Recorded on July 10 - 12, 1970
Originally issued as 2 LPs; subsequently reissued as a 3-CD set with extensive bonus tracks (Blue Note, 1996).
Tonight's blog entry is going to be short. I just drove my daughter back to her college, and I'm now sitting in her dorm room at her desk. She's anxious to watch "The Bachelor," so I need to get going. Plus, I have a long drive home home ahead of me this evening.
I'll try to update this post later. Suffice it to say that this music is tremendous! The worst part about hearing this music today is that we now know it would be the last LPs issued during Lee Morgan's tragically short lifetime.
More to come shortly.
[ ... ]
A few more thoughts:
Morgan's music from The Lighthouse sounds transitional, as if he's feeling his way forward, searching for a new path. It's clear that Coltrane was an enormous influence on this band. They were hardly alone in this regard. If I were ever to write a history of jazz from the 1970s to the present, I would title it Jazz After Coltrane. Trane's influence has been incalculable -- and it was especially ubiquitous in the years immediately following his death in 1967.
Regardless of the place the band was coming from, they are thrilling to hear. Morgan's jaw-dropping skills are still present, but they're re-contextualized. Instead of his typical outward exuberance, his sounds is more inwardly focused, glowing and intense. In some regards, Bennie Maupin steals the show. He plays tenor on three of the four long cuts, and he's on fire! On "Neophilia" ["Love of the New"], Maupin breaks out his ominous, rumbling bass clarinet. It may be the strongest cut on the original 2-LP release. Both Harold Mabern and Mickey Roker play furiously. One can't help but hear echoes of Coltrane's quartet with McCoy and Elvin. The bassist Jymie Merritt composed half of the album's cuts, and his propulsive playing keeps the band flying.
The 3-CD set is fun to hear, but -- as a fan of "albums" -- I must say that the original four cut double-LP had a greater sense of narrative and cohesion. If you're coming to this music for the first time, I'd recommend creating a playlist that mirrors the original album's four-song sequence. It makes the music more approachable; it tells a better story. After you've assimilated those four LP-side-long compositions, you can move on to the extra music.
For more details about the life and violent death of Lee Morgan, I would also recommend the 2016 documentary I Called Him Morgan. The film portrays the complex relationship between the trumpeter and his common-law wife Helen Morgan, who fatally shot him outside Slugs' Saloon in New York City on February 19, 1972.
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