Track Listing

1. Cornbread
2. Our Man Higgins
3. Ceora
4. Ill Wind
5. Most Like Lee

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51828 in Music
• Brand: Lee
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
This session is best known for introducing Lee Morgan's beautiful ballad "Ceora," but actually all five selections (which include Morgan's "Cornbread," "Our Man Higgins," "Most Like Lee," and the standard "Ill Wind") are quite memorable. The trumpeter/leader performs with a perfectly complementary group of open-minded and talented hard bop stylists (altoist Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley on tenor, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Larry Ridley, and drummer Billy Higgins) and creates a Blue Note classic that is highly recommended.

Players Include
Lee Morgan - Trumpet
Herbie Hancock - Piano
Billy Higgins - Drums
Hank Mobley - Sax (Tenor)
Larry Ridley - Bass
Jackie McLean - Sax (Alto)

Customer Reviews

Tremendous bop from one of the greats!
If you're a fan of jazz, you're likely a fan of Lee Morgan. His brilliant composition, tenacious solos, and sassy playfulness define the genre, and "Cornbread" captures Morgan at his ear-popping, toe-tapping best. With a stellar cast boasting the likes of Herbie Hancock, Billy Higgins, and the venerable Hank Mobley, Morgan finds himself in like company, and the timelessness of the session should surprise no one. The classic title track sets the tone-a contagious theme supported by an irresistible rhythm, and Morgan wastes little time before launching into his first tasty solo. "Our Man Higgins" is straight-ahead bop, with Morgan, McLean, Mobley, and Hancock each taking a turn--no time to catch your breath here! "Ill Wind" and "Most Like Lee" demonstrate Morgan's startling diversity. In the latter, Morgan attacks each note with the clarity and ferocity of a Clifford Brown, while in the former, not an original, he employs a mute and plays what sounds like a tribute to Miles Davis. But the gem of the session is "Ceora," a bossa-nova effort that makes you wonder why Morgan didn't play this sound more often. He handles the theme with surprising sensitivity, and Hancock's deft accompaniment follows suit. Alone, "Ceora" is worth the price of admission. Its inclusion on "Cornbread" makes the album a classic.

Five stars is right!
Any jazz fan who thinks they don't like bebop (such as my 82 year-old Dad, a veteran of the swing era) should be given this CD. I've listen to dozens of Blue Note and Verve reissues from the 50's and 60's and I can't think of an album that better captures the inventiveness, beauty, and sheer joy of this musicmaking. Every musician here is among the greats; the solos are magnificent and the ensemble work makes one disappointed that this group didn't do more recording together. Morgan is an underrated composer (as is tenor sax man Hank Mobley, an all-but-unknown genius and amazing on this album); if "Ceora" were Morgan's only composition, we'd still be in his debt. I've listened to this CD again and again, and it just gets better (I did send it to my Dad, by the way, and he's now a big Morgan/Mobley fan.) I agree 100% with the reviewer who pleaded for a five-star rating; this album is a classic!

The quintessential five star jazz album
Come on jazz fans, we've got to get the average rating for this superb album back up to five stars ... here's my contribution. I've listened to Cornbread maybe 100 times in the last three years. I can't think of another recording that better sums what the essence of jazz is: finding the beauty in the songs and letting it rip right out of the vinyl grooves (or laser bytes). Most of these supremely talented musicians died too young -- but on a CD like CORNBREAD you get the feeling they somehow knew they weren't gonna die of old age, so they infused their best stuff with extra joy. With respect to the individual tracks, other reviewers have summed them up well; I'll just add this -- once upon a time I read that Hank Mobley dreamed of recording an all-ballad CD; listening to his breathtaking work on "Ceora" and "Ill Wind" lets us know exactly what we missed. (Other great Mobley ballads are "My Sin" on THE TURNAROUND and "Carolyn" on NO ROOM FOR SQUARES.)