Archive for the ‘Lee Morgan’ Category
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers: Moanin’ (1958 – Blue Note)
This was Blakey’s first album for Blue Note in several years, after a period of recording for a miscellany of labels, and marked both a homecoming and a fresh start. Originally the LP was self-titled, but the instant popularity of the bluesy opening track “Moanin'” (by pianist Bobby Timmons) led to its becoming known by that title. The rest of the originals are by saxophonist Benny Golson (who wasn’t with the Jazz Messengers for very long, this being the only American album on which he is featured). “Are You Real?” is a propulsive thirty-two-bar piece with a four-bar tag, featuring strong two-part writing for Golson and trumpeter Lee Morgan; “Along Came Betty” is a more lyrical, long-lined piece, almost serving as the album’s ballad. “The Drum Thunder Suite” is a feature for Blakey, in three movements, or themes: “Drum Thunder”; “Cry a Blue Tear” (with a Latin feel); and “Harlem’s Disciples”. “Blues March” calls on the feeling of the New Orleans marching bands, and the album finishes on its only standard, an unusually brisk reading of “Come Rain or Come Shine”. Of the originals on the album, all but the “Drum Thunder Suite” became staples of the Messengers book, even after Timmons and Golson were gone.
The album stands as one of the archetypal hard bop albums of the era, for the intensity of Blakey’s drumming and the work of Morgan, Golson and Timmons, and for its combination of old-fashioned gospel and blues influences with a sophisticated modern jazz sensibility. The album was identified by Scott Yanow in his Allmusic essay “Hard Bop” as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings.
Wikipedia
1. Warm-Up And Dialogue Between Lee And Rudy
2. Moanin’
3. Are You Real?
4. Along Came Betty
5. The Drum Thunder Suite
6. Blues March
7. Come Rain Or Come Shine
8. Moanin’ [Alternate Take]
Personnel:
Benny Golson (tenor sax)
Bobby Timmons (piano)
Jymie Merritt (bass)
Recorded on October 30, 1958 at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey – Blue Note Records
Lee Morgan: Charisma (1966 – Blue Note)
Douglas Payne (All About Jazz)
1. Hey Chico
2. Somethin’ Cute
3. Rainy Night
4. Sweet Honey Bee
5. The Murphy Man
6. The Double Up
Personnel
Lee Morgan (trumpet)
Jackie McLean (alto sax)
Hank Mobley (tenor sax)
Cedar Walton (piano)
Paul Chambers (bass)
Billy Higgins (drums)
Original Release Date: September 29, 1966 – Label: Blue Note Records
John Coltrane – Blue Train (2003 – Blue Note Records)
Blue Train gives a taste of what that might have been like, as well as a taste of what was to come. This reissue of the 1957 album finds Trane blowing hard on one of his first albums as a band leader. With one foot still in the Charlie Parker catalog and one ear turned toward hard bop, the album sounds like a typical club set. The album is best known for the title track, Coltrane’s first notable composition. His solo starts off with an announcement that he has something to say, but quickly moves toward Birdland. “Moment’s Notice” and “Locomotion” also demonstrate that, even before his work was informed by his eventual stylistic uniqueness and spiritual depth, Trane could write a compelling, well-organized tune.
The group’s rendering of the Kern/Mercer ballad “I’m Old Fashioned” and Trane’s “Lazy Bird” are a let down after the first three, although each has some nice playing by various band members.
The album benefits from Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones from Miles’ band laying down the bass and drums. Kenny Drew’s plays bluesy piano completes the excellent rhythm section. A young Lee Morgan contributes to the boppish flavor of the album with his Gillespie-ish licks (he even played a bent up horn). Curtis Fuller passes up the rapid fire riffing trombonists sometimes employ in trying to keep up with their more nimble bandmates in favor of a more nuanced, rhythmic variety. And he burns when he has to.
07 Lazy Bird (alternate take)
Personnel:
Across Rhythm 