Lee Morgan - Delightfulee (1985 Japanese Blue Note Promo Vinyl LP)

Lee Morgan - Delightfulee | Vinyl LP - 1985 Japanese Toshiba EMI Promo Reissue (BNJ 71060 / BST 84243, Blue Note 4000 Series Original Collection 100)

• Two albums in one, alternating between Morgan’s quintet with Joe Henderson and Billy Higgins on the May 1966 session and a twelve-piece ensemble arranged by Oliver Nelson with Wayne Shorter, Phil Woods and Philly Joe Jones on the April session
• The quintet tracks rank among Morgan’s finest Blue Note work, “Nite Flite” and “The Delightful Deggie” both singled out by the LondonJazzCollector as prime cuts that justify owning the album
• Japanese promo pressing on Toshiba EMI with 見本盤 (sample) sticker, Reid Miles cover design, Francis Wolff photography, with obi sticker and four-page insert

Delightfulee was recorded across two sessions that produced very different music. On May 27, 1966, Morgan brought his working quintet into Van Gelder’s studio: Joe Henderson on tenor, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. “Ca-Lee-So” opens with a calypso boogaloo groove in the same territory as “The Sidewinder”, a concession to the commercial formula Blue Note had been pushing Morgan toward since 1964. “Zambia” follows with a Latin-tinged hard bop head, the two horns harmonising tightly before stretching out. “Nite Flite” is where the quintet session catches fire, Tyner’s solo building with the kinetic energy he had been perfecting in Coltrane’s quartet, and Henderson matching him with angular, sharply constructed lines. “The Delightful Deggie”, a waltz that closes Side B, is the session’s most reflective piece and a stunning closer.

The other two tracks, “Yesterday” and “Sunrise Sunset”, come from a different date entirely. On April 8, 1966, Oliver Nelson arranged and conducted a twelve-piece ensemble around Morgan, with Ernie Royal on second trumpet, Tom McIntosh on trombone, Jim Buffington on French horn, Don Butterfield on tuba, Phil Woods on alto saxophone and flute, Wayne Shorter on tenor, Danny Bank on baritone saxophone, bass clarinet and flute, Tyner, Cranshaw, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The LondonJazzCollector described the big band tracks, particularly the Beatles cover, as a major departure in Liberty-era Blue Note thinking. Shorter and Morgan trade solos over Nelson’s scoring, and Tyner contributes a piano solo on “Yesterday” that sits unexpectedly well against the orchestral arrangement. The two sessions make for an uneven album, but the quintet material stands alongside anything in Morgan’s catalogue. Produced by Alfred Lion, recorded by Rudy Van Gelder.

This is the 1985 Japanese promo pressing on Toshiba EMI (BNJ 71060), numbered sticker on the back cover, from the Blue Note 4000 Series Original Collection 100. Reid Miles cover, Francis Wolff photography, liner notes by Leonard Feather with Japanese notes by Kazutomi Aoki.