Customer Reviews

Live at the Lighthouse

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Lee Morgan's "Live At The Lighthouse" is great look at the master trumpeter in the year before his tragic murder at the hands of his common-law wife. Originally released as a posthumous double LP, this is the kind of release we were all promised with the advent of the compact disc! Three discs packed full with more than an hour of music each, half of the songs previously unreleased, and improved, remastered sound. Joining Lee on this voluminous set are Bennie Maupin (on tenor sax, bass clarinet and flute), Harold Mabern (on piano), Jymie Merritt (on bass) and Mickey Roker (on drums, with Jack DeJohnette replacing him on a few tracks). The material covered on these discs is typical, classic late Lee. Always the tireless innovator, he only returned to two of his mid 60s Blue Note hits, "The Sidewinder" and "Speedball." The rest of the tunes are new, and exemplify the modern innovations and directions Lee was taking his music in the new decade of the 70s. Along with "The Last Session" and Larry Young's "Mother Ship" (currently unavailable on CD), "Live At The Lighthouse" paints the final portrait of a jazz great taken from this world all to soon.

The music on this album, even in its LP version, was the sort that made West Coast listeners wonder why "East Coast guys" seemed to play so much HARDER than other folks recorded at the same venue.

Lee was at the top of his post-Messengers form, and Maupin's work is among his best, even looking back from today, thirty-five years later. The rhythm section cooks, and Blue Note did NOT edit the songs down into "pop" length, even on the double LP.

There's a marvelous slow piece, "Neophilia" ("love of the new") featuring Lee's rarely heard and gorgeous fleugelhorn and Maupin's bass clarinet, rarely heard outside of his Davis/Hancock dates. (Why isn't this tune a standard by now?!?) and Lee's uptempo "soul-jazz" standards (added to the box set) including one on which an eager Jack DeJohnette guests on drums, champing at the bit. HARD post-bop lived!

Sad to think, these many years later, what else Morgan, and this band might have gone on to do....

rfgs

This is by far one of the better jazz albums ever assembled. If you're a fan of Lee's "Rumproller" and "Cornbread" albums, you will love this one. The groove of these live performance couldn't be generated in a studio. This isn't just Lee Morgan's music, this is his soul poured on this album.

I just received this CD about a week ago and I'm blown away. I'm a big fan of Lee Morgan and he does not disappoint, but the entire band is on fire from start to finish on all three discs. As other have pointed out, most of the music performed here is more avant garde than Lee's classic Blue Note work. I love "hard bop" as much as the next jazz fan, but this album will surprise you with twists and turns that will stretch your ears and mind. This is music that truly deserves its status as "art" and it's delivered with all the inspiration and passion you could hope for. Highly recommended.

Lee Morgan was listening to the Miles Quintet and was ready to leave his 'Sidewinder' days behind. That says a lot about the man who was expected to write bogaloo songs for the rest of his career. This is a different kind of Lee Morgan record, and a little diffcult at first if you are expecting a classic hard bop live album. Thanks to Blue Note for releasing a 3 CD, documenting the best of 3 nights at the Lighthouse. The sound is not the best it could be, you need to crank it up, but that is the only minor flaw for a stellar release.

Item was as-described, well-packed and arrived in a timely manner. Unfortunately, on disc was defective but I received a replacement set very promptly.

"Live at the Lighthouse" is a wonderful live album from the decidedly deceased Lee Morgan.It falls short of greatness for the simple reason that the "head-solo-solo-head" format was getting a bit old on folks at that time (and now as well!)But that criticism aside there is some terrific jazz being played on these three CD's.I won't list the tracks but the closing version of "Sidewinder" is worth the entry fee alone. The only real bummer is the self-serving liner note written by Benny Maupin. Great player that Benny is, he should let his sax do the talking. I mean Lee was his greatest friend ever on Earth but he missed his funeral because of "..performance commitments.."?? Come on Benny, you'll need something better than that!