Philadelphia horn-blower Lee Morgan had been with Blue Observe Information for nearly 9 years when he recorded Cornbread, his twelfth album for the label, in a single session held on Saturday, September 18, 1965.
Hearken to Cornbread now.
Initially from Philadelphia, Morgan was a precociously gifted trumpet prodigy who made his debut recording on the tender age of 18 for Alfred Lion’s well-known label. Whereas pursuing a solo recording profession, he additionally joined the ranks of drummer Artwork Blakey’s celebrated group, The Jazz Messengers, in 1958, showing on the band’s basic album Moanin’, which was launched the identical 12 months. He stayed with The Messengers till 1961, by which period he had established himself as a noteworthy composer, after which in 1963 recorded an album known as The Sidewinder for Blue Observe whose title track, with its jaunty backbeat and catchy horn motif, would put the 25-year-old trumpeter into the US pop charts the next 12 months.
Slightly below two years and 5 albums later, Lee Morgan returned with producer Alfred Lion to Van Gelder Studio, at Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, to file what grew to become Cornbread. For the session, Morgan fronted a stellar studio band that was a sextet comprised of two saxophonists – Hank Mobley (tenor) and Jackie McLean (alto) – plus pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Larry Ridley, and drummer Billy Higgins.
A stunning trumpet participant
At 35, Hank Mobley – an ex-Jazz Messenger who had additionally performed with Miles Davis – was the oldest musician on the session, whereas, at 27, Morgan was the youngest. However between them, that they had baggage of expertise. Certainly, Herbie Hancock, who was then presently employed in Miles Davis’ groundbreaking post-bop quintet, had additionally made his mark as a frontrunner at Blue Observe with 5 albums, together with the then not too long ago launched Maiden Voyage.
Cornbread’s nine-minute-long title observe was the primary of 4 songs composed by the trumpeter on the album. It was pushed by a boogaloo-style groove created by Ridley, Higgins and Hancock that had been the salient characteristic of “The Sidewinder.” Rendered in a finger-clicking soul-jazz vein, the tune additionally had a catchy harmonized horn line and featured some blazing trumpet improv from Morgan. Hank Mobley takes the second solo, Jackie McLean the third, adopted by Herbie Hancock with an ingenious passage of busy extemporization.
With the business title observe out of the best way (“Cornbread” was issued as Morgan’s follow-up single to “The Sidewinder”) the trumpeter reveals a extra progressive strategy on “Our Man Higgins,” a musical portrait of the session’s sticksman. It’s characterised by ascending and descending chromatic strains earlier than evolving into hard-swinging slice of superior arduous bop the place the soloists get to point out off their virtuosity.
A mild bossa nova really feel defines the stunning “Ceora,” which begins with Hancock’s piano gliding over a simmering beat earlier than the horns announce a chic harmonized theme. The solos by all of the horn gamers are chic, and Hancock’s flip within the highlight is distinguished by some scintillating improv.
A formidable composer
On the gradual romantic ballad “Sick Wind,” a 1934 Harold Arlen-Ted Koehler tune that was recorded by each Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald within the 50s, Morgan performs his horn with a mute, making a barely spiky however forlorn sound. Mobley and McLean body the trumpeter’s solo with cool saxophone harmonies whereas Hancock contributes glistening piano accompaniment.
Cornbread’s fifth and ultimate observe, “Most Like Lee,” is a blithe swinger with a swaggering horn theme pushed by Larry Ridley’s strolling bass and Billy Higgins’ crackling drum work. McLean reveals his class with a sleek solo, adopted by Morgan (this time with out his mute), then Mobley, in whose wake comes the spectacular Hancock, with notes cascading from his piano. The band drop out to permit Larry Ridley a second within the highlight, although Higgins retains the rhythmic pulse going within the background earlier than a quick reprise of the principle theme.
Regardless of sitting on the shelf for 2 years earlier than it was launched, Cornbread didn’t sound stale when it hit the cabinets in 1967. Although following the business success of The Sidewinder (1964) and the creative depth of Search For The New Land (1966), arguably his two best albums, the album confirmed that in addition to being a blinding trumpet participant, Lee Morgan had blossomed right into a formidable composer.
Hearken to Cornbread now.