Lee Morgan's Delayed Release Oddity Gets a Tone Poet Turn
And a new "Blue Note"-y cover
While this is admittedly a simplification, Tone Poet Blue Note releases come in a few basic musical flavors: the "must have" ones that even non-jazz fans know by name, the great ones that when originally released couldn't find an audience but now are more popular and well-appreciated than ever, the head scratcher delayed release ones that have fans wondering how and why the label didn't issue them when originally recorded, and finally the delayed release ones that have listeners fully understanding why they sat in the can, and maybe wondering why they weren't just left there. Fortunately, those are few and far between but ultimately taste-dependent.
Blue Train is an example of the "must haves", Andrew Hill's Black Fire and Dance With Death are two under-appreciated titles today heard and owned by more jazz fans than when originally released and as for the delayed release that didn't make sense category, there's Jackie McLean's demon dance his final for the label, delayed by only a few years, and probably because Blue Note was changing hands and so it got lost in the shuffle.
This Lee Morgan album originally recorded in 1968 sat on a shelf until 1980—towards the end of the era (between 1975 and 1981) when the late Michael Cuscuna was overseeing the Blue Note debuts of a series of unreleased vault titles packaged in generic cover art.
Blue Note went dormant until 1984 when the late Bruce Lundvall revived it, hiring Cuscuna to oversee reissues. It turned out I ran passed Lundvall's house three times a week (during the warmer months) not knowing he was a neighbor. By the time I found out, his health had greatly deteriorated and he'd been moved to a care center but we did manage to speak once and planned for an in person interview that sadly never took place.
So where does this Morgan album fit? It's definitely not one of those "how could they not have released this when first recorded?" Blue Notes—despite the "A team" players—at least that's my take on it, though the analytical annotation written by Michael Rozek hears it with far greater enthusiasm. At the same time it's not a "should have remained in the can" albums either.
Let me explain: 1968 was a period of great upheaval and transition as anyone who lived through it will attest. Hair, clothing, music, everything changed or began to change at a breathtaking pace. Jazz musicians were caught off-guard as the hip scene ground shifted beneath them. Club dates dried up. Clubs disappeared, jazz started becoming a has been music—at least in some circles—and album sales dropped as rock took off as an album art form.
Fans used to seeing Milt Jackson in a tuxedo with the MJQ saw this. Milt in a turtleneck with a whatever you want to call that around his neck. And it's an album featuring a string quartet. A "hip" one of course. Players here include Ron Carter, Bob Cranshaw, Cedar Walton, Mickey Roker, and other jazz greats gigging for the money and who can blame them? The first album track is "You Got to Pay When the Deal Goes Down". Sounds more like a Grateful Dead tune!
There's nothing that radical on Taru, which starts, as is typical for a Blue Note record, with funk courtesy the session's pianist John Hicks' tune "Avotcja One". But Hicks plays with in a florid, glissando style—less bop and more pop—interesting but not unusual. George Benson adds fluid lines on a nice solo and then Lee adds a spare figure that he repeats and builds upon and so far, it's all good! Hicks cools the glissandos underneath and it's "why wasn't this released in 1968" time?, especially after Bennie Maupin adds some chewy sax lines mirroring Morgan's part then twisting it up and away. Hicks takes a solo, left hand Tyner, right hand Liberace? It's fine, just un-Blue Note-y, though the tune sails off and concludes very Blue-Note-y (other than Hicks's glissandos).
Then comes Morgan's "Haeschen". Uh oh! This is not Cornbread. It's just plain corny— a waltzy '60s era sitcom theme—not that Lee doesn't take some gorgeous solos—but all that popped into my head was a sitcom with a guy's name, like "Larry" and the lyric follows the theme, "Larry, Larry, Larry's a milkman" or whatever. You can hear Wolff saying "file it!". Co-producer Duke Pearson was a Morgan friend since his teenage debut according to the liner notes. I wonder what he thought.
But the side ender, "Dee Lawd" is a few steps down from "Haeschen". It's best described as a "ditty" that begins with a Hicks Doo-wop part and then Lee does Herb Alpert. This should have been an edited A.M. hit and could have been if "Pops" could have one with "Hello Dolly"—because the A.M. charts back then were that schizophrenic — but I bet no one at Blue Note was thinking like that. Still it's kind of fun hearing Blue Note do a ditty.
Side two gets off to a great BN funk start with "Get Yourself Together", which should've opened side one. It commences with Morgan and Maupin in a lockstep road race and then....when the annotator describes it as "a complex melody oddly echoing 'Softly As In A Morning Sunrise'" I must differ. It doesn't "oddly echo", Maupin just pulls a direct quote and that's okay too but call it what it is. Still nice tune on which Hicks crisply comps and Morgan follows with playing every Morgan fan will appreciate and should hear and that's what sets this session apart from a "never should have left the can" territory.
Clearly Wolff—no one—imagined that Lee Morgan would be shot dead four years after this session by his ex-wife Helen and so figured better to can this second rate session. It was probably forgotten and gathering oxide dust until Michael Cuscuna rightly chose to release it.
If a Lee Morgan bio-pic ever gets made, the somewhat wistful "Haeschen" could be repurposed: instead of "Larry" (ok, that's my invention) becoming "Helen, Helen, why'd you off Lee...".
Cal Massey's "Taru, What's Wrong With You", like "Haeschen" is another theme from an imaginary screenplay but it's a more interesting and imaginative multi-themed composition. The album ends with "Durem" another Morgan funk-out on which everyone especially George Benson and Maupin have a good time and so will you.
So no, this is not a "should have been left in the can" Tone Poet but neither is it essential unless you are a major Lee Morgan fan. In other words if you bought the complete Lee Morgan at The Lighthouse 12 LP box set (now sold out by the way) you'd be a fool to not add this to your Lee Morgan collection. There's plenty to enjoy including the new cover art. Also enjoyable is the annotation, which I think twists itself in knots to make this less than stellar set sound like a carefully conceived musical TED event.
Oh! The sound: it's quite a good Rudy recording, including the dead center piano. For fans who can't get enough of Lee, you could say Taru is mourning in Morgan town.
