My Take
Lee Morgan is one of those musicians who makes you genuinely angry that the world lost him at 33, because what he packed into those few years was staggering. A Philadelphia kid who was sitting in with Dizzy Gillespie's big band at 18 and recording landmark sessions for Blue Note before most people his age had figured out their first real job — the sheer audacity of that trajectory is almost hard to process. His tone had this bright, cutting edge that could slice through a rhythm section like nobody's business, and "The Sidewinder" proved he could reach pop audiences without dumbing anything down. He went through hard times with addiction, came back, and was making some of his most searching music in the early 1970s when his life ended violently. Every time I put on one of his Blue Note records I feel the loss all over again.
Overview
Edward Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. One of the key hard bop musicians of the 1960s and a cornerstone of the Blue Note label, Morgan came to prominence in his late teens, recording with bandleaders like John Coltrane, Curtis Fuller, Dizzy Gillespie, Hank Mobley, and Wayne Shorter, and playing in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Lee Morgan
- Name (Japanese)
- リー・モーガン
- Reading
- りー・もーがん
- Born
- July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Tiger
- Origin
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- trumpeter / composer / jazz musician / musician
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.