Tony Bennett wrote that spontaneously at a Mo Morgen live performance. It appears on the cover of this CD. A New Yorker transplanted to Miami since 1993, Morgen works primarily as a leader, with a notable sideman date on tenor sax with organ legend JIMMY SMITH QUARTET at the '98 Clearwater Jazz Festival where he scored big with fans and critics. From '93-98 he led the house band at Miami's premier jazz venue, MoJazz Cafe, performing with nationally-known S.Floridians like Ira Sullivan, Pete Minger, Melton Mustafa, Duffy Jackson, Eddie Higgins. In New York, where he was better known as Mike Morgenstern, Mo led the house band from '75-'84 at his famed loft, Jazzmania Society, where he presented and performed with a “who's who" of jazz notables. He led bands at the Blue Note, Village Gate, Dewar's Greenwich Village Jazz Festival, South Street Seaport Jazz Festival, Brooklyn Jazz Celebration at St. Ann's, and others, most often with the likes of Claudio Roditi, Hilton Ruiz, Joe Puma, Walter Perkins, Perry Robinson, Bobby Forrester. He appears on records by Ted Curson, Joe Carroll, and Licorice Factory.
This CD features standards, with Mo on vocals on 9 of the 11 tracks, on tenor sax on 4 of the 9 vocal tracks, and the rarely heard Eb sopranino sax on one other. In live performance Mo probably employs the distinctive sound of the sopranino more than any other saxophonist. There are 2 features for tenor, a refreshing funky-reggae version of Ellington's “In a Sentimental Mood", and a swingin' “You and the Night and the Music". The vocals range from swing to bossa to cha-cha to jazz-rock(a surprising treatment of the Brown/Henderson “The Thrill Is Gone") and include “It Might As Well Be Spring", “Cheek to Cheek", “Better Than Anything", “I Thought About You", “People Will Say W'ere In Love" “Ghost of a Chance", “Tender Trap", and the gem of the CD, possibly one of the best ballad versions ever of “I Didn't Know What Time It Was".
-- Stutz Horowitz
For more information contact All About Jazz.
