July 10th marks the day one of the greatest trumpet players in jazz was born.
Born on this day in 1938, Lee Morgan first appeared on recordings on the Blue Note label at the age of 18 and really started to make a name for himself as a member in the Jazz Messengers and a player on John Coltrane's Blue Trane album. He eventually recorded 25 albums as a leader for the Blue Note.
On February 19, 1972, he was shot by his common-law wife at a jazz club in Manhattan's Lower East Side. While injuries were not immediately fatal, the city had experienced heavy snowfall that evening which hindered the ambulance to make it to the scene and get him to the hospital. Lee Morgan bled to death.
Tonight, let's listen to a song from his 1964 album Search For the New Land. As the follow up to his smash album The Sidewinder, critics and fans at the found this record to be a bit more abstract than the soul & hard bop of its predecessor. It stands up great all these decades later though.
What are you listening to tonight?
