Editorial Review:

Album Description:
The Sidewinder, Lee Morgan's 24-bar blues with an infectious bass line and backbeat, instantly became one of the most popular pieces in modern jazz history. Every track on this classic album is a gem.

Amazon.com:
The Philadelphia-born trumpeter and superb bop stylist Lee Morgan apprenticed with Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey before emerging as a leader in his own right in the early '60s for Blue Note Records. Although Morgan owed a stylistic debt to both Gillespie and Clifford Brown, he quickly developed a voice of his own that combined half-valve effects, Latin inflections, and full, fluid melodies. While many of Morgan's later sessions for Blue Note would find him paired with saxophonist Hank Mobley, The Sidewinder features then up-and-coming tenor player Joe Henderson, plus Detroit pianist Barry Harris, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and drummer Billy Higgins. Along with the title track, an unconventional 24-bar blues, the album's compositional standout is 'Totem Pole,' a minor Latin groove featuring an outstanding solo by Henderson. This is the kind of relaxed blowing date, invigorated by thoughtful performances, that forms the backbone of the Blue Note catalog. --Fred Goodman









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Disc 1:

1. The Sidewinder
2. Totem Pole
3. Gary's Notebook - Lee Morgan, Morgan, Lee [1]
4. Boy, What a Night
5. Hocus Pocus
6. Totem Pole

Rating: - * Great music.Terrible recording ... I LOVE the music on this CD.Lee Morgan was fantastic on this album.Unfortunately,I can't listen to this disc or any other that Rudy Van Gelder re-mastered during the later stages of his career.I have a very good 2 channel stereo system(Nad C325BEE integrated amp,NAD C515BEE Cd player and Polk Audio Monitor 70 3-way tower speakers).These speakers are well balanced in tone and VERY neutral and NATURAL sounding.EVERYTHING I have played on this system sounds GREAT except for the two BlueNote cd's I recently purchased that were re-mastered by Rudy Van Gelder.I think he was starting to lose his hearing in this later stage of his life and the ability to hear the higher register sounds is usually the first to go.The cymbals are way TOO BRIGHT just like the horns in the upper registers.Very harsh and grating.It's like someone drawing their nails across a chalk board.I will NEVER buy another CD that was re-mastered by RVG for Bluenote later in his life.Anyone who has a good sound system with revealing speakers should avoid all these later Bluenote discs that were re-mastered by RVG.What a shame! Rating: - * Great jazz to lift you up and carry you home ... This is another one of those recordings that I picked up on a whim only because it was recommended by The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Eighth Edition (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings). One listen and I was hooked like a dolphin in a tuna net. If your foot doesn't start tapping the minute the laser touches the etching, you're deaf or dead. And Morgan keeps it up through the entire recording, really embodying a jazz style that got lost in all the "cool" "avant-garde" "smoothe" music that followed close on this trend-setting album's heels. Multiple listenings do not wear thin, and even if I've been listening to Miles Davis for a week or I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for, Sidewinder always satisfies. This CD belongs in any serious jazz fan's library, and it would certainly add something to the casual jazz listener's library too. Put this on at your next party and I guarantee, the dancing will start and more than a few people will want to know the name of the CD so they can pick it up or download it for themselves. Rating: - * A fine album with one of the best alternates in the blue note catalog ... As many others have already mentioned, this album is definitely a gem. Morgan and the rest of the group put together a solid album. However, the standout track on this version is the second take of "Totem Pole" which was not on the orignal LP. I've heard many a Blue Note album released with sub-par second takes but this version of "Totem" could easily have made the cut and is in some ways better than the album version. If you have the LP and are condsidering it, it's definitely worth picking up just for this aspect alone. Morgan, Henderson and Harris really push their instruments to the limits on the last track and the result is amazing! Rating: - * Funny jazz & newbie friendly ... I was really surprised by this CD. I didn't know Lee Morgan before and I think that, at least this CD, is really good, even for jazz beguinners. As you know, for newbies, there are basically two kinds of jazz: the "good & easy one" and the "bad & extrange one" . Well, so this is from the first set. Rating: - * An absolute must have classic recording in jazz, hot! ... Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder is to jazz trumpet what Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Collosus is to the sax; an absolutely gorgeous work of art that will never leave your your playlist once it works it's way into your head. It only takes one listen to get infected with the rythym. This is a jazz album that truly rocks, and if you know your roots of rock and roll you'll hear it here, too. Along with Clifford Brown, whom you'll love as well if you dig this recording, Lee Morgan rates among the greatest trumpet players to have ever graced a stage.