Lee Morgan: The Rumproller (Blue Note 80 series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Blue Note 80 pressing is mastered from the original analog tapes onto 180g vinyl. Recorded in April 1965, it puts Morgan's trumpet alongside Joe Henderson's tenor and Billy Higgins's drums.

This edition

• Blue Note 80 series
• 180g vinyl
• Mastered from the original analog tapes
• Pressed in Germany
• Stereo mix

About the album

Hard bop doesn't get much more fun than a Lee Morgan session with Joe Henderson in the front line. The Rumproller was recorded mainly on April 21, 1965, with Henderson on tenor, Ronnie Mathews on piano, Victor Sproles on bass and Billy Higgins on drums.

The title track, written by pianist Andrew Hill, is a ten-minute strut with a boogaloo beat and plenty of room for Morgan and Henderson to stretch out. Morgan's own "Desert Moonlight" is a cool, Latin-tinged cruise, "Eclipso" bounces, Wayne Shorter's "Edda" brings a darker, more modal mood, and Rudy Stevenson's "The Lady" closes things on a tender ballad. Morgan's own writing sits comfortably alongside tunes from three fellow Blue Note writers, which says plenty about the company he kept.

Higgins plays like a man who's enjoying himself enormously, and Henderson is in commanding form. It's a record that rewards being played loud on a Saturday afternoon, ideally while pretending to tidy the flat.

Also at Kops: more Lee Morgan on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# 0850312), a reissue of the 1966 album.