Lee Morgan

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Lee Morgan (10 July 1938 - 19 February 1972) was an American hard-bop jazz trumpeter.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Morgan was a jazz prodigy, joining the Dizzy Gillespie big band at 18, remaining a member for two years. In 1956 he began recording as a leader, mainly for the Blue Note label; eventually he recorded twenty-five albums for the company. Morgan’s principal influence as a player was Clifford Brown, having had direct contact with him before Brown’s premature death.

He was also a featured sideman on several early Hank Mobley records, and John Coltrane’s Blue Train. Joining Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1958 further developed his talent as a soloist and writer. He toured with Blakey for a few years, and was featured on Moanin, which is probably Blakey’s best known recording. When Benny Golson left the Jazz Messengers, Morgan persuaded Blakey to hire Wayne Shorter, a young tenor saxophonist, to fill the chair. This classic version of the Jazz Messengers, including Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt would record the classic The Freedom Rider album.

Morgan tried to move in to the more advanced areas of the music in the early 1960s. He left the Jazz Messengers in 1961, struggling with heroin addiction, managing to kick his habit in his hometown. He returned to the music scene after a two-year absence, playing on Grachan Moncur III’s essentially avant-garde Evolution album (his favourite work)

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  • jazzthieve

    Spotify playlist Jazz: Bebop, Cool, Swing, Vocal, Fusion, Modal, Stride, Dixieland, Third Stream, Big Band, Hard Bop

    11 May 2:07pm Reply
  • THXmille138

    ok but The Shangri-Las, The Ronettes, The Small Faces etc etc etc was not the Biebers of 60's ?

    9 Apr 6:58pm Reply
  • DesignToKill

    Lee Morgan's last.fm page has gained 7 comments in 2012 thus far. Justin Bieber gained exactly as many in the last 4 hours. Nothing to do on this planet anymore, etc. Sadly true

    23 Mar 2:50pm Reply
  • dude25191

    Dopest MC on the mic.

    19 Jan 9:05am Reply
  • realcyndre

    Sidewinder, good album

    17 Dec 2012 Reply
  • I_LOVE_DONUTS

    Search For the New Land, The Procrastinator and The Sidewinder. From these you can work your way through his discography, since the guy doesn't have a single bad album.

    30 Nov 2012 Reply
  • Anira_Sugar

    very hot

    4 Nov 2012 Reply
  • celer2008

    Lee Morgan's last.fm page has gained 7 comments in 2012 thus far. Justin Bieber gained exactly as many in the last 4 hours. Nothing to do on this planet anymore, etc.

    30 Oct 2012 Reply
  • Domin_vlc

    http://www.facebook.com/WaltzMeBlues http://waltzmeblues.tumblr.com/

    27 Sep 2012 Reply
  • TheFructose

    Yeah, I think Lee is officially my favorite trumpeter.

    1 Sep 2012 Reply
  • Barcida

    Very Good

    27 Mar 2012 Reply
  • TheFructose

    Search For the New Land is such a brilliant album.

    9 Mar 2012 Reply
  • Sentenzia22

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    14 Feb 2012 Reply
  • dewfish

    great artist.

    22 Jan 2012 Reply
  • fleadilla

    "The Last Session" shines so bright, it's a shame this star was shot down before something huge happened. I had no idea he would move in such an avant-garde direction.

    12 Jan 2012 Reply
  • raphaa00

    Fergalmc, he is. Here in Last.fm, if you sort by "trumpet" tag, he is among the 10 most popular musicians.

    29 Dec 2011 Reply
  • WilliamStonier

    Absolutely incredible virtuoso

    26 Dec 2011 Reply
  • fergalmc

    Scorned wives with guns, a tragedy. Lee would be high in most peoples lists of greatest jazz trumpeters.

    24 Nov 2011 Reply
  • gebhardino

    He is that jazz musician i like best.

    18 Oct 2011 Reply
  • Druid66

    I dig that hard bop thing. He really could play.

    1 Oct 2011 Reply
  • All 67 shouts