Early Morgan, but still very good
Roger Berlind | NY, USA | 02/17/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Michael Richman has already given a good summary of this album. I'm a big fan of Morgan and think he matured quite early. While his playing on this album is not as impressive as his playing on later Blue Note albums from the 1960s such as "The Sidewinder", "Cornbread", and "Search for the New Land", Morgan was very good from the beginning.
Three notes on this album:
1. Pianist Horace Silver quotes from Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things" on Roccus.
2. The song "The Lady" on this album by Owen Marshall is different from the song of the same title by Rudy Stevenson that Morgan played on "The Rumproller" album.
3. My review is based on the 2007 Rudy Van Gelder remastered edition which featured one extra track, an alternate take of "Little T". There is also a 2008 import edition which claims to have extra tracks, but it costs more money and does not actually have any extra tracks. So, be sure to get this Blue Note RVG edition.
Perhaps I'm being overly generous in giving this album 5 stars, but I do like it a lot."
Lee's best
harrythompson | Fort Knox Rox | 02/22/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Straight from Dizzy Gillespie comes his student Lee Morgan in a crisply recorded debut album for Blue Note. Hot smoking tone only Freddie Hubbard could touch."