The Sidewinder
| The Sidewinder | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 1964[1] | |||
| Recorded | December 21, 1963 | |||
| Studio | Van Gelder Studio Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey | |||
| Genre | Jazz, hard bop | |||
| Length | 40:59 | |||
| Label | Blue Note | |||
| Producer | Alfred Lion | |||
| Lee Morgan chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [2] |
| Penguin Guide to Jazz | 👑[3] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |  [4] |
The Sidewinder is a 1964 album by the jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. It was released on the Blue Note label as BLP 4157 (mono) and BST 84157 (stereo).
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 roughly ten times over.[citation needed] 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.[7] The title track was used as the music in a Chrysler television advertisement and as a theme for television shows.[8][9] Many subsequent Morgan albums, and other Blue Note discs, would duplicate (or approximate) this album's format, by following a long, funky opening blues with a handful of conventional hard bop tunes.[citation needed]
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.[10] The album was identified by Scott Yanow in his Allmusic essay "Hard Bop" as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings.[11]
Track listing
All songs composed by Lee Morgan.
- "The Sidewinder" – 10:25
- "Totem Pole" – 10:11
- "Gary's Notebook" – 6:03
- "Boy, What a Night" – 7:30
- "Hocus Pocus" – 6:21
- "Totem Pole" [Alternative take] – 9:57 Bonus track on CD reissue
Personnel
- Lee Morgan – trumpet
- Joe Henderson – tenor saxophone
- Barry Harris – piano
- Bob Cranshaw – double bass
- Billy Higgins – drums
References
- ^ 2015 liner notes to the Search for the New Land SHM-CD by Michael Cuscuna
- ^ The Sidewinder at AllMusic
- ^ "Penguin Guide to Jazz: 4-Star Records in 8th Edition". Tom Hull. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
- ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 147. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ Seymour, Gene (2005) in Kirchner, Bill (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Jazz, Oxford University Press, p. 388.
- ^ Cook, Richard (2004) Blue Note Records: The Biography, Justin, Charles & Co., p. 182.
- ^ "Billboard Top LPs" (January 9, 1965) Billboard, p. 8.
- ^ Lee Morgan biography Archived 2007-08-17 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Tom Cat original liner notes
- ^ 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.
- ^ Yanow, S. Hard Bop accessed December 7, 2009
External links
- Helgeson, Jeff. Lee Morgan: Biography. Accessed August 13, 2007
- Leonard Feather on The Sidewinder
- NPR: Basic Jazz Record Library