Lee Morgan

The Jazz Messengers were called a 'school.' Blakey said bringing along young people was the jazz tradition — he launched Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン, Wayne ShorterWayne Shorterウェイン・ショーター, Freddie HubbardFreddie Hubbardフレディ・ハバード, and many more.

— Art Blakey: Jazz Messenger, Leslie Gourse, 2002

Speak No Evil

Wayne Shorter · 1966

Night Dreamer

Wayne Shorter · 1964

The 1964–66 Blue Note period was when Wayne ShorterWayne Shorterウェイン・ショーター's compositional voice matured rapidly. On Night DreamerNight DreamerWayne Shorter · 1964 and Speak No EvilSpeak No EvilWayne Shorter · 1966 he established his signature 'mysterious beauty' language. Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン, McCoy TynerMcCoy Tynerマッコイ・タイナー, and Elvin JonesElvin Jonesエルヴィン・ジョーンズ brought it to life.

The Sidewinder

Lee Morgan · 1964

The SidewinderThe SidewinderLee Morgan · 1964 (recorded 1963, released 1964) became an unexpected hit. Its boogaloo beat and simple riff crossed over to general audiences, reportedly rescuing Blue Note Records from financial trouble. The front line with Joe HendersonJoe Hendersonジョー・ヘンダーソン was two Art BlakeyArt Blakeyアート・ブレイキー alumni at their peak.

The Sidewinder

Lee Morgan · 1964

Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン's 1963 album The SidewinderThe SidewinderLee Morgan · 1964 was an unexpected commercial hit — almost the only Blue Note recording to chart. Morgan continued evolving in the years after, until he was shot onstage in 1972 at age 33.

— Blue Note Records: The Biography, Richard Cook, 2003

November 1959, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris. The Jazz Messengers with the Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン / Wayne ShorterWayne Shorterウェイン・ショーター front line. A rare French TV broadcast capturing this lineup live.

— Blakey & Jazz Messengers — Paris 1959, 1959

Blue Train (1957) was John ColtraneJohn Coltraneジョン・コルトレーン's sole Blue Note album. With a three-horn front line including Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン and Curtis FullerCurtis Fullerカーティス・フラー, it captured his hard-bop side just before he systematized "sheets of sound."

— Blue Note Records: The Biography, Richard Cook, 2003

Moanin'

Art Blakey · 1958

Recorded for Blue Note in October 1958, Moanin'Moanin'Art Blakey · 1958 is the masterpiece of the Golson-era Messengers. The title track, a gospel-tinged Bobby Timmons composition, helped popularize hard bop with a wider audience.

— Blue Note Records: The Biography, Richard Cook, 2003

The Sidewinder

Lee Morgan · 1964

Recorded in December 1963, The SidewinderThe SidewinderLee Morgan · 1964 became Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン's biggest commercial hit on Blue Note. The boogaloo title track climbed to No. 25 on the Billboard pop chart and is often credited with rescuing the label financially.

— Blue Note Records: The Biography, Richard Cook, 2003

On February 19, 1972, Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン was shot and killed between sets at Slug's Saloon in Manhattan by his common-law wife Helen More. He was 33—a tragically early end for one of hard bop's defining trumpeters.

— Blue Note Records: The Biography, Richard Cook, 2003

The Sidewinder

Lee Morgan · 1964

Joe HendersonJoe Hendersonジョー・ヘンダーソン's tenor is featured throughout Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン's The SidewinderThe SidewinderLee Morgan · 1964 (1963). His cerebral, slightly 'outside' phrasing provided a striking foil to Morgan's straight-ahead blues sensibility.

— Blue Note Records: The Biography, Richard Cook, 2003

Curtis FullerCurtis Fullerカーティス・フラー's trombone was central to John ColtraneJohn Coltraneジョン・コルトレーン's lone Blue Note leader date, 'Blue Train,' recorded in September 1957. The three-horn front line he formed with Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン became one of hard bop's ideal sounds.

— John Coltrane: His Life and Music, Lewis Porter, 1998

Art TaylorArt Taylorアート・テイラー played drums on John ColtraneJohn Coltraneジョン・コルトレーン's sole Blue Note album, Blue Train (September 1957). His rock-solid swing, supporting the Lee MorganLee Morganリー・モーガン and Curtis FullerCurtis Fullerカーティス・フラー front line, embodied the hard bop drumming standard.

— John Coltrane: His Life and Music, Lewis Porter, 1998

Moanin'

Art Blakey · 1958

Night Dreamer

Wayne Shorter · 1964

The Sidewinder

Lee Morgan · 1964

Search for the New Land

Lee Morgan · 1964

Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder (1964) was meant as routine hard bop, but the title track became a surprise hit — a chart single that ended up in a TV ad — and it shored up a struggling Blue Note. Afterward the label kept pressing its players for 'another Sidewinder.'

Deciphering the Message

Makaya McCraven · 2021

Morning Sun

Alphonse Mouzon · 1981

Free for All

Art Blakey · 1964

If This Bass Could Only Talk

Stanley Clarke · 1988

In the 1960s, Freddie Hubbard was constantly measured against fellow trumpeter Lee Morgan every time he took the stand. He later said that pressure, rather than wearing him down, was exactly what kept him pushing forward.

— Statement stmt-freddie-hubbard-on-freddie-hubbard-2

'Art took me in when I was 18. I learned more than drums from him'

On joining the Jazz Messengers at age 18 in 1956.

DownBeat

Jazz Can Be Sold

1970-02-09

↗

I mean, every time you played, you were being watched and people compared you with - look at little Lee Morgan. So that competition kind of kept me going, you know.

Looking back on the 1960s and the constant comparison with Lee Morgan.

The jazz club room. Riku's been listening to this riff for three days straight. On chewing getting funky.