Lee Morgan

My jazz library is steadily growing. Recently I've almost completed Blue Mitchell's and Lee Morgan's discographies. Morgan was a much better trumpet player than Mitchell, more prolific and more popular too, but they share some similarities. Both were recording for the Blue Note Records for a long time and both recorded some swinging takes. Blue Mitchell on several occasions tried to copy Morgan's style on "The Sidewinder". They really have this in common, because Lee Morgan also tried to copy his hit single, shamefully with no great success. Listen to "The Rumproller" from the following year, you'll understand.

A funny fact: "The Sidewinder" was an outtake. Morgan recorded it without releasing it in mind. What happened after was enormous success in the pop world (which was fairly odd for a 10-minute-long jazz track) and so-called "The Sidewinder" syndrome, because for the couple of months many Blue Note LPs started with long groovy tracks that were really swinging (boogaloo they call it) but failed in recreating the magic of the unexpected 1964 hit.

But all in all, Lee Morgan was a very advanced player. Not in the terms of Miles or Diz, he wasn't a giant, but he was a real cool bloke. His girlfriend shot him six years after "The Sidewinder". May he rest in peace, he had gone away too soon. That's what he has in common with his idol and guy he learned from - Clifford Brown. Memorable song "I Remember Clifford" (he died in a car accident) was recorded not only by Morgan, but also Sonny Rollins and many others.

Brownie died in 1956 along with Bud Powell's brother, Richie. We'll never know what would be Clifford's answer to "The Sidewinder". Sometimes I close my eyes, listen to the sound of silence and think about it.

The Killer strikes again

The wildest man in rock and roll ever. Now he's 74 years old and he obviously has no clue about it. His duets album from 2006 is one of my favorites - it's called Last Man Standing. It's because he's the only one left from the great bunch of Sun Records' stars.

Of course, it's Jerry Lee Lewis. He's planning a new release this year called Mean Old Man. With awesome guests (Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson and more) and awesome tunes ("Sweet Virginia" and "Dead Flowers" by the Stones, "Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry and "Please Please Me" by the Beatles) it's gonna be wonderful. I'm waiting. ;)

Grachan Moncur III for president

I've always been keen on free jazz (also known as the New Thing). Musician's music on the highest level, high quality jazz without any sense of rhythm or melody, spiritual trips to heaven and hell ;) The way Trane mixed free jazz and hard bop on A Love Supreme is just for starters. Dolphy released an album called Out to Lunch! on Blue Note Records which was far more into the new thing in 1964, and Blue Note very rarely released albums that weren't straight ahead bop. Dolphy's playing was amazingly great. I've also got some early works of Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler, another free jazz pioneers, and enjoy their music even if I don't understand a bit. Free jazz is a kind of really hardcore jazz that could be used to torture prisoners.

For me, the Blue Note sound connected with not-so-extremely-free playing was the thing. But as I mentioned before, that label wasn't interested much in this kind of music. They made an exception, though, for Grachan Moncur III - a wonderful, gorgeous trombonist and composer. He released two Blue Note albums, Evolution in 1963 and Some Other Stuff in 1964 (with the best cover art ever!). Moncur was associated with Jackie McLean back then and inspirated by Thelonious Monk.

You can't even imagine how the music on those two albums sounds. Divine! With titles like "Monk In Wonderland", you just know there's magic. It's got Lee Morgan's best playing ever - just a month before "The Sidewinder". On his second album he featured Wayne Shorter just before he joined Miles Davis' band.

Moncur's albums were extremely highly acclaimed by critics but fell into obscurity shortly after. Such a shame! Read a lenghty interview with Grachan to understand his music and position better and buy his stuff!

Photos from Blue Note

Kill me, I'm not a big fan of Curtis Fuller - at least yet. But I was always interested how did the sessions for Blue Note Records look from the inside and when I got a set of Fuller's records for Blue Note label and a beautiful booklet, I've cut a few photos for y'all to see. ;) Photographs are of course taken by one and only Alfred Lion. Beautiful, aren't they? (And they get larger when you click, whaow ;^)).

Tina Brooks - The Waiting Game

Tina Brooks released only four LPs and the Waiting Game was the hardest for me to find. It may not be the best session of his, but it's still such a wonderful hard bop date. One look at a typical Blue Note cover and a typically gorgeous set of musicians made me sure I'm gonna spend another 40 minutes listening to this album once again. Jazz, and bebop especially, really helps me forget about all the trouble I've got and keeps me focused enough not to drift away.

Johnny Coles is on trumpet, he's the guy who played with Mingus on his 1964 tour which speaks for itself. Enough to love him ;) Kenny Drew's on piano. He's a very bright pianist - I have only one album of his called Undercurrent and he certainly is groovin' the blues. Rhythm section is as follows: Wilbur Ware (known for his masterful playing with Sonny Rollins) and Philly Joe Jones - who was admired by you know who ;)


Tina Brooks doesn't overuse minor tones, even plays cheerfully at times. His interplay with Johnny Coles is absolutely amazing and the way Kenny Drew plays behind them sends chills down my spine - not to mention his solos, and he gets quite a few of them. Of the six songs, all of them are rather short, clocking at about 5-7 minutes - I'd love to hear those tunes played live by Tina's band, stretched to the limit.

There are quieter moments but don't wait for ballads - even if some moments are slow, they are loud and proud. The songs that I find the best are the opening track ("Talkin' About") and eponymous closing track. I rate those compositions higher than many of the well-known ancient jazz standards played to death on too many occasions during the 40s and 50s.

All in all, the Waiting Game is not as overwhelming as Tina's masterpiece, True Blue. It isn't exciting enough to be in every jazz enthusiast's collection. Neither it's original or rare enough to cost you fifteen bucks - unless you're a bebop lover. And I'm quite a maniac now ;) I wildly crave for jazz LPs that are swinging like famous Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" but are challenging enough not to be called "radio-friendly". On this album, Brooks gets close.