I second your recommendation of "I Called Him Morgan." It is excellent. I had a chance to catch Morgan at the Famous Ballroom before he died, but missed the concert. I don't remember why. But I did catch Olu Dara, though I forget who he was with. Also, I was at a concert by Johnny Griffin when he played Morgan's "Soulita," in which he quoted Morgan quoting Ziggy Elman (his fralach licks).
Morgan was my trumpeter. Yes, Satch, Roy, Diz, Miles, I loved them too. But Lee Morgan got me in a way no other trumpeter did. You have no idea how pleased I was when I was talking with Frank Foster, who was teaching an improvisation class at SUNY Buffalo, where I was getting a degree in English. We were talking about trumpeters and he asked, with a smile on his face, what I thought of Lee Morgan. Of course I told him. We agreed that Lee had the fire. He also had cool whole tone licks, which I picked up from him.
Murder is murder. Called Him Morgan gave context to Helen Moore's crime.
In the mid-sixties, I lived in the East Village @ Avenue B and 13th Street. Heard Albert Ayler at Slugs...still underappreciated. By then, I was living on 97th Street between Westend and Riverside Drive. Admittedly, we took a cab because I was afraid to walk across East 3rd Street at night.
I have heard several versions of the fatal night at Slugs story. The Philly-born bassist Don Moore was on his way into Slugs that night when he saw Helen exiting in a hurry. He said hi, she didn't answer. Another person told me that she was on her way to get the gun bc a drug dealer was giving Lee trouble and when she came back she saw him with the other woman and shot him. This supports what Billy Hart said. I was good friends w/Lee's brother Jimmy, he was my jazz mentor. I met him through his sister Ernestine who bought Lee his first trumpet. I can assure you there was no forgiveness from Ernestine, ever. I talked to McCoy a lot, but I never brought this topic up. It strikes me that the police got there in a hurry to arrest Helen, but they let Lee bleed out waiting for an ambulance? Why not another police vehicle to get him to an ER? Thanks for your story, Ethan.
I don't think there will ever be a definitive objective story, also because it was so traumatic. I kind of like Billy's version because he admits, "This is what I heard." It is a legend, not fact.
I wish I’d talked to Harold Mabern about it, because I met him through Jimmy Morgan in Philly and I saw him so frequently throughout my years in NYC. I didn’t realize he was playing that night. But who wants to push someone to revisit a tragedy? I didn’t realize until I saw the film that Paul West was there that night.
Note to others: After reading Iverson's article in The Nation I was full of enthusiasm for the magazine and decided to subscribe. Only problem is, after taking my credit card info and acknowledging my subscription they won't accept my log in credentials online or via the app. Here's their "customer service" response to my issue: "We will respond to your inquiry or change request in the next few weeks when we're up and running. If you have a subscription, all of your benefits are still active."
Tom, my apologies on behalf of the magazine. If you can send me an email at shaider@thenation.com so I have your login address, I’ll look into this myself when the office opens back up on Tuesday.
I second your recommendation of "I Called Him Morgan." It is excellent. I had a chance to catch Morgan at the Famous Ballroom before he died, but missed the concert. I don't remember why. But I did catch Olu Dara, though I forget who he was with. Also, I was at a concert by Johnny Griffin when he played Morgan's "Soulita," in which he quoted Morgan quoting Ziggy Elman (his fralach licks).
Morgan was my trumpeter. Yes, Satch, Roy, Diz, Miles, I loved them too. But Lee Morgan got me in a way no other trumpeter did. You have no idea how pleased I was when I was talking with Frank Foster, who was teaching an improvisation class at SUNY Buffalo, where I was getting a degree in English. We were talking about trumpeters and he asked, with a smile on his face, what I thought of Lee Morgan. Of course I told him. We agreed that Lee had the fire. He also had cool whole tone licks, which I picked up from him.
nice comment!
In my short story collection The Music Never Died (https://www.versechorus.com/the-music-never-died) Lee Morgan teams up in the afterlife with Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC.
Murder is murder. Called Him Morgan gave context to Helen Moore's crime.
In the mid-sixties, I lived in the East Village @ Avenue B and 13th Street. Heard Albert Ayler at Slugs...still underappreciated. By then, I was living on 97th Street between Westend and Riverside Drive. Admittedly, we took a cab because I was afraid to walk across East 3rd Street at night.
Is there an Albert Ayler handbill?
please ask Collins to release a DVD of the Ayler documentary a most precious movie
I have heard several versions of the fatal night at Slugs story. The Philly-born bassist Don Moore was on his way into Slugs that night when he saw Helen exiting in a hurry. He said hi, she didn't answer. Another person told me that she was on her way to get the gun bc a drug dealer was giving Lee trouble and when she came back she saw him with the other woman and shot him. This supports what Billy Hart said. I was good friends w/Lee's brother Jimmy, he was my jazz mentor. I met him through his sister Ernestine who bought Lee his first trumpet. I can assure you there was no forgiveness from Ernestine, ever. I talked to McCoy a lot, but I never brought this topic up. It strikes me that the police got there in a hurry to arrest Helen, but they let Lee bleed out waiting for an ambulance? Why not another police vehicle to get him to an ER? Thanks for your story, Ethan.
I don't think there will ever be a definitive objective story, also because it was so traumatic. I kind of like Billy's version because he admits, "This is what I heard." It is a legend, not fact.
I wish I’d talked to Harold Mabern about it, because I met him through Jimmy Morgan in Philly and I saw him so frequently throughout my years in NYC. I didn’t realize he was playing that night. But who wants to push someone to revisit a tragedy? I didn’t realize until I saw the film that Paul West was there that night.
Note to others: After reading Iverson's article in The Nation I was full of enthusiasm for the magazine and decided to subscribe. Only problem is, after taking my credit card info and acknowledging my subscription they won't accept my log in credentials online or via the app. Here's their "customer service" response to my issue: "We will respond to your inquiry or change request in the next few weeks when we're up and running. If you have a subscription, all of your benefits are still active."
Tom, my apologies on behalf of the magazine. If you can send me an email at shaider@thenation.com so I have your login address, I’ll look into this myself when the office opens back up on Tuesday.