By Steve Proizer Prodigy, post-Parker junkie, died by homicide at a young age (1938-1972). No matter. The myth must not oust the player. Musically, Lee Morgan was a muthahfucka. Whatever influences he brought to the music – funk, modal, latin, free – Lee has always sounded like Lee and theRead More →
Who’s the fan of acclaimed San Diego trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, jazz giants John Coltrane and Lee Morgan? So big that he estimates he owns at least 50 vinyl albums by each of them. So great that he can name the most obscure recordings that featured Morgan and Coltrane as sidemenRead 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 →
People often ask me for my opinion on what a good LP is to start getting into jazz. I mean, a lot of people have absorbed “Kind Of Blue” even if they don’t know it, and “A Love Supreme” might be a bit too much for a neophyte, so IRead 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →