Here is yet another in the wonderful series of reissues from Craft/Concord, and this time it is the 1956 hard bop album by the jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan who was just 18 years old at the time it was recorded. It was the second album he recorded in just a few days, with ‘Lee Morgan Indeed’ recorded on November 4th1956 with a totally different line-up, then this being recorded on November 5th and 7th. These days he is probably best remembered for being a stalwart of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, gaining a massive crossover hit with “The Sidewinder” in 1964 and being shot to death by his girlfriend at a jazz club he had been performing in at the young age of 33, but this album captures him when he was still fresh and following his own path. No wonder he would soon to be asked by Dizzie Gillespie to join his band, not long after that was released.
It is fresh, dynamic and exciting, and is it is difficult to comprehend he was given his first trumpet on his 13th birthday, just 5 years before, as he is already a master. He knows when to sit back and let others take the melodic lead, especially Hank Jones whose touch on the piano is simply wonderful, while the rhythm section are the famous drummer Art Taylor and Doug Watkins, the latter being a founder member of The Jazz Messengers alongside saxophonist Hank Mobley. It is a wonderfully light album, yet full of the passion and excitement one gets from this period when so many wonderful musicians were stretching boundaries. This is yet another great reissue which all jazz connoisseurs need to investigate further.
Rating: 9/10
Links:
https://craftrecordings.com/