Biography

Lee Morgan (1938-1972) helped pioneer hard bop jazz, and excelled as one of the greatest trumpeters of the 1950s and 1960s. A Philadelphia native, Morgan grew up listening to Clifford Brown, who he regarded as his trumpet idol. He began playing professionally at 15, and got his break in 1956 when he performed with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. From there, Morgan skyrocketed to the top of the jazz world, recording his first session as a leader for Blue Note in November of that same year. In 1957, Lee Morgan played on John Coltrane’s landmark album Blue Train, and he became a full-time member of the Jazz Messengers in 1958. During this time period, Morgan struggled with drug addiction, leaving the Jazz Messengers and returning to Philadelphia in 1961. After two years away from music, Morgan recorded The Sidewinder, which released in 1964. The title track fused soul, blues, and R&B with hard bop, and became Morgan’s biggest hit. The track hit the top 25 on the pop LP charts, and the top 10 on the R&B charts. This success inspired similar tracks on Blue Note albums, and brought the label back from the brink of bankruptcy. Throughout the 1960s, Lee Morgan recorded many albums as a leader and a sideman, including Search for the New Land (1964), Cornbread (1967), and The Rumproller (1965). Morgan died in 1972 during a performance at Slug’s in New York, when his wife shot him over a dispute. Though he was only 33 when he died, Lee Morgan’s legacy has influenced generations of trumpeters.