Forty years after his death, an Uptown tribute to ‘60s jazz trumpet great Lee Morgan
Harlem’s Shrine of the Masters Jazz Gallery will hold an afternoon of music in honor of the famed jazz trumpeter
Lee Morgan blazed through the 60’s jazz world like musical wildfire.
Mentored by Clifford Brown, Morgan was 18 years old when he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1956. A top trumpet player, Morgan worked and recorded with the jazz elite; Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Lonnie Liston Smith, Elvin Jones, and Clifford Jordan to name just a few.
Morgan’s 1963 hit, “The Sidewinder” crossed over into the pop charts the following year, and his “Search for the New Land” album, recorded in 1964 and released two years later, proved another commercial success.
Eight prolific years later Morgan was gone, shot to death by his girlfriend on Feb. 19, 1972 during intermission of a set he was playing at Slugs, an East Village jazz spot.
Morgan was 33 years old.
On Sunday, Feb. 19, Morgan’s friends, family and admirers will gather at Harlem’s Shrine of the Masters Jazz Gallery for an afternoon of music in his honor.
SOM Gallery is the home of a permanent collection devoted to Morgan’s life and career.
The invitation-only event will also include a tribute to jazz promoter and Jazzmobile music contractor Jim Harrison, whose clients over the years have included the late Art Blakey and Betty Carter.
“I’m very grateful to them (SOM) for doing this,” said Harrison, who said he promoted his first concert, a 1961 gig at Judson Hall, simply to hear saxophonist Jackie McLean play. “It’s a blessing. My family is going to be there. It’s one of my grandchildren’s birthday.”
Lena Sherrod, former finance and careers editor for Essence Magazine, founded SOM in 2006 and created the Lee Morgan exhibit, which includes 125 of the albums Morgan either recorded or played on as well as numerous pictures of his career.
She was also a Morgan friend.
“I used to do jazz production a long time ago,” which was how they met, Sherrod said. “I was out of the country when he died and a few years after I got back I decided to write a book about him.
“I met Lee when he was about 29,” Sherrod said. “We met at the Blue Coronet in Brooklyn. He was funny and smart. He was a good guy.”
It was while researching the book that Sherrod eventually went online and “started seeing all these albums he had out that I had never heard of” that she decided to create the museum in a space she was renovating.
“I went on eBay and found Lee Morgan albums selling for over $1,000,” she said. “Most of these album covers I found online, and almost 50 percent of them came from overseas.”
Sherrod said Harrison deserved a salute because “he’s been out there toiling in the jazz vineyard for eons.”
SOM viewing hours are by appointment only. Call 212-368-9588 or email Sherrod at SOMJazzGallery@aol.com.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/forty-years-death-uptown-tribute-60s-jazz-trumpet-great-lee-morgan-article-1.1021326?localLinksEnabled=false