Customer Reviews

Infinity

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While titled with Lee Morgan as the leader, this record really features Jackie McLean as co-leader. The razor-sharp, searing unison lines on the title track are breathtaking. Jackie's starts his solo in high gear while Lee's final notes still linger in the air. Jackie was a cutting-edge improviser by the standards of those times, but he fits hand-in-glove with Lee's hard-bop style. Pianist Larry Willis worked in Jackie's band and was ready for the challenge of playing with Lee. His selection of minor chords is stunning throughout. Billy Higgins pushes and pulls the rhythm in his trademark decisive way. Blue Note first issued this session on LP in 1980, 15 years after its recording; it's great to find it on CD. Lee recorded many outstanding sessions. Despite its late release and low profile, this session takes a back seat to none in his discography.

This date has to be Lee Morgan at the very peak of his career. His chemistry with Jackie McLean was just right and the alchemy between the two is mind boggling. One only has to take this recording and hold it up to all the "young lions" of today and you will find the missing ingredient in most of today's jazz artists.

The late Lee Morgan had a lot of fine saxophonists (Mobley, Shorter, Joe Henderson)but none with as much empathy as altoist Jackie McLean. Starting with "Leeway" and then seguing into various dates in '65 either under Lee or Jackie's name--you would be guaranteed of grade A soloing. This date along with Jackie's "Consequence" which I rate as one of their best, shows the unified sound of these two great artists! In fact they're so together they sound like one. If you need a disc to start the day with--you can't go wrong with "Infinity"

Lee Morgan is in top form here displaying his trademark soulful sound and harmonically intriguing lines. Check out his full, round, fat (phat, too!) sound on the opening tune -- he stays very much in the lower/middle register and just plain swings. Jackie McLean is a perfect compliment to Lee and the rhythm section including the great Billie Higgins is cookin' up a storm. The ending tune, (a 24-bar blues, is one of Lee's great solos on record I think! Also check out the opening measures of Lee's solo on Miss Nettie B.! It doesn't get any better than that!

This is a decent hard-bop blowing session, but Jackie McLean's sax work is what's outstanding here, and that only occasionally. For a session recorded in 1965 this sounds awfully dated in comparison to what other trumpeters, say Don Cherry and Miles Davis, were doing at the same time. Don't get me wrong, it's a good quality hard bop record, but it's not anywhere near a "jazz classic." The original liner notes, from the original 1980 (? ) release, are positively some of the worst liner notes I have ever read in my life, obsequious, snide, and insulting. If you buy this - and if you like hard bop, you might want to - just IGNORE the dreadful liner notes. Don't even bother taking the insert out of the CD case. To me this recording sounds terribly commercial and not all that exciting. It is unfortunate to note that this 1965 date sounds exactly like a brand new record from the Wynton Marsalis "Nothing After Bird" retro-camp, which says more about the lack of imagination of today's jazz artists, and isn't meant as a slight on Morgan, McLean, and company. At least when they recorded this, it was semi-hip.