five star records

This year's Detroit Jazz Festival was amazing. We had exceptionally good weather for Labor Day weekend and a long list of talented players, young and old, the acts themed around the idea of a 'Philly/Detroit Summit'.

Tucked away on the Waterfront Stage on a beautiful Sunday afternoon was a lineup of young trumpet stars playing a tribute to Lee Morgan, a Philadelphia native and one of the best jazz artists to ever pick up the instrument this side of Miles Davis. Dominick Farinacci, Jeremy Pelt and Brandon Lee dazzled the crowd trading fiery solos on Morgan originals causing heads to bob, hands to clap and feet to tap. I sat in the shade and drank a six-dollar Bud, marveling at how fresh and alive Lee's music still seemed after forty years of technology and progress.

For some reason Lee Morgan's story is little known. Born in Philadelphia in 1938, the young Morgan first picked up a trumpet as a teenager, and by the time he had reached the ripe old age of eighteen found himself touring with Dizzy Gillespie's big band. From there he went on to work with some of the best names in the business, his brashly inventive solo work on Coltrane's epic 1957 Blue Note LP 'Blue Train' scorching the grooves unlike anything before (and he was only nineteen at the time!).

An off-and-on member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Lee also recorded a number of LPs for Blue Note as a leader, including his best-selling 'Sidewinder' album, the title track of which was used as theme music for a Chrysler television commercial during the 1963 World Series. Unfortunately, the success of 'Sidewinder' forced a pattern onto Morgan's later sessions, including 'Cornbread', which was recorded in 1965.

Despite the fact that 'Cornbread' (along with many of Morgan's subsequent recordings) is somewhat formulaic in its approach, there's plenty of strong blowing from a stellar lineup that features not only Lee, but Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley and Herbie Hancock. I had forgotten how catchy the title tune was until I heard it played again that recent Sunday in the park overlooking the riverfront, each of the young trumpeters trying to top the others in a memorable finish to an incredible set.

Most critics agree that Morgan didn't recapture his early fire and creativity until shortly before his tragic death, his 'Live at the Lighthouse' LP from 1970 featuring some superb extended solos that could have signaled better things to come. Unfortunately, Morgan's life was cut short by a bullet while playing a gig at (ironically) Slug's in NYC, the gun in the hands of his common-law wife, who had reportedly brought it to him at his request so that he could settle an argument with his coke dealer.

In just a span of sixteen years, the former prodigy had stamped his indelible mark on the history of jazz and helped lay the framework for the Hard Bop movement, which survives to this day thanks to youngsters like Farinacci, Pelt and Lee.

My copy is a reissue from 1988 and is in stone mint condition. According to the price guides, an original mint copy might set you back upwards of thirty bucks, and reissues are trading for $15 - $20 on Ebay. I only saw one original copy up for auction and it had a beat-to-death cover and a so-so disc. They wanted ten bucks, which didn't seem like such a bad deal considering what you might shell out for the CD.

And while 'Cornbread' may not get a five-star rating from most critics, it definitely gets the A-Okay in the design department with another incredibly tight cover by the great Reid Miles featuring a photo by Francis Wolf. Plus, the whole shebang was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder. Natch.

Oh, and by the way, speaking of prodigies... Saturday afternoon's spotlight set at this year's festival was performed by the incredibly talented and beautiful songstress/bassist Esperanza Spalding. She didn't 'play' the bass so much as she made love to it, danced with it, tickled it. Crushed my foolish heart with it.