Jazz Articles about Lee Morgan
The Blue Note Label

by Jerome Wilson
This show, from July 2021, covers two hours worth of the extensive legacy of the Blue Note record label, examining some of the label's rich past as well as its present. The program goes all the way from Lee Morgan and Bud Powell to Joel Ross and Ambrose Akinmusire. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Thelonious Monk In Walked ...
read moreDefinitive Article Lee

by Patrick Burnette
Many moons ago on Episode 95 we did an podcast devoted to Freddie Hubbard, so in honor of the new Complete at the Lighthouse release, we thought it was time to do one for Lee Morgan But not to discuss Live at the Lighthouse because that's the way we roll. (Look me up on Facebook if you have questions about that release). We survey the trumpet master's brutally truncated career and ponder what might have been while enjoying one of ...
read moreHard Bop: Ten Essential Live Albums

by Chris May
"Fire! That's what people want. Music is supposed to wash away the dust of everyday life. You're supposed to make them turn around, pat their feet. That's what jazz is about. Play with fire. Play from the heart, not from your brain. You got to know how to make the two meet." So said drummer and hard bop pioneer Art Blakey in an interview with David Rosenthal in the 1980s. To which his partner in funk, the ...
read moreLee Morgan: The Complete Live at the Lighthouse

by Mike Jurkovic
Suffice to say that if Blue Note's original Live at The Lighthouse (1970) lit a fire under you and all the subsequent expanded iterations did nothing to douse said flames, this definitive final word on a very good thing is going to grab your attention fast and hold it hard. Fourteen previously unreleased whirlwind turns around the bandstand complete the picture painted that July weekend in California when trumpeter supreme Lee Morgan and his pirate quintetBennie Maupin on ...
read more50th Anniversary Blue Notes For July

by Marc Cohn
First show of the month, you know that means: Blue Note 50th anniversaries! This month, Bobby Hutcherson and Harold Land (San Francisco), Lee Morgan (celebrating his July birthday at the Lighthouse), McCoy Tyner (Cosmos via Asante), and Elvin Jones (Coalition). We've also got the 78s of BN-24 from James P. Johnson, as well as Clifford Brown and Jimmy Smith (recorded on July 4, 1957). There's also the Thinking of Home session by Hank Mobley, but that will have to wait ...
read moreLee Morgan: The Sidewinder

by Greg Simmons
Legend tells us that 1964's The Sidewinder was the album, and indeed the song, which saved Blue Note Records at a time when the label was struggling financially. Dashed off to fill some tape, at the end of the recording session, it peaked at number 25 on the Billboard chartsalmost unheard of for a hard-bop recordstabilizing the label's finances as well as providing Lee Morgan with steady royalties for the remainder of his tragically abbreviated life. Although the ...
read moreHard Bop Trumpet - Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd (1960 - 1967)

by Russell Perry
In this portion of Jazz at 100, we are featuring tenor players and trumpeters who propelled hard bop into the 1960s. In this hour, we will continue with the Trumpet Players, Part 1, featuring three players who apprenticed in the Jazz Messengers: Lee Morgana Blue Note leader since 1956, Freddie Hubbardwho made his debut as a leader (also for Blue Note) in 1960 and Donald Byrd who recorded with everyone from Horace Silver to John Coltrane before becoming leader for ...
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