"Jackie & Lee" this Saturday on Night Lights

[ghost of miles]

This week on Night Lights it’s “Jackie and Lee: a Hardbop Dynamic Duo,” featuring the mid-1960s Blue Note recordings of alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and trumpeter Lee Morgan. Both veterans of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, McLean and Morgan joined in the studio on several occasions to produce some of the most searing hardbop records Blue Note ever put out. Their trenchant, biting attack, an ability to convey a kind of street lyricism, and a sardonic humor in Morgan’s approach coupled with an edgy pathos in McLean’s led jazz writer David Rosenthal to call them “a frontline match made in hardbop heaven.” We’ll hear selections from the Morgan album Infinity and the McLean LP Consequence, in addition to sides from Morgan’s Cornbread date and the Grachan Moncur album Evolution. “Jackie and Lee” airs Saturday, May 12 at 11:05 p.m. EST on WFIU and at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville. It also airs Sunday evening at 10 p.m. EST on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio. The program will be posted Tuesday morning in the Night Lights archives.

You can watch Lee Morgan with the Jazz Messengers in 1965 here.

Next week: "Jivin' With the DJs."

[sidewinder]

Awesome !

[Tom 1960]

Super!!! I'm not sure I'll be able to listen to the live broadcast? But for sure I'll be checking the archives come Tuesday.

[Big Al]

Super!!! I'm not sure I'll be able to listen to the live broadcast? But for sure I'll be checking the archives come Tuesday.

Same here. I know what I'll be listening to at work on Tuesday. I mean, I've probably got all of tonight's songs on my hard drive, but listening to Ghost's intelligent commentary makes the listening experience that much more pleasurable!

[ghost of miles]

Some of said intelligent commentary in this particular program comes via Larry Kart--with full accreditation, of course. (And thanks again to Larry for clarifying Blue Note's mix-up of his liner notes for the LP issue of CONSEQUENCE.) "Jackie & Lee" is now archived.

For more Jackie, there's "We'll Keep Loving You" and a very early show, "Destination Out".

[Big Al]

For more Jackie, there's "We'll Keep Loving You" and a very early show, "Destination Out".

Both of which are excellent shows. The McLean tribute is especially touching.

[Big Al]

Listening to this archive right now. Another great show, but for the first time, I have a couple of (extremely) minor gripes:

1) You already played "Air Raid" on the Destination Out show. I know you probably figured no one would remember that (did you? ), but since I've listened to that show approximately 420,978 times now, I noticed!

2) I wish you could've included a track from Jack Wilson's Easterly Winds, just to show how powerful Jackie & Lee were as sidemen on someone else's session. That, and EW is one of my favorite albums in the world anyway!

Minor gripes about an otherwise fantastic show. Keep up the great work!

[Shrdlu]

Those BN albums with Jackie and Lee sure are hard to beat!

One treasured moment is where Jackie plays Lee's favorite quote of "And The Angels Sing" - you can hear it coming up (with no way of stopping it), and it's just fantastic. [it's on the "Jacknife" album, if you haven't heard it.]

[Larry Kart]

Those BN albums with Jackie and Lee sure are hard to beat!

One treasured moment is where Jackie plays Lee's favorite quote of "And The Angels Sing" - you can hear it coming up (with no way of stopping it), and it's just fantastic. [it's on the "Jacknife" album, if you haven't heard it.]

I'd forgotten about that but remember it now. Thanks. It sure is a great moment. Must have been a lot of love and understanding between Jackie and Lee.

[Lazaro Vega]

There's an interview I did with Jackie in 1992 where he spoke about their musical relationship. Will have to dig that out.

[ghost of miles]

Listening to this archive right now. Another great show, but for the first time, I have a couple of (extremely) minor gripes:

1) You already played "Air Raid" on the Destination Out show. I know you probably figured no one would remember that (did you? ), but since I've listened to that show approximately 420,978 times now, I noticed!

2) I wish you could've included a track from Jack Wilson's Easterly Winds, just to show how powerful Jackie & Lee were as sidemen on someone else's session. That, and EW is one of my favorite albums in the world anyway!

Minor gripes about an otherwise fantastic show. Keep up the great work!

Uh oh... I have failed. Time to fall upon my Mosaic CD opener! I try not to repeat tracks on the show, but sometimes I will if they seem especially worthy... and I felt that that was the case for "Air Raid." And yeah, something from EASTERLY WINDS would've been good, although I was trying to stick to dates led by either Jackie or Lee for the most part (even "Air Raid," led by Moncur, is still in my mind an early-1960s Jackie group date). I usually tear my hair out over running order, track selection, etc., and did so even more than usual for this particular program... waaaaayyyyy too much good material to choose from. A sequel is a definite possibility, esp. since I barely touched on any of the three-horn dates with Mobley, etc....

[Big Al]

Listening to this archive right now. Another great show, but for the first time, I have a couple of (extremely) minor gripes:

1) You already played "Air Raid" on the Destination Out show. I know you probably figured no one would remember that (did you? ), but since I've listened to that show approximately 420,978 times now, I noticed!

2) I wish you could've included a track from Jack Wilson's Easterly Winds, just to show how powerful Jackie & Lee were as sidemen on someone else's session. That, and EW is one of my favorite albums in the world anyway!

Minor gripes about an otherwise fantastic show. Keep up the great work!

Uh oh... I have failed. Time to fall upon my Mosaic CD opener! I try not to repeat tracks on the show, but sometimes I will if they seem especially worthy... and I felt that that was the case for "Air Raid." And yeah, something from EASTERLY WINDS would've been good, although I was trying to stick to dates led by either Jackie or Lee for the most part (even "Air Raid," led by Moncur, is still in my mind an early-1960s Jackie group date). I usually tear my hair out over running order, track selection, etc., and did so even more than usual for this particular program... waaaaayyyyy too much good material to choose from. A sequel is a definite possibility, esp. since I barely touched on any of the three-horn dates with Mobley, etc....

That will be a great show no matter what you play. You could just grab six or seven tracks at random, say "Welcome to Night Lights. Just listen!" and walk away and it would be a great show!

Even if you happen to slip "Air Raid" in there, it'll still be a great show!

[ghost of miles]

Hey, there's an idea--the "iPod shuffle" approach to programming! Just dump all those tracks in, and voila--no more hair-tearing. Hard indeed to go wrong with Jackie Mac.

[Big Al]

Hey, there's an idea--the "iPod shuffle" approach to programming! Just dump all those tracks in, and voila--no more hair-tearing. Hard indeed to go wrong with Jackie Mac.

Works for me, except that I enjoy your commentary. A LOT!!!

[Shrdlu]

Another point that was made by one of the LP liner note writers was the wonderful way the two blended together in the ensembles. A friend of mine once griped about Jackie's intonation in his solos at one period, but he played off pitch deliberately, as part of his style (which, he said, was to try to sound like Dex on alto), and during the ensembles he is perfectly in tune.