January 14, 1999
For those new to jazz, Lee Morgan may only be familiar as the trumpeter who managed, incredibly, to upstage John Coltrane on the title cut of Coltrane's classic Blue Train. I'm here to testify that it was no fluke.
Erupting onto the bop scene in the late 50's with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Morgan quickly established himself as one of the genre's most powerful new voices: at the tender age of 20 he was already an incendiary player. As the years went on his technique improved, but that fervent passion remained. Passion is Morgan's hallmark, what makes him an immediately identifiable presence. His playing is solid as granite melodically, and his trademark slurs and half-tones help to set him apart, but it is his intensity that makes him great. Deeply rooted in the blues and anticipating funk's rhythms, his solos have a visceral feel, rich with ideas and blistering energy.
Leeway is one of his earliest dates as a bandleader, and he slips into the role with outstanding backup. Art Blakey, one of jazz's most instinctive drummers, is behind the kit, and the incomparable Paul Chambers provides stellar bass support - his intensely melodic solo on the fiercely swinging "Midtown Blues" is alone a compelling reason to buy this album. Although Morgan's funky composition "The Lion And the Wolff" is just as impressive; Bobby Timmons sets the tone with a foreboding piano riff, and the band rips into the melody with a potent drive.
Morgan's bright, sharp tone serves him equally as well on ballads like "These Are Soulful Days", but it's when he bursts out one of his highly lyrical solos in the uptempo numbers that you know you're in the presence of a man who knows exactly where he's going and how to lead his band there. It's a fantastic place to be.
- Jared O'Connor
passionate bop