Who do you wish Lee Morgan had recorded more with?

[Late]

Dana, I've often wanted to hear Lee in place of Donald Byrd on Newk's Volume One. Not that Byrd doesn't make a good showing, but I think Lee's sassier playing (and especially with Roach on board for the session) would have made this date even finer.

This is getting off-topic a bit (sorry Rooster), but what do you all think would have happened were Lee to have filled Clifford Brown's chair in Roach's band (instead of Kenny Dorham), circa mid-'56 to '57? I think Lee coud have brought a greater cohesiveness to that unit, especially before Rollins left, and Max recruited the Turrentines.

OK, as for the poll at hand, it's essentially a straight tie (so I couldn't vote) between Hill and Young. I think my favorite Morgan soloing, however, is still on Evolution.

[danasgoodstuff]

Late,

I think Lee would definitely have brought more fire to the post-Brownie Max Roach group, but I was thinking more of the unpredictability(?) that Sonny would've brought to Son of sidewinder things....

[MagicAlex]

I voted for Morgan/Earland. Intensity was a fresh departure from Lee's regular output and the album is terrific. I would love to hear more in that vein.

Frankly, I like to hear any Lee that's available. Is there much of his work in the vaults that has not been released...if anything?

[Rooster_Ties]

Lonnie Smith: "Turning Point" - pretty good. A bit draggy in spots for my taste, and certainly no THINK, but w/Benny Maupin & Julian Preister sharing the front line w/Lee, good stuff happens often enough.

Never heard "Turning Point" before today, not until just a few hours ago actually. (Just got it in the mail today -- a TOCJ from Lon - thanks Lon!!!)

Although I've only been through it twice (while I was doing other things, and was in and out of the room), I have to say my first impression is that I think like "Turning Point" better than "Think!".

( Hard to nail down exactly why, since I haven't listened to "Think!" in several months, and I'm only just now ever hearding "TP". I'll listen to both, and get back to you... )

[brownie]

Larry Young! He brought the inventive best to Lee Morgan. Too bad the two of them did not record more sessions.

[Vincent, Paris]

Hmmm.... What interview? Did he mention anything specific about the "Mother Ship" session?? (How did it come up?)

Bertrand thought about the interview known as "Jazz Can Be Sold" (Down Beat, 02/09/1970). Here is the quote :

"I don't like labels. If you can play, you can play with everybody. Look at Coleman Hawkins, Joe Henderson. Whatever you prefer, you'll find sufficient quantities of talented musicians who prefer the same. But you should never limit your mind. With the new thing coming in, I'm one of those who prefer to swing a lot. But I've experimented with free forms, like on Grachan Moncur's "Evolution" and Andrew Hill's "Grass Roots" -- playing without the rhythm, against the rhythm, disregarding it -- the whole freedom thing. The avant-garde organist who plays with Tony Williams -- Larry Young. I made an album with him, and the next week one with Lonnie Smith, a whole different thing. Then Reuben Williams had me and George Coleman, and we did some pretty show tunes, things by Burt Bacharach."

(from the Down Beat website)

[Cali]

My vote would be John Coltrane. Trane wanted Lee in his classic group but couldn't hire him away from Blakey, according to liner notes on "Newport '63".

Cali,

Could you please develop on or quote the liner notes you mentionned ?

Vincent, this is w-a-a-y late but I just noticed your old post. Sorry, I took so long to respond.

In the notes to NEWPORT '63, written by Francis Davis, "Coltrane had perhaps toyed with the idea of adding a second horn to the front line as early as the previous fall (1960), whe he'd asked a friend who worked for John Levy's management company to find out Lee Morgan's weekly salary as a Jazz Messenger. He also offered the job to Booker Little, who was already too ill to accept.

Coltrane's interest in Morgan and (Leroy) Vinnegar suggests that he was initially unsure of what direction he wanted his band to pursue: despite the increasing length and questing nature of his own solos, a band with Morgan on trumpet, Vinnegar on bass, Billy Higgins on drums, and - later - Wes Montgomery on guitar might have evolved into another of the period's tastefully funky hard bop units."

I read somewhere else that Blakey wouldn't release Lee.

[Z-Man]

I voted for Andrew Hill, for many of the same reasons already mentioned in this thread. Another musician I wish Lee would have had the opportunity to record more with is Billy Harper. I'm a big fan of Harper's compositional style, and it would have been interesting to hear Morgan's development in the more challenging environments that both Hill and Harper could have offered.

[Vincent, Paris]

Vincent, this is w-a-a-y late but I just noticed your old post. Sorry, I took so long to respond.

Thank you Cali for this answer.

Is that an extract from the GRP CD ?

[Cali]

Yes, the GRP/impulse!

[reg]

always wished Lee had play on Grachan Moncur III - New Africa from 1969.

Lee and Roscoe Mitchell sounds good to me

[paul secor]

Based on the anecdote in Orin Keepnew's recent liner notes for Monk's Town Hall Concert CD, it would have been interesting if Monk had replaced Donald Byrd with Lee Morgan. Nothing against D.B. on that recording, but I would have liked to have heard Lee Morgan playing with Monk.

[AndrewHill]

Cool topic, thanks for bringing it up.

Like so many others in this thread, it was hard to decide between Hill and Young, as I'm of fan of both Mothership and Grass Roots/Lift Every Voice. Although I voted for Andrew, I'm beginning to think where Lee would've gone with Young had they recorded again. Although I have not heard Contrasts or Heaven and Earth, Mothership seems to be the wildest record Larry ever recorded for BN, with maybe Of Love and Peace being a close second.

[sidewinder]

Jeez - it it really 5 years since this one?

Edited April 30, 2008 by sidewinder

[randyhersom]

My real answer is Billy Harper. Any alternate universe where there is one more jazz album by Larry Young is well worth visiting, though.

[Hot Ptah]

I wish he had recorded with Chico Freeman, Arthur Blythe, James Newton, Don Pullen and George Adams--it would mean that he would have lived much longer. It also would have been interesting to hear him with each of them.

[clifford_thornton]

Tough call for me between Hill and Larry Young. I like both of those records a lot.

Later Moncur... maybe, as the Roscoe/Jackie Mc comparison wouldn't be that "off," but then again I often feel like as good as New Africa is, it would've been better served by different recording/label circumstances. The Shepp version from the Way Ahead/Kwanzaa sessions comes close.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I wonder what he would have been like with John Patton. I think that would have been interesting for both of them. It would have been interesting to have heard him in a front line with Marvin Cabell.

I guess I'll get scrammed for this, but I'd like Lee to have recorded LESS with Hank Mobley. "Hi voltage", with Blue Mitchell, is such a fresh sounding, open album that I wish Hank had done more with Blue.

MG

[JSngry]

Doug & Jean Carn.

I can't help but think that if Lee would have lived that he would have incorporated some of the "message" type vocals/vocalists into his music, & as far as the "post Hard Bop" thing that Lee & others were getting into, the Carns were doing that about as well as anybody at the time.

[Spontooneous]

No option for the Mizells?

[Bluerein]

Also based on the unissued recordings of Lee with Harold Mabern it's ovbvious they have a real report together. More of them together would have been superb imo.

[Swinging Swede]

Report or rapport?