Song:Easy Living
Album:Complete Introducing Sessions
The success of the documentary I Called Him Morgan has got music fans trying to figure out which albums to buy. Mostly they are settling on his Blue Note albums like Sidewinder. The 1956 album Introducing Lee Morgan was his debut. It was on Savoy Records and the other odd thing is it was supposed to be a Hank Mobley album. At the time Morgan was in Dizzy Gillespie's Big Band which is where he met Mobley. Mobley recorded the album The Jazz Message of Hank Mobley in Jan. 1956. The album that became Introducing Lee Morgan was recorded in Nov. 1956. Then both guys recorded for Blue Note. Morgan had just recorded his Blue Note debut album Lee Morgan Indeed!. Savoy decided to jump the gun and release what was supposed to be a Hank Mobley album as Introducing Lee Morgan. Both guys were leaving and this was a way for Savoy to stick it to Blue Note. Musicians are Hank Jones on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Art Taylor on drums. This recording of the jazz standard Easy Living is mostly a Jones piano solo. Morgan and Mobley are on it briefly. At the time, Morgan was still developing his sound and he sounds a lot like Clifford Brown. He developed his own sound after joining Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in 1958. The Spanish label Lone Hill Jazz released this Complete Introducing Sessions CD with bonus tracks that appeared on Hank Mobley's 1957 album Jazz Message No. 2. The album is certainly not Lee Morgan at his peak. But you can get a good sense of his development. When they recorded for Blue Note in the 60s, Morgan and Mobley appeared on each other's albums frequently. Here's a video of Easy Living by Lee Morgan with Hank Mobley.
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