I Remember Brit and Angela – 1972
Lee Morgan
The trumpeter’s last filmed appearance
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One of the great jazz trumpeters, Lee Morgan (1938-72) had his life ended when he was shot by an ex-girlfriend on Feb. 19, 1972.
24 days before, on Jan. 26, he appeared on television with his quintet which also included Billy Harper on tenor and flute, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Jymie Merritt, and drummer Freddie Waits.
A leader in hard bop of the 1960s, Morgan was at a musical crossroads in 1972 and could have gone in several different directions, towards the funk of Donald Byrd, the fusion of Miles Davis, the avant-garde, or exploring a different genre altogether; one will never know.
For his television appearance, Lee Morgan (heard on flugelhorn) plays fluent solos on the relatively mellow Mabern piece “I Remember Brit” (which has Harper on flute) and Merritt’s more intense “Angela.”
Lee Morgan would be part of organist Charles Earland’s Intensity album just two days before his death but this is his last appearance on film.
-Scott Yanow
Ella Fitzgerald