The Sidewinder

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The Sidewinder is a 1964 album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan. The title track was one of the defining recordings of the soul jazz genre, becoming a jazz standard. An edited version was released as a single. The album was to become a huge seller, and highly influential - many subsequent Lee 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.

The original album's five tracks feature tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, then 26, whom Morgan (then 25) claimed at the time to be mentoring. Also present are the noted jazz drummer Billy Higgins, and double bassist Bob Cranshaw, who would soon switch to electric bass and begin a decades-long association with Sonny Rollins.

All of the compositions were written by Morgan; all but the Cole Porter-like "Hocus Pocus" are heavily blues-based.

"The Sidewinder" was adapted as the music of a Chrysler television commercial.

Track listing

1. "The Sidewinder" – 10:21
2. "Totem Pole" – 10:11
3. "Gary's Notebook" – 6:03
4. "Boy, What a Night" – 7:30
5. "Hocus Pocus" – 6:21

Personnel

• Lee Morgan - trumpet
• Joe Henderson - tenor saxophone
• Billy Higgins - drums
• Barry Harris - piano
• Bob Cranshaw - bass

References

• Helgeson, Jeff. Lee Morgan: Biography Accessed August 13 2007
• Leonard Feather on The Sidewinder
• NPR: Basic Jazz Record Library

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Last updated on Thursday January 31, 2008 at 10:26:06 PST (GMT -0800)
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