BLP 1541

 Lee Morgan - Volume 2

Released - April 1957

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, December 2, 1956
Lee Morgan, trumpet; Kenny Rodgers, alto sax; Hank Mobley, tenor sax; Horace Silver, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Charlie Persip, drums.

tk.2 Latin Hangover
tk.5 Whisper Not
tk.8 His Sister
tk.9 D's Fink
tk.11 Slightly Hep
tk.13 Where Am I

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images / 
https://www.mosaicrecordsimages.com/

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Whisper Not	Benny Golson	02/12/1956
Latin Hangover	Benny Golson (arr: Owen Marshall)	02/12/1956
His Sister	Owen Marshall (arr: Golson)	02/12/1956
Side Two
Slightly Hep	Benny Golson (arr: Owen Marshall)	02/12/1956
Whare Am I?	Benny Golson (arr: Owen Marshall)	02/12/1956
D's Fink	Owen Marshall (arr: Golson)	02/12/1956

Credits

Cover Photo:	FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design:	REID MILES
Engineer:	RUDY VAN GELDER
Producer:	ALFRED LION
Liner Notes:	LEONARD FEATHER

Liner Notes

IF YOU are au courant with the newer and fresher developments in jazz territory, chances are that by now you may hove made the acquaintance of Lee Morgan — either through on in-person encounter or through Blue Note BLP 1538, which marked Lee’s record debut. However, in case you are among that square minority that may echo: “Lee Morgan? Who’s that? Where is she singing?”, it might be advisable to preface these notes with a brief recap to the effect that Lee is a male trumpet player, born in Philadelphia during Dizzy’s second year with the Teddy Hill band, born two years after Roy Eldridge left Fletcher Henderson — born 16 years after Louis Armstrong joined King Oliver’s band in Chicago; born, in fact, just three years before bop itself began to crystallize at Monroe’s Uptown House and Minton’s. But Lee Morgan is fast showing signs of being ready of rivalling the very men who created bop, a style that took shape during his infancy.

Lee had his first big-time experience in the summer of 1956, subbing briefly in the Jazz Messengers. A little later, not long after his eighteenth birthday, he joined the Dizzy Gillespie band. While in New York with Gillespie he recorded BLP 1538, for which some of the original music was written by Dizzy’s tenor man, Benny Golson, and a Philadelphia friend of Lee’s named Owen Marshall.

For this new session Lee again called on these writers. Since it was Golson who contributed most of the manuscript for this date, a few notes on him might be appropriate. Benny too is a Philadelphian, born in 1929. Starting on piano and taking up tenor at 14, he studied at Howard University in Washington. His first road job was a rhythm-and-blues assignment with Bull Moose Jackson, whose band then included Tadd Dameron. After working with Todd’s own band in Atlantic City during the summer of ‘53 and then with Lionel Hampton’s band (the one that had Clifford Brown, Quincy Jones and Gigi Gryce) he played in a Clarence Robinson revue, worked briefly with Johnny Hodges’ band and was then enveloped again in r & b, spending two years with Earl Bostic. This gave him his first real writing experience. In July 1956 he replaced Ernie Wilkins in the Gillespie band; with Diz he toured Latin America soon after.

Benny’s delightfully melodic theme Whisper Not opens this set. The melody is basically simple, but with sensitive and attractive chord changes. Lee’s horn is heard muted; Kenny Rodgers, a promising 19-year-old alto man from Philadelphia, takes the next solo, followed by Hank Mobley and Horace Silver. Notice the curious staccato unison ensemble effects and the impact of the rhythm suspension in the first bar of the release.

Latin Hangover is another Golson theme with an exuberant line recalling the mood of Cole Porter’s I Love You. Lee plays a strong, confident ensemble lead. Hank’s tenor is loose-jointed, confidently swinging; the low note that starts bar 25 of his first chorus typifies his ability to dig for effects without appearing mannered. On his second chorus he swings more forcefully, leading into o jaunty, technically brilliant Morgan solo. Note Lee’s fine use of triplets on one passage here. Everyone has a workout here — Horace, Kenny, the astonishing Paul Chambers (pizzicato today) and Charlie Persip, the wondrous drummer from the Gillespie ranks, cooking with the sticks.

His Sister (wish we could tell you whose sister, but Owen Marshall wasn’t talking as we went to press) has a melody whose most interesting characteristic is the seven-note pick-up, used without rhythm accompaniment and repeated to good effect. Kenny Rodgers reveals himself on a splendid solo as one of Philadelphia’s most promising young alto men, a distinction he shares with Clarence Sharpe, who played this role on Lee Morgans’ previous LP. You’ll notice a touch of half-valve humor a la Clark Terry on Lee’s solo. Some competitive fours between Lee and Persip precede the closing ensemble.

Strictly Hep, another Golson original, was described by Benny as follows: “There’s a little gimmick in the boss line, if you listen carefully, that gives it a feel of going contrary to the direction of the melody.” The contemplative yet smoothly moving line of the theme leads into solos by Hank, Kenny and Horace — a touch of humor in the Silver solo this time — and Lee, first with rhythm only and then with the horns supplying a background to help reinforce the sense of dramatic climax that builds during his solo. Persip’s sticks again take over before the finale.

Where Am I is what Benny calls “a melancholy ballad — I was in this kind of a mood that day.” This is mainly Lee’s vehicle, displaying him in a more subdued mood, applying the techniques and harmonic subtlety of modern jazz to the mood and manner of a well-constructed ballad. Horace also is heard to advantage.

D’s Fink, which closes the set (once again we are at a loss to explain an Owen Marshall title) is one of those minor-to-major lines with Latin and regular rhythm alternating. Lee goes into his solo gently with the preliminary break, then takes off like an expert diver who has swum in these cool waters before. Again you will observe his complete control of the instrument, bolstered by a sense of phrasing and continuity that must be unique in the world of teen-aged jazz (it seems almost absurd to associate him with a term that normally connotes immaturity). Mobley, Rodgers, Silver and Chambers all wail before D’s Fink comes to o sudden end.

In case your first impression of Lee Morgan, on his previous release, led you to expect great things from this surprising new talent, this new set will undoubtedly confirm that impression. And in case your earlier judgment was qualified in some manner such as “He plays fine for a youngster” we feel that by now you should be ready to admit he plays fine even if he were sixty-nine.

— LEONARD FEATHER
(Author of The Encyclopedia Yearbook of Jazz)

Cover Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design by REID MILES
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER

RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes

A NEW LOOK AT VOLUME 2: SEXTET

As if his age (18) and his featured place in the trumpet section of the new and now internationally celebrated Dizzy Gillespie big band were not enough, Lee Morgan added further steam to his precocious career with this second feature turn for Blue Note in less than a month. In addition to his debut for the label, he had already visited Rudy Van Gelder's fabled studios for Blue Note and Savoy on two other occasions. The prototypical young lion was only gearing up for a career that would have more than one meteoric turn, and more than one extended stretch of memorable music-making, before ending tragically 16 years later.

Underlying the strength of the present tracks, we hear musical partnerships taking root that will continue to blossom throughout Morgan's career. Benny Golson, who arranged four of his own compositions, was a vital part of the trumpeter's first four albums, though he only plays on one. Both Golson and fellow composer-arranger Owen Marshall exploit the rich possibilities of the trumpet/alto/tenor front line in a manner that earned them rare (for Blue Note) writer's credits in the original personnel listing. Golson built his reputation as a composer fairly rapidly as well after Miles Davis's new quintet recorded "Stablemates" in 1955, and the Golson compositions on this and Morgan's other early albums were integral to that process.

Of particular note in this collection is "Whisper Not," heard in its first studio version (a slightly earlier aircheck by the Gillespie band exists). "I was in tune with everything the day I wrote 'Whisper Not,"' Golson once told Nat Hentoff, "and it was done in half an hour." The introductory four-bar pick-up is the only feature on this debut version that did not become familiar over the decades. "Latin Hangover" sounds like Golson's take on a Horace Silver tune, down to their common love of new material in the out chorus. The rich background writing reflects Golson's early tutelage under Tadd Dameron. "Slightly Hep" features an opening phrase that would appear in the better known "Five Spot after Dark," and "Where am l?" is a beautiful ballad that deserves wider currency.

The tenor saxophonist who does appear here, Hank Mobley, also loomed large in Morgan's ongoing career. The two were initially brought together on Savoy the day after the trumpeter's first Blue Note album was taped, and one week to the day before the present music was recorded, Mobley led a more loosely organized sextet date with the identical personnel save for Donald Byrd's trumpet in place of Kenny Rodgers's alto sax. The Morgan-Mobley pairing would lead to frequent recorded encounters over the next 10 years, as well as a brief interlude of work together in the 1959 Jazz Messengers. Given Horace Silver's presence here, plus Charlie (now Charli) Persip in an extremely Blakey-ish mood in spots (especially the drum solo on '"Latin Hangover"), this session provides a closer approximation of the environment in which Morgan would operate after leaving Gillespie than any of his other early albums.

Owen Marshall, who had also written two titles for Morgan's first Blue Note album, dropped out of the trumpeter's recording career after this date. Marshall's music, which was also recorded by Art Blakey, Chet Baker, and Philly Joe Jones, reflects one of too many instances in the modern era of unfulfilled promise. "His Sister" has a 12-bar theme that does not move in typical blues manner, much like "Solar," which it suggests in its first eight bars. The four-bar resolution of the line appears as an introduction, and there is a bridge on the theme chorus only. Marshall also wrote a nice background complete with "Lullaby of Birdland" allusion and eight bars of fresh material near the end. "D'S Fink" presents the theme in 24 bars up front and 16 bars at the close, though the soloists receive 32-bar portions.

Alto saxophonist Rodgers makes his only appearance as a featured soloist on this disc. He possesses a pre-Bird tinge in his sound that places him closer to Cannonball Adderley than Jackie McLean among post-Parker altos. While Rodgers frequently sounds hesitant, especially on "Slightly Hep, " he turns in his best work on "D'S Fink."

There was nothing unsure about Morgan, at this or any later point in his career. His muted choruses on "Whisper Not" are precocious in their taste, ideas, and technique; the pecks and squeezes that would become part of his profile enliven "His Sister;" and, despite the still strong mark of Clifford Brown, Morgan's "Where Am l?" solo remains a very impressive example of youthful balladry. And it was only the beginning.

— Bob Blumenthal, 2006