Lee Morgan (trumpet,
flugelhorn); Bennie Maupin (tenor sax, flute, bass clarinet); Harold Mabern
(piano); Jymie Merritt (bass); Mickey Roker (drums) + Jack DeJohnette (drums on
one tk)
The postman struggled up the drive with this box set and two tiles were shattered in the hallway as it landed. I’m glad I ordered the 8 CD version as I understand that the 12 LP sets are delivered by donkeys liberated from their usual travails of carrying overweight Americans up to castles in Crete. It is a bit of a beast, but it’s also what you would have wanted from 8 CDs of Lee Morgan with a hot band raising the roof in Hermosa Beach, California in July 1970.
This
is, effectively, the third iteration of Lee Morgan, whose career had been
derailed twice by drugs. By the time of the visit to The Lighthouse he was back
up to full strength. Credit for this is usually given to Helen Moore/Morgan who
had taken him in, fed him, retrieved his horn and his coat from the pawnbrokers
and would effectively manage the rest of his career. Less than two years later she
would also be the one who shot him dead. You have to get through that cloud
hanging over this music to get to the gems within.
Some
of this music had been released as a single album and then later as a 3 CD set
but this is the first release that contains all of the music from 12 sets
played across 3 days. There are, actually, only 33 tracks, (excluding
introductions), 21 of which haven’t been released before, so as you can imagine
they all, pretty much, get a good seeing to. In fact, the best way to think
about this release is to take everything you ever liked about Lee Morgan and
kick it up a notch or three in terms of the excitement level. Many of the tracks
clock in over ten minutes, with the longest Absolutions,
over 22 minutes. This departure from the sharp, punchy tracks such as studio
classics like The Sidewinder is more
about the opportunity to expand and to work ideas through; it’s about freedom
from constraint rather than a lack of discipline. Everyone solos as if they
have a lot to say and all the time they need in which to say it.
Morgan
emphasises during the introductions that they will be playing mainly new
material so The Sidewinder gets one
run through whilst others (Nommo, Absolutions,
The Beehive, I Remember Britt) each crop up a few times. It’s a lesson in
the history of bop from its earliest shapes in the late 40s to the driving hard
bop of Blakey up to the then new developments, now regarded as post-bop. The
band wouldn’t stay together for long after this session, with Maupin, for
example, joining Miles Davis and playing on Bitches
Brew, Jack Johnson, On the Corner and
Big Fun.
Four
of the five band members contribute compositions, with only Roker missing out,
though Morgan’s contributions are two tunes from much earlier in his career. This
gives the collection quite disparate voices that still cohere as a single
whole. Coltrane’s influence shines through in Maupin’s playing while Mabern
covers a spectrum from rapid runs to heavy percussive playing. Merritt is the
anchor, solidly rooting the rest of the band. Morgan plays with great power,
but stylistically, has moved on from his earlier working of rhythm and blues into
jazz and, on these recordings, displays a wider range of voicings that fits in
with his colleagues’ expansive compositions.
This
was an unwise purchase but my buyer’s remorse dissipated more and more as I
worked my way through it. Probably another one for your Christmas list. Dave Sayer
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