• List Price: $19.99  
• Your Price: $19.99
• In Stock: -4

You must login to place orders.




Not purchasing for a business? See our consumer site.

Born Edward Lee Morgan in Philadelphia on July 10, 1938. A leading trumpeter and composer of the hard bop genre, he recorded prolifically from 1956 until a day before his death in February 1972. His primary stylistic influence was Clifford Brown, who gave the teenager a few lessons before he joined the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band at 18. Morgan began recording for Blue Note Records in 1956, eventually making 25 albums (as leader) for the company, working with more than 250 musicians. Joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1958 further developed his talent as a soloist and composer. He toured with Blakey for a few years, and was featured on numerous albums by the Messengers, including Moanin', one of the band's best-known recordings. The drug problems of Morgan and Timmons forced them to leave the band in 1961, and the trumpeter returned to Philadelphia. On returning to New York in 1963, he recorded The Sidewinder (1963), which became his greatest commercial success. The title track cracked the pop charts in 1964, and served as the background theme for Chrysler television commercials during the World Series. After this success, Morgan continued to record prolifically, producing such works as Search for the New Land (1964), which reached the top 20 of the R&B charts. Morgan was killed in the early hours of February 19, 1972, at Slug's Saloon, a jazz club in New York City's East Village where his band was performing. Following an altercation between sets, Morgan's common-law wife Helen More, shot him. The ambulance service was reluctant to go into the neighborhood where the club was located and Morgan bled to death. He was 33 years old.

Track Listing