Time: 37:09
Size: 85.1 MB
Styles: Trumpet jazz
Year: 1957/2006
Art: Front
[5:42] 1. City Lights
[6:23] 2. Tempo De Waltz
[5:59] 3. You're Mine You
[9:22] 4. Just By Myself
[9:41] 5. Kin Folks
Lee Morgan: trumpet; Curtis Fuller: trombone; George Coleman: tenor and alto sax; Ray Bryant: piano; Paul Chambers: bass; Art Taylor: drums.
This album may not enjoy the same status as Charlie Chaplin's revered movie of the same title, but it's a session that evokes similar feelings. Like the beloved Tramp, Lee Morgan wins our respect with a performance of exceptional warmth and dignity, grace and beauty, sprinkled with moments of gentle humor. His playing on this session anticipates, more than do his immediately subsequent recordings, the composer of the sublimely poetic "Ceora" (Cornbread, 1965).
Also credit Benny Golson, who provided three of the five tunes and the arrangements for the sextet on this date. Beginning with Lee Morgan Sextet (December, 1956) to City Lights (August, 1957), Golson supplied four consecutive recordings' worth of material for the developing session leader— compositions and textures that would showcase the young artist while lending form and focus to his creative energies. Clifford Brown had much the same in mind with a very "West Coast-sounding" eponymous septet date featuring the trumpet giant playing Jack Montrose arrangements (Pacific Jazz, 1954).
After City Lights, Morgan would continue his prolific recording output but increasingly shoulder the burden—as one of only two horns on The Cooker (September, 1957) and the sole horn on Candy (November, 1957). As much latitude as the gifted trumpeter is given on these last two dates, the formal constraints of City Lights prove no less rewarding—if anything, they serve as a luminous foil, setting off the artist's inventions and magnifying his unique talent. ~Samuel Chell
This album may not enjoy the same status as Charlie Chaplin's revered movie of the same title, but it's a session that evokes similar feelings. Like the beloved Tramp, Lee Morgan wins our respect with a performance of exceptional warmth and dignity, grace and beauty, sprinkled with moments of gentle humor. His playing on this session anticipates, more than do his immediately subsequent recordings, the composer of the sublimely poetic "Ceora" (Cornbread, 1965).
Also credit Benny Golson, who provided three of the five tunes and the arrangements for the sextet on this date. Beginning with Lee Morgan Sextet (December, 1956) to City Lights (August, 1957), Golson supplied four consecutive recordings' worth of material for the developing session leader— compositions and textures that would showcase the young artist while lending form and focus to his creative energies. Clifford Brown had much the same in mind with a very "West Coast-sounding" eponymous septet date featuring the trumpet giant playing Jack Montrose arrangements (Pacific Jazz, 1954).
After City Lights, Morgan would continue his prolific recording output but increasingly shoulder the burden—as one of only two horns on The Cooker (September, 1957) and the sole horn on Candy (November, 1957). As much latitude as the gifted trumpeter is given on these last two dates, the formal constraints of City Lights prove no less rewarding—if anything, they serve as a luminous foil, setting off the artist's inventions and magnifying his unique talent. ~Samuel Chell
City Lights
No comments:
Post a Comment
ALWAYS include your name/nick/aka/anything!