James Mtume, a jazz/R&B artist, producer and percussionist who performed with Miles Davis and scored a 1983 pop hit with “Juicy Fruit”, died at 76 over the weekend. No official cause of death was available at press time, with Fork first reporting the musician’s passing and an official statement fromRead More →
Keyon Harrold spent 20 years developing his jazz career in New York. Now he works as a creative advisor for Jazz St. Louis. ST. LOUIS — Jazz St. Louis prepared for its fifth consecutive sold-out show as people flocked to Ferguson’s own trumpeter and composer, Keyon Harrold. “I studied musicRead More →
RAndy Ross was a man of piercing, eloquent lyrics and memorable musical notes. Playwright, essayist, novelist, educator, composer and jazz saxophonist, Ross died on October 31, leaving behind a grieving family and community. Ross was a leader in school reform where he worked for over 20 years. In 2005, heRead 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 →
Jazz great Charlie Parker would have turned 100 in 2020, but COVID-19 has delayed the celebrations. Now, UNC Charlotte is honoring him with a series of “Charlie Parker 101” events. Left to right, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis in 1948. William Gottleib If you’re not yet a fan of jazzRead More →
album review Lee Morgan – The Complete Live at the Lighthouse (from 1970) (Blue note. 8 CDs or 12 LPS. Album review by Olie Brice) by Lee Morgan Living at the Lighthouse was already a classic album, in its original double LP format, and then the longest 3-CD box setRead 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, the incandescent trumpeter, led one of the greatest groups of the early 1970s – a short-lived but multi-faceted quintet, expansive in attitude and approach. With multi-reedist Bennie Maupin, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Jymie Merritt and drummer Mickey Roker, this ensemble spent a productive weekend in Hermosa Beach, CaliforniaRead More →
By JOHN STATON, Wilmington StarNews WILMINGTON, NC (AP) — When it comes to jazz, legendary label Blue Note has long represented the pinnacle of musical form, releasing albums by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and many other jazz icons. Earlier this year, Wilmington-based composer and percussionist Joe Chambers –Read More →
Lee Morgan – one of WBGO’s Top 100 Artists, selected by our listeners – was a trumpeter who fronted his share of combustible bands. When his Live at the lighthouse was first reissued in the United States in 1996, many listeners had their first encounter with his 1970 working group,Read 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →