Lee Morgan

Infobox musical artist
Name = Edward Lee Morgan


Img_capt = Lee Morgan
Img_size = 190
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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
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Born = Birth date|1938|7|10
Died = death date and age|1972|2|19|1938|7|10
Origin = flagicon|USA Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Instrument = Trumpet
Genre = Bebop, hard bop
Occupation =
Years_active =
Label = Blue Note Records
Associated_acts =
URL =
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Past_members =
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Lee Morgan (10 July, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 19 February, 1972 in New York City) was an American hard bop trumpeter. [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jifuxqy5ldhe allmusic ((( Lee Morgan > Overview ))) ] ]

Biography

Morgan was a jazz prodigy, first picking up the trumpet on about the age of thirteen, after developing an interest in the vibraphone. On his 13th or 14th birthday, Morgan was given his first trumpet, his sister Ernestine (his elder by ten years) and mother having bought it together. He joined the Dizzy Gillespie big band at 18, and remained a member for eighteen months, until Gillespie was forced to disband in 1958. Beginning in 1956, he began recording as a leader, mainly for the Blue Note label. Eventually, he recorded 25 albums for the company. Morgan's principal influence as a player was Clifford Brown, having had some lessons from Brown before his premature death.

He was also a featured sideman on several early Hank Mobley records, as well as John Coltrane's "Blue Train". On the latter LP, he even played a bent-up horn (like the style that Gillespie made famous), and recorded one of the all-time great improvised trumpet solos on the title track.

Joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1958 further developed his talent as a soloist and songwriter. He toured with Blakey for a few years, and was featured on the album known as "Moanin'", which is probably Blakey's best-known recording. According to the biography by Tom Perchard, it was Blakey who started Morgan on his addiction to heroin, which was to blight most of his career. When Benny Golson left the Jazz Messengers, Morgan persuaded Blakey to hire Wayne Shorter, a young tenor saxophonist, to fill the chair. This version of the Jazz Messengers, including Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt, would record the classic "The Freedom Rider" album. The drug problems of Morgan and Timmons led to Blakey's sacking them in 1961, and Morgan was largely inactive professionally for about two years, returning to his family in Philadelphia.

Morgan tried to move into the more advanced areas of the music in the early 1960s. In November 1963 he played on Grachan Moncur III's essentially avant-garde "Evolution" album (apparently his favorite work), and experimented on some of his own recordings, such as the title track of "Search for the New Land" (1964).

But the popularity of his famous album, "The Sidewinder", featuring Joe Henderson, precluded his career developing in this way. The title track of that record cracked the pop charts in 1964, and served as the background theme for Chrysler television commercials during the World Series. This was done without Morgan's consent, and it is thought by Pechard that the intercession of Blue Note's lawyers were enough for the commercial to be withdrawn. "The Sidewinder"'s crossover success in a rapidly changing pop music market caused Blue Note to rush the track's "Boogaloo" sound to stores. This is evidenced in the mid-1960s output of many Blue Note stars, including Morgan, and some of the label's lesser artists, releasing albums with modified and rhythmically punchy blues tracks, such as "Yes I Can, No You Can't" on Morgan's own "The Gigolo". According to drummer Billy Hart, Morgan said he had recorded "Sidewinder" as filler for the album, and was upset that it had turned into his first hit.

In 1964, Morgan rejoined the Jazz Messengers after his successor Freddie Hubbard departed. At this point, the Jazz Messengers had become a sextet, with the addition of Curtis Fuller to the group.

Alongside this commercial success, Morgan continued to record prolifically, producing such works as "Search For the New Land", which reached the top 20 of the R&B charts. His work became increasingly more modal and free towards the end of the sixties. He had begun to lead his own group, featuring Bennie Maupin as a multi-reedist.

By 1965, Morgan's addiction had returned, and (according to Nat Hentoff's book, "Jazz Masters of the 50s") Blakey felt he was unable to use him anymore. Billy Hart says that things deteriorated to the point where Morgan was sleeping on pool tables, and didn't even have a horn, let alone a working band. He borrowed a horn for the recording of "Night of the Cookers", in which he sat in with Freddie Hubbard's band at a live gig in New York. The recording captures some of Morgan's weakest playing. Helen More, who became his girlfriend and later his common-law wife, helped Morgan clean up his act. He eventually put together a working band and re-established himself. "Live at the Lighthouse", recorded over three nights of a two-week stand at Hermosa Beach, California in July 1970, captures some very strong playing by Morgan and his band; a three-disc box set of the performances has been issued in recent years.

Lee Morgan was shot by Helen More following an argument between sets at Slug's, a popular New York City jazz club. According to an [http://www.billyhartmusic.com/interview_part_3.htm interview with drummer Billy Hart] , Morgan had gotten into a dispute with a drug dealer, after buying a large amount of cocaine. He called More and asked her to bring his gun to him at the club. More showed up, and spotted him with another woman, who Morgan was planning to leave More for. An argument erupted, and Morgan kicked More out of the club. When she returned to retrieve her coat (which she had forgotten), Morgan got into a scuffle with her, and the gun went off. An ambulance was late in showing up, and Morgan bled to death. More was judged to be insane at the time of the shooting.

There are conflicting reports of the shooting. According to the biography "DelightfuLee: The Life and Music of Lee Morgan" by Jeffery McMillan, More -- who had nursed Morgan back from heroin addiction and was a stabilizing force for Lee for the previous five or so years -- was a very jealous woman. Morgan had wanted to start a relationship with another woman and was trying to leave Helen More. Helen went down to Slugs on that fateful night and argued with Morgan because the woman was at the club. Lee forcefully removed More from Slugs. She returned to the club shortly after and pulled her gun. Morgan taunted her to shoot him. As he approached the bandstand for the third set, Helen More delivered a single fatal shot to Morgan's chest. He bled to death en route to the hospital.

Discography

As Leader

* 1956 "Lee Morgan Indeed!"
* 1957 "Candy"
* 1957 "City lights"
* 1957 "The Cooker"
* 1957 "Lee Morgan, Volume 3"
* 1957 "Conte Candoli & Lee Morgan: Double or Nothin"'
* 1960 "Expoobident"
* 1960 "Here's Lee Morgan"
* 1960 "Leeway"
* 1962 "Take Twelve"
* 1963 "The Sidewinder"
* 1964 "Search for the New Land"
* 1964 "Tom Cat"
* 1965 "Cornbread"
* 1965 "The Gigolo"
* 1965 "Infinity"
* 1965 "The Rumproller"
* 1966 "Charisma"
* 1966 "The Rajah"
* 1966 "Delightfulee"
* 1967 "Sonic Boom"
* 1967 "The Procrastinator"
* 1967 "The Sixth Sense"
* 1968 "Caramba!"
* 1968 "Taru"
* 1969 "Lee Morgan Sextet"
* 1970 "Live at the Lighthouse"
* 1971 "Lee Morgan" (reissued on CD as "The Last Session")

As sideman

;with Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers
* 1957 "Theory of Art (album)"
* 1958 "Drums Around the Corner"
* 1958 "Moanin'"
* 1959 "Africaine"
* 1959 "At the Jazz Corner of the World" (two volumes)
* 1959 "Paris Jam Session"
* 1960 "A Night in Tunisia (album)"
* 1960 "Like Someone in Love"
* 1960 "Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World" (two volumes)
* 1960 "The Big Beat"
* 1961 "A Day with Art Blakey"
* 1961 "Art Blakey!!!!! Jazz Messengers!!!!!"
* 1961 "The Freedom Rider"
* 1961 "Roots & Herbs"
* 1961 "The Witch Doctor"
* 1961 "Tokyo 1961"
* 1964 "'S Make It"
* 1964 "Indestructible"
* 1965 "Soul Finger"

;with John Coltrane
* 1957 "Blue Train"

;with Buddy DeFranco Quartet
* 1964 "Blues Bag"

;with Johnny Griffin
* 1957 "A Blowin' Session"

;with Andrew Hill
* 1968 "Grass Roots"

;with Wynton Kelly
* 1959 "Kelly Great"

;with Jackie McLean
* 1965 "Jacknife"
* 1965 "Consequence"

;with Hank Mobley
* 1956 "With Donald Byrd And Lee Morgan"
* 1956 "The Jazz Message of Hank Mobley"
* 1958 "Peckin' Time"
* 1963 "No Room for Squares"
* 1963 "Straight No Filter"
* 1965 "Dippin'"
* 1965 "A Caddy For Daddy"
* 1966 "A Slice of the Top"

;with Grachan Moncur III
* 1963 "Evolution"

;with Wayne Shorter
* 1959 "Introducing Wayne Shorter"
* 1960 "The Young Lions"
* 1964 "Night Dreamer"

;with Jimmy Smith
* 1957 "House Party"
* 1957 "Confirmation"
* 1958 "The Sermon!"

;with Jack Wilson
* 1967 "Easterly Winds"

References

Further reading

*Jeff McMillan "DelightfuLee: The Life and Music of Lee Morgan", 2008, University of Michigan Press

*Tom Perchard "Lee Morgan: His Life, Music and Culture", 2006, Equinox

External links

* [http://www.shout.net/~jmh/morgan/index.htm Lee Morgan tribute site]
* [http://www014.upp.so-net.ne.jp/lee/lee/leemorgn.htm Masaya Matsumura's Lee Morgan Discoraphy site]
* [http://www.jazztrumpetsolos.com/solo.asp?soloist=LeeMorgan&Solo=Ceora Lee Morgan playing his famous "Ceora" ballad]
* [http://billyhartmusic.com/interview_part_3.htm One version of "The Day Lee Morgan Died" as told by Billy Hart]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDbrxLz20JY Lee Morgan plays "I Remember Clifford" on YouTube]