Lee Morgan (1938–1972) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He emerged as a prodigious talent during the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s, playing with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and on influential recordings such as John Coltrane’s “Blue Train”.
In 1963, Morgan’s solo album “The Sidewinder” came out on Blue Note and turned the composition of the same name into an instant jazz standard and crossover hit. As a bandleader and sideman, he became a cornerstone of the Blue Note label until his untimely death in 1972, at the age of 34. The circumstances of his death were the subject of the 2016 documentary “I Called Him Morgan”.
