The Sidewinder

The Sidewinder is a 1964 album by the jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, U.S. It was released on the Blue Note label as BLP 4157 (mono) and BST 84157 (stereo).

For the title composition, see The Sidewinder (composition).
The Sidewinder
Studio album by
Lee Morgan
ReleasedJuly 1964 (1964-07)[1]
RecordedDecember 21, 1963
StudioVan Gelder Studio
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
GenreJazz, hard bop
Length40:59
LabelBlue Note
ProducerAlfred Lion
Lee Morgan chronology
Take Twelve
(1962)		 The Sidewinder
(1964)		 Search for the New Land
(1964)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Penguin Guide to Jazz👑[3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[4]

The title track is perhaps Morgan's all-around best-known composition; it would go on to become a jazz standard,[5] and was additionally released as a single.[6]

The album became Blue Note's best-selling record ever, breaking the previous sales record and saving the label from near bankruptcy.[7] Record producer Michael Cuscuna recalls the unexpected success: "the company issued only 4,000 copies upon release. Needless to say, they ran out of stock in three or four days. And 'The Sidewinder' became a runaway smash making the pop 100 charts." By January 1965, the album had reached No. 25 on the Billboard chart.[8] The title track was used as the music in a Chrysler television advertisement and as a theme for television shows.[9][10] At the insistence of Blue Note executives, several of Morgan's intended follow-up albums either had their release postponed or were shelved entirely so that Blue Note "could score another Sidewinder".[11] Morgan's subsequent albums would therefore attempt to approximate the format and appeal of The Sidewinder by opening with a soul-jazz boogaloo inspired composition while also attempting to capture a hard bop aesthetic.[12] This approach is said to be most noticeable on Morgan's immediate follow-up albums, including The Rumproller,[13] The Gigolo[14] and Cornbread.[15]

Music and recording

The original album's five tracks, all written by Morgan, are heavily blues-based, and feature tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, then 26, whom Morgan (then 25) was mentoring at the time. Drummer Billy Higgins, pianist Barry Harris, and bassist Bob Cranshaw are also featured in the personnel.

Reception

The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" (with a crown), calling the title track "a glorious 24-bar theme as sinuous and stinging as the beast of the title. It was both the best and worst thing that was ever to happen to Morgan before the awful events of 19 February 1972," referring to Morgan's killing at the hand of his common-law wife, Helen Moore.[16] The album was identified by Scott Yanow in his Allmusic essay "Hard Bop" as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings.[17]

Track listing

All songs composed by Lee Morgan.

  1. "The Sidewinder" – 10:25
  2. "Totem Pole" – 10:11
  3. "Gary's Notebook" – 6:03
  4. "Boy, What a Night" – 7:30
  5. "Hocus Pocus" – 6:21
  6. "Totem Pole" [Alternative take] – 9:57 Bonus track on CD reissue

Personnel

References
  1. 2015 liner notes to the Search for the New Land SHM-CD by Michael Cuscuna
  2. The Sidewinder at AllMusic
  3. "Penguin Guide to Jazz: 4-Star Records in 8th Edition". Tom Hull. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  4. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 147. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  5. Seymour, Gene (2005) in Kirchner, Bill (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Jazz, Oxford University Press, p. 388.
  6. Cook, Richard (2004) Blue Note Records: The Biography, Justin, Charles & Co., p. 182.
  7. "Lee Morgan". Blue Note Records. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  8. "Billboard Top LPs" (January 9, 1965) Billboard, p. 8.
  9. Lee Morgan biography Archived 2007-08-17 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Tom Cat original liner notes
  11. "Lee Morgan". Blue Note Records. Blue Note Records. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  12. "Lee Morgan". Blue Note Records. Blue Note Records. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  13. Jack, Gordon (2019). "Lee Morgan: The Rumproller". Jazz Journal. Jazz Journal. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  14. May, Chris (2006). "Lee Morgan: The Gigalo". All About Jazz. All About Jazz. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  15. "Lee Morgan cooked up a classic with "Cornbread"". Blue Note Records. Blue Note Records. 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  16. Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006). "Lee Morgan". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th. ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 944. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
  17. Yanow, S. Hard Bop accessed December 7, 2009
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