedy, dealing with the life and untimely death in 1972 of legendary trumpeter Lee Morgan, who was shotRead More →
A documentary traces the brief life, trumpet career and volatile romantic history of Lee Morgan. (Luxury Submarine) Just as Lee Morgan seemed poised to break the cycle of drug addiction that had plagued him for years, the 33-year-old jazz trumpeter died in 1972, the victim not of an overdose, asRead More →
One snowy night in February 1972, Helen Morgan reached into her bag and pulled out the gun her husband, Lee, had bought for her. Lee, a 33-year-old jazz trumpeter who rose to fame as a teenager, was about to perform at Slug’s Saloon, a nightclub in New York’s East Village.Read More →
Leave it to a Swedish documentary filmmaker to uncover a nearly forgotten chapter in American jazz history: the brilliant life and ugly death of trumpeter Lee Morgan, shot by his common-law wife, Helen, between sets at Slug’s Saloon in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. in 1972. (Apparently she wasRead More →
FilmRise has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Swedish director Kasper Collin’s Lee Morgan documentary “I Called Him Morgan.” The documentary had its world premiere at the 2016 Venice International Film Festival, then screened at the Toronto, Telluride and New York film festivals. “I Called Him Morgan” will be released theatricallyRead More →
Staff report February 10, 2016 Kasimu Taylor, St. Louis-born jazz trumpeterKingtungsten Photography | For the Telegraph ST. LOUIS — A tribute to famed jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan will include songs from his album ‘The Sidewinder,’ as well as other compositions he wrote and performed. The concert will feature iconic MorganRead More →
In the 1950s, some jazz musicians thought they couldn’t get that Charlie Parker “happy-sad feeling” without using drugs. So says a friend of saxophonist Frank Morgan in “Sound of Redemption”, a documentary that revels in joy despite some very sad events. Mr. Morgan was born into music. His father wasRead More →
The film delves into another association, with Joni Mitchell, whose albums ‘Hejira’, ‘Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter’ and ‘Mingus’ are unimaginable without Pastorius; calling him the bassist for these sessions somehow understates his role. Some of Pastorius’ most striking performance footage in film comes from Mrs. Mitchell’s 1979 tour with aRead More →
Terell Stafford and his quintet bring a warm, heavy tone to a tribute album honoring the late Philadelphia horn player Lee Morgan. Kevin Whitehead says the new album is risky – but successful. TERRY GROSS, HOST: It’s FRESH AIR. Our jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has reviewed a new album byRead More →
Lifelong jazz musician and educator clark terry is dead. He was 94 years old. Al Hicksdirector of the documentary about Clark’s life, keep on keep onRecount The Hollywood Reporter Saturday. He had been in poor health for several years due to advanced diabetes and entered hospice earlier this month, BillboardRead More →
The art of teaching In Words and pictures, starring Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche, an English teacher (Owen) at a prep school clashes with the new art teacher (Binoche), forcing the students to try to decide whether literature or art is better . Owen and Binoche deliver energetic performances underRead More →
Randy Brecker Lee Morgan has always been, ever since I first heard him when I was about 13, one of my absolute favorite players. We have a common history. We’re both from Philadelphia, and we had the same trumpet teacher, the amazing Tony Marchione, who first told me about LeeRead More →
BY MAT MARSHALL February 12, 2010 Log in to view the number of plays Lee Morgan Seek the New Earth Blue Note / Music Matters 2009 (1964) Backed by what may have been his most decidedly modern band, trumpeter Lee Morgan has indeed embarked on an exploratory quest in thisRead More →
BY MAT MARSHALL July 6, 2009 Log in to view the number of plays Lee Morgan Tom Cat Blue Note / Music Matters 2008 (1980) Tom Cat continues Music Matter’s program of re-releasing generally unavailable Blue Note sessions from the 1950s and 1960s on double 45 rpm vinyl albums. AsRead More →
DelightfuLee: The Life and Music of Lee Morgan Jeffrey McMillan Cloth/Paper; 272 pages ISBN: 978-0-472-11502-0/978-0-472-03281-5 University of Michigan Press 2008 This is an excellent, well-written, well-researched, scholarly book about the life and music of one of jazz’s great unsung heroes – trumpeter Lee Morgan – who was shot and killedRead More →
Lee Morgan The gigolo Blue note folders 2007 As we celebrate the 35th anniversary (February 19) of the death of the talented trumpet player who would also become the major player in one of American music’s most defining stories Frankie and Johnny, the title of this session by Lee MorganRead More →
This album may not have the same status as Charlie Chaplin’s revered film of the same title, but it’s a session that evokes similar feelings. Like the beloved Tramp, Lee Morgan earns our respect with a performance of exceptional warmth and dignity, grace and beauty, peppered with moments of sweetRead More →
Although Lee Morgan had already made a handful of albums by the age of 19, The Cook (1957) depicts his throwing of the gauntlet as successor to Clifford Brown’s vacant throne. It’s close to being a pure bebop session, reminiscent of a date like Reserved for musicians (Verve, 1956), onRead More →