Terell Stafford, Brotherlee Love | |
Review by Willard Maus Heres another love letter, this one from Terell Stafford, who has put together a worthy tribute to one of his idols, the late trumpeter, Lee Morgan. On BROTHERLEE LOVE Stafford revisits seven tunes composed by Morgan back in the 60s and 70s, including such classics as Hocus Pocus and Speedball. Backing up Stafford are his longtime partners in crime: Tim Warfield on sax, Bruce Barth, piano, and Dana Hall, drums. Together these musicians cook from beginning to end. Morgan was
a legend in his native Philadelphia (he played with Dizzy Gillespie and
then the Jazz Messengers while still in his teens). Stafford has a Philly
connection himself (he teaches at Temple University and heads a local
jazz orchestra), but above all its his respect for Morgan that drives
him. Lee Morgan was a total genius, he explained. The
trumpet was merely a vehicle to express who he was. There was rasp, there
was grit, there was personality, there was sass, exactly who he was as
a person was inside of his sound and thats what I loved about it. |