Opening night at Slug’s 9 Avenue B, NY 10009 By Hannah Reimann GREG LEWIS ON SAX, Alphonso Horne on trumpet and Marty Jane on bass at Slug’s playing music by Lee Morgan. Photo credit: Hannah Reimann. Jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan (1938-1972) left a gripping legacy after his truncated 33-year life.Read More →
It’s an enigma as old as live popular music itself. A veteran act wants to branch out, move forward and defy expectations, but fans want to hear from old favorites. It was the kind of challenge trumpeter Lee Morgan faced when he and his band played a two-week engagement atRead More →
“Live at the Lighthouse” was to be the start of a new chapter for Lee Morgan in 1970. As someone who hasn’t slowed down much since he first picked up the trumpet in his early teens and is become a star of the jazz scene of the 1960s. , theRead More →
There were plenty of trumpeters in the 1960s, but the Big Four were Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan. Davis was most outwardly obsessed with innovation and constant forward movement: his 1965-68 quintet blew hard bop to smithereens, and while people were still absorbing that group’s ideas,Read 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 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 →
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 →
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 →