Blue Note Review Volume 3....Truly, Madly, DeepLee Morgan

Limited edition box set

The third volume of the Blue Note Review, limited to 2,000 copies and entitled Truly Madly DeepLee Morgan is devoted to the music of the trumpeter Lee Morgan. Included in the box set is a Tone Poet style reissue of his 1967 recording, Sonic Boom, a reissue of a 45 RPM single of two tunes from his Charisma album, here 3 LP sides, also on a CD, of contemporary, artists playing Morgan compositions or music associated with him and a "never before released discovery…mysterious jam session" on a 10 inch LP.

I'll spare you the suspense and start with the 10 inch LP. Every new addition to the discography of a great musician like Lee Morgan is important, and if this were a recording with good sound of a working Morgan quintet, playing his tunes, it would be a historic find. But disappointingly, it is not. 

The approximately 30 minutes of music on the record documents Morgan playing in front of a club audience, probably in Chicago in 1959 at The Gate of Horn, during an extremely informal jam session. Drummer Philly Joe Jones is the leader and does the announcements; Bobby Timmons, Morgan's band mate in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, is the pianist, and Spanky DeBrest, then playing in the J.J. Johnson group, is the bassist. Two Chicago area musicians, Ira Sullivan and Nicky Hill, according to the Blue Note website, play saxophones, though I think Sullivan, who doubled, just plays occasional trumpet. (The record sleeve only lists the names of the musicians.)      

The tunes, "A Night In Tunisia" and "Bye Bye Blackbird" are warhorses played off the cuff without arrangement in a string of solos manner. "Tunisia" is a ramshackle performance but has some nice moments. It begins with the horns unable to agree on how to play the melody and scuffling through it. Morgan, at this point in his career, was heavily under the influence of Dizzy Gillespie. His long solo is full of Dizzy licks and a bit show-offy, probably to impress Clifford Jordan, Cedar Walton and the other musicians in the audience. Jones plays very loosely and aggressively behind Morgan, pushing and interacting with him, and it's obvious they've played together a lot. A sax solo, which, I think, is by the little recorded Chicago legend Nicky Hill, sounds like a wilder, less technical version of Coltrane and develops into an exciting, hinting at free music duet with Jones. Then there are nearly four minutes of drum solo. The ending is tentative, with a seemingly unplanned high-note coda by Morgan.

"Bye Bye Blackbird" starts with a short drum intro and then Morgan plays the melody with a tougher, bluesier edge than Miles Davis did on his famous recording. Morgan's solo is brilliant, full of long melodic lines, vocalized, squeezed notes, and some incredible playing with the time over Jones' swinging drums. Another sax solo, Hill, again, I think, starts with some Charlie Parker runs, then goes deep into Coltrane /Rollins territory roaming far away from the chords over aggressive drumming. Morgan and Jones trade a long series of hard swinging fours before they take the tune out with another raggedy ending.

"The Theme" turns into another series of extended fours trading that doesn't really seem to catch fire.

This music is for the Lee Morgan completist and those very few who want to hear more of the obscure but highly talented Nicky Hill. It is not music for casual listening or the casual fan. 

Now, I'm going to tell you the rest of the bad news, and it's really bad. This recording is very, very far from audiophile quality and those of particular and uncompromising listening habits, might consider it horrendously awful. The piano and bass are mostly inaudible, Philly Joe's drums are too loud, there is distortion, instruments are off mic, and there are inexplicable volume drops. Forget about soundstage, dynamics, bass extension, and everything on the audiophile checklist. This recording, by audiophile standards, is a train wreck. The cover is, appropriately, an imitation of early '70s rock bootlegs, and those of us beyond a certain age, remember what most of those sounded like.

Morgan's Sonic Boom album is another "for the completist" inclusion. It was recorded in April 1967 but not released until the "rainbow" or "LT "series in 1979 and has not been available on LP in the U.S. since then, except for a Scorpio pressing. 

The compositions are hard bop tunes with some of the unusual melodic and harmonic twists that Morgan favored, but for him, they are formulaic. None are as adventurous and creative as Search For The New Land, Melancholee, The Procrastinator, or as catchy as The Sidewinder. I wonder if these compositions were ones in his notebook that hadn't been selected for prior albums.

Morgan, during this period, recorded with saxophonists Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean, and Wayne Shorter, who were all at the forefront of hard bop and, like Morgan, assimilating the innovative ideas of Coltrane and Rollins. The choice of tenor saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, a very different type of musician, to be the other horn on Sonic Boom was an odd and, I think, unfortunate one. 

Although an excellent player who mixed R&B with jazz and had become a star as the featured sax soloist with Ray Charles, Newman's style, in 1967, was unsuitable for Morgan's music. He doesn't seem comfortable with the complex harmonies of Morgan's tunes or the playing of the very interactive Miles Davis Quintet styled rhythm section of Cedar Walton (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Billy Higgins (drums). The funky boogaloo, dedicated to him, "Fathead," not surprisingly, showcases his best playing on the album as he digs deep into the groove. During the rest of the album, his solos, coming after Morgan's, noticeably lessen the intense coherence the other players have created.

Throughout Sonic Boom, Morgan plays in the hard bop style that he has mastered with great virtuosity, but the brash excitement and sense of discovery of The Sidewinder, Search For The New Land, and his best playing with The Jazz Messengers is missing. Soon, he would begin to improvise more freely over the harmony, emphasizing rhythm and structuring his solos emotionally to create a mood like a storyteller. There are moments on Sonic Boom when he is searching for the freer concept that he found on Live at the Lighthouse, but it's apparent that he hasn't yet found it.  

Sonic Boom is an enjoyable bop becoming post-bop album, but it is among the lesser ones in Lee Morgan's catalog, and it's clear why it was not released when recorded. 

There are two more 12 inch LPs in the box with three sides of music (one LP side is blank) featuring contemporary artists playing Lee Morgan compositions or songs he recorded. The ringer/ bonus is a previously unissued take of "Morgan The Pirate" from Search For The New Land. All of the music on these LPs is also on a CD included in the set.

The new "Morgan The Pirate" take is #12. The issued take was #14. They are very similar, but Morgan's solo on the issued take is superior. This new take might interest diehard fans and completists.

The other seven tracks are by contemporary artists: Chief Xian Atunde Adjuah, Joel Ross, Bill Frisell, Keyon Harrold, Derrick Hodge, ARTEMIS, and Chris Botti, all very talented players. Excepting ARTEMIS, whose version of "The Procrastinator" has a creative arrangement reminiscent of Mingus and some adventurous soloing, this "Morgan Music" is restrained, influenced by ECM, slick, and a bit self-consciously hip. This is not hard bop or Lee Morgan music. Morgan and the times he lived in together created his music. Both are gone. 

Also included is an AAA mastered reproduction of a 45 RPM single of edited versions of "Sweet Honey Bee" and "Hey Chico" from Morgan's Charisma LP. The album has been out of print on vinyl for many years and should be reissued. The single seems to me to be little more than a tchotchke. Possibly, it was issued for DJs. A 45 RPM adaptor is included. 

Two 12"x12" Francis Wolff lithographs of Morgan, beautifully reproduced on quality paper, are in the box, and the Blue Note Review #0003, a 27 page magazine featuring comments by trumpeters on Morgan's music, a cartoon, Marcus Miller photos, and various articles, some not related to Morgan. Finally, there is a printed card with the limited edition # and a message from Don Was.  

Here's the summary. Sonic Boom sounds much better on the Kevin Gray mastered AAA LP in the box than on my "rainbow" or Japanese import LPs, but it is far from an essential Lee Morgan record. The ten inch jam session LP is an interesting listen for the dedicated fan, but probably only once. "The Blue Note Plays Morgan" LPs are 2020's digital recordings. They are listenable but not audiophile quality and unlikely, I think, to appeal to those who are not fans of some or all of the artists. The box is very sturdy and attractive. The CD, 45 single, the adaptor, the photos, and the magazine are "throw-in" extras. 

The price of the Truly Madly Deeplee Morgan box set is $225 plus postage. For those whose budget allows spending that much and are considering buying it, I advise buying five Tone Poet LPs instead.

Copyright 2025 and all rights reserved by Joseph W. Washek