The Murder Of Lee Morgan

[Durium]

THE MURDER OF LEE MORGAN

Lee Morgan belongs with Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard and Kenny Dorham to the great hard bop trumpet players of the 1950s and 1960s. Lee Morgan, born in Phildadelphia July 1938 passed away, the 19th of February 1972, too young, 34 years old, due to a crime of passion. While performing in a New York club he was shot by his female friend who found him with another woman.

John Campo, jazz guitar player, track cyclist, and an author of novels, sent me an eyewitness report I love to share with you !! .......

John Campo: The Murder Of Lee Morgan

Keep swinging

Durium

[Dan Gould]

Thanks but I don't really see how this is significantly different from the story that has been told in the past, or what misinformation it corrects.

And speaking of corrections - I hope the typos were due to a transcription of an interview by a non-native speaker and not his own written account.

"scene" not "sceen"

"misinformation" is one word

"must have" not "must of"

"disillusioned" not "dissalusioned"

and his wedding could not have been "later in 1969" if Lee was killed in 1973. Maybe it was '79?

[Durium]

Thanks but I don't really see how this is significantly different from the story that has been told in the past, or what misinformation it corrects.

And speaking of corrections - I hope the typos were due to a transcription of an interview by a non-native speaker and not his own written account.

"scene" not "sceen"

"misinformation" is one word

"must have" not "must of"

"disillusioned" not "dissalusioned"

and his wedding could not have been "later in 1969" if Lee was killed in 1973. Maybe it was '79?

I replaced the ( typing) errors - some were mine - others were in the original !!

The Murder Of Lee Morgan

Keep swinging

Durium

[skeith]

Maybe I missed something - but the most bizarre thing about this account is that a gun that has just been used to kill someone is handed over to the bartender for safekeeping- then it goes into the toilet? Something rings false about this.

Edited June 13, 2008 by skeith

[jostber]

It might have been a posthumous wedding.

http://trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2004/0...about_igno.html

Edited June 22, 2008 by Jim Alfredson

[Durium]

THE MURDER ON LEE MORGAN

The Lady Who Shot Lee Morgan ( please, scroll down)

Keep swinging

Durium

[Big Beat Steve]

I'll leave the dissecting of this blog entry to Lee Morgan fans and worshippers but what I find strange about this latest spot are two things:

- What new info does this statement you quoted actually offer? Besides, I seem to remember Lee Morgan's wife has been interviewed more than once before her death (this was the subject of another thread here quite some time ago).

- I don't feel Lee Morgan's death has been that much overlooked, passed by, neglected or ignored. The investigations into his end seem to be fairly numerous, it seems to me as a casual onlooker in matters Morgan. If there is a death of a major jazzman that's been investigated insufficiently it's the death of Wardell Gray.

Edited June 22, 2008 by Big Beat Steve

[Teasing the Korean]

"And Your Bird Can Sing" was one of the greatest songs on The Beatles' classic Revolver album.

That one was on "Yesterday and Today" where I come from.

[larryrthomas]

I'll leave the dissecting of this blog entry to Lee Morgan fans and worshippers but what I find strange about this latest spot are two things:

- What new info does this statement you quoted actually offer? Besides, I seem to remember Lee Morgan's wife has been interviewed more than once before her death (this was the subject of another thread here quite some time ago).

- I don't feel Lee Morgan's death has been that much overlooked, passed by, neglected or ignored. The investigations into his end seem to be fairly numerous, it seems to me as a casual onlooker in matters Morgan. If there is a death of a major jazzman that's been investigated insufficiently it's the death of Wardell Gray.

Steve:

I am not so sure Mrs. Morgan has been interviewed by anyone except me. If there is another one with her quotes, where is it? It doesn't exist. There have been "numerous investigations" but none of them was, as the wise folks say, straight from the horse's mouth and none that told her side of the story, which I recorded in an almost two hour exclusive interview. I have also produced an audio documentary called The Helen Morgan Project.

Larry Reni Thomas

Author

The Lady Who Shot Lee Morgan

[phunkey]

With all due respect to the original poster, there is a much more interesting account of this incident in my opinion, told by no other than the great Billy Hart. The best thing about it is that you can actually listen to Billy. The mp3 is up on his homepage as part of a much recommended interview done by Ethan Iverson: http://billyhartmusic.com/interview_part_3.htm

[Big Beat Steve]

Steve:

I am not so sure Mrs. Morgan has been interviewed by anyone except me. If there is another one with her quotes, where is it? It doesn't exist. There have been "numerous investigations" but none of them was, as the wise folks say, straight from the horse's mouth and none that told her side of the story, which I recorded in an almost two hour exclusive interview.

Maybe I was actually thinking of your interview. At any rate, an interview with Ms. Morgan (probably yours) was the subject of another (more detailed) thread here a while back.

What I meant to hint at is that a statement to the efffect of "I was there, and yes, he was shot" (which to me somehow seemed to be the gist of what that eyewitness quoted in the original blog had to say) doesn't shed too much new light on all this.

[larryrthomas]

I am a little confused. How can anyone say that Mrs. Morgan's interview and the article I wrote on my blogspot (carolinajazzconnection.blogspot.com) doesn't amount to new and exclusive information is beyond me? She talks about her life with him and how the shooting came about. She did not have a spokesperson nor was she "an eyewitness." She was one of the main characters who the "eyewitness" saw commit the crime. By the way, the Billy Hart interview is quite interesting--the first thing he said was--"I wasn't there." I don't know John Campos, but I do know bassist Paul West, who told me that he was sitting at the same table with Mrs. Morgan when she got up and confronted Lee. He was indeed an eyewitness. He talks about it in a downbeat January 2007 article. He also told me that my article was a pretty good description of why it happened and how it happened. Read The Lady Who Shot Lee Morgan by Larry Reni Thomas. Some historians would call it information from a primary sources; the others would be deemed secondary sources.

[jazzypaul]

"And Your Bird Can Sing" was one of the greatest songs on The Beatles' classic Revolver album.

That one was on "Yesterday and Today" where I come from.

not in the CD era it's not. All of the CD re-issues were of the English albums, not the American ones (this is why you've never found a copy of Beatles '65!).

So, anyway, yes, And Your Bird Can Sing IS on Revolver.

[Aggie87]

not in the CD era it's not. All of the CD re-issues were of the English albums, not the American ones (this is why you've never found a copy of Beatles '65!).

Beatles '65 is in both stereo and mono, on cd, on the Beatles Capitol Albums Vol 1 (along with Meet the Beatles, The Beatles Second Album, and Something New):

Vol 2 includes The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, the Help! soundtrack, and the U.S. version of Rubber Soul.

[Teasing the Korean]

not in the CD era it's not.

What the hell is a CD? All of my posts are in the Vinyl forum.

Also, the mono mix of AYBCS on Y&T BLOWS AWAY both the British mono and stereo mixes. I can't listen to either of the latter two, and I'm sure they sound especially dry and sterile on a CD, whatever that is.

Edited June 24, 2008 by Teasing the Korean

[king ubu]

I somehow missed how this turned into a Beatles thread.... but back on topic of Morgan:

First, here's a working link to the blog of Larry R. Thomas (welcome here!)

http://carolinajazzconnectionwithlarrythomas.blogspot.com/

I'll gladly read that article, wasn't aware of it!

And as a little remark of a historian... weird as it seems, but just as often as not, eye-witnesses are wrong about what they think they have witnessed. It may seem weird, but it's not uncommon at all.

[Soulstation1]