Lee Morgan...

[F.ScottFitzGerald]

...Anybody have any suggestions?

[gabegabrielsky]

He was the trumpeter on what was one of Trane's earliest dates as a leader, Blue Train. Classic album. Probably Morgan's most famous album was Sidewinder. Morgan was on many albums as a leader and side man with plenty of solo space. Others on this board undoubtedly know more about his recording career than do I and will undoubtedly have many other fine suggestions about his recording career. I'd just have one other point to make. He was also a sideman in Dizzy's State Department big band of the late 50s (so-called because an international tour was funded by the State Department). He's not heard as a soloist in that band, but it is an example of him doing section work in a large ensemble.

On a personal note, Lee Morgan was the very first big name professional musician that I ever saw live, in 1959. It was at an event called the University of Pennsylvania Jazz Festival. It was organized by Jimmy DePriest, Marion Anderson's nephew, a percussionist and then a grad student at Penn. DePriest later became a symphony conductor. Some how, for this event, he had managed to get the charts from the Columbia Music for Brass album, on of the first experiements in Third Stream music which featured Miles Davis along with a brass choir. For the concert which I saw, a very young Lee Morgan played the Davis parts.

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by F.ScottFitzGerald

...Anybody have any suggestions?

Originally Posted by gabegabrielsky

Others on this board undoubtedly know more about his recording career than do I and will undoubtedly have many other fine suggestions about his recording career

Shucks Gabe, thanks....

Personally, I'm partial to The Procrastinator and The Sidewinder, both Blue Note dates.
Best!
John

[gdogus]

My suggestions for Morgan as a leader:

Candy (1957)
The Sidewinder (1963)
Search for the New Land (1964)
The Gigolo (1965)
Cornbread (1965)

and please be sure to check out Morgan as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, also on Blue Note - especially:

Moanin' (1958)
At the Jazz Corner of the World, Volumes 1 & 2 (1959)
A Night in Tunisia (1960)
The Freedom Rider (1961)
Indestructable (1964)

[Marcello]

Lee Morgan Quintet - Lee Way
Lee Morgan (tp) Jackie McLean (as) Bobby Timmons (p) Paul Chambers (b) Art Blakey (d)
Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, April 28, 1960
Nakaniti Suite
These Are Soulful Days
The Lion and the Wolff
Midtown Blues

Lee-Way (Blue Note BLP 4034)

[Lee Gato]

So MUCH great Lee Morgan, yet The Sidewinder, one of the most overrated albums in jazz, keeps getting prominent mention over so many other superior albums. The title track is fun, but hardly ranks as a masterpiece and gets irritating and boring when played too much. The other tracks are real good, but not better than a ton of other stuff Morgan did.

I'd start at the beginning with Blue Note 1538 (though Clarence Sharpe is probably not exemplary) and the Hank Mobley sessions over the next few days for Savoy.

[gabegabrielsky]

Originally Posted by Lee Gato

So MUCH great Lee Morgan, yet The Sidewinder, one of the most overrated albums in jazz, keeps getting prominent mention over so many other superior albums. The title track is fun, but hardly ranks as a masterpiece and gets irritating adn boring when played too much. The other tracks are real good, but not better than a ton of other stuff Morgan did.

I'd start at the beginning with Blue Note 1538 (though Clarence Sharpe is probably not exemplary) and the Hank Mobley session the very next day for Savoy.

I'd have to agree with you regarding Sidewinder. I mentioned it earlier only because of its immense popularity, though that's not to be sneezed at. It was kind of a cross over piece because of its funk rhythm, and because of that was found on a lot of juke boxes when it first came out, especially in African American neigborhoods. People idolize Trane so much and Morgan's playing was in top form on Blue Train, which is also a nice sized group, a sextet, which is sort of the beginning of genuinely arranged jazz (one might think of it as a little big band).

I also think that his stuff with the Messengers was superior to most of his work as a leader.

[Lee Gato]

Blue Train is monumental. No disagreement from me on that.

I don't know that Morgan was better with Blakey than as a leader himself. Though, again, I won't disagree that the Blakey albums are great.

By the way A Night In Tunisia was mentioned, but one should get it with Like Someone In Love, just to have the complete two day (a week apart) session.

There are some duds in Morgan's catalog too, like Dizzy Atmosphere recorded for Specialty.

[F.ScottFitzGerald]

Thanks, all for the suggestions.
I have "Blue Train", which is what made me aware of Lee Morgan.
I just wanted to know where go from there.

[Lee Gato]

If you don't have Moanin' on Blue Note. Go for that one. Gives Blue Train a run for the money, if you can believe it.

[jlhoots]

If you could find the OOP Mosaic that would be great.

Take 12 (not a Blue Note) is also worth a listen.

[pRogers]

(the first) A Night in Tunisia with the Messengers. Recorded 1960 with Lee, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, and Blakey. Both Shorter and Morgan have just amazing solos on this song. Lee used to be famous for how well he could play Tunisia.

[nkipa]

I agree with others about The Sidewinder. Funky but in a repetitive, uninteresting way (to me).

I second the recommendation for Blakey's Moanin'.

Under his own name, I like Search For the New Land.

[Django301]

The title track is a bit boring, yes, but some of the other tracks, especially "What a Night" and "Totem Pole" I would rank among his best. "Leeway" is my favorite Morgan album, because everyone on it cooks. Blakey has a great drum solo on the second song, it always makes me smile. I also think the Jazz Messengers were best when Morgan was a member. He's so much more soulful than Hubbard in my opinion.

[walkin]

The Sidewinder and Search For The New Land for sure

Live At The Lighthouse is a great live album