Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder (1976 Japanese Blue Note Vinyl LP)

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder | Vinyl LP - 1976 Japanese Blue Note Reissue (LNJ-80076, Jazz Right Now series, Toshiba-EMI)

The Sidewinder is the record that kept Blue Note in business. By late 1963 the label was struggling, and Lee Morgan, a trumpet prodigy who had been a star since his teens with Art Blakey, walked in with a tune built on a rolling, danceable groove and changed everything. The ten-minute title track became a genuine hit, crossing over to a pop audience, charting, and setting off the boogaloo and soul-jazz craze that defined the middle of the decade. It is easy to hear why: the groove is irresistible, Morgan's trumpet is brash and joyful, and Joe Henderson's tenor answers with a rougher edge. The rest of the album is no filler. "Totem Pole" simmers, "Gary's Notebook" has a darker cast, and the band, Barry Harris on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Billy Higgins on drums, swings through all of it with total ease. All five tunes are Morgan's own, and the whole thing has the loose, confident feel of musicians who knew they had something.

The success of The Sidewinder was so complete that Blue Note spent the next few years chasing it, and boogaloo tunes turned up on album after album trying to catch the same lightning. None quite did. Lee Morgan's own story ended in tragedy when he was shot and killed at a New York club in 1972, at thirty-three, but the records he left, this one above all, keep his sound alive.

This copy is the 1976 Japanese stereo reissue on Blue Note, part of the Jazz Right Now series, manufactured by Toshiba-EMI, catalogue number LNJ-80076.