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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →