larryrthomas

This is an excellent, well-written, abundantly-researched, scholarly book on the life and music of one of the great, unheralded heroes of jazz, who was shot and killed at Slug's Jazz Club in Manhattan in 1972, at the tender age of 33-years-old, by his 47-year-old, common-law wife, Helen Morgan. McMillan, a trumpet player and writer, is obviously smitten by Lee's music and his ability to always rise to the occasion. Morgan's short and resilient time on earth was troubled, drug-riddled and quite fruitful musically as McMillan documents quite superbly. McMillan, who was aided by Lee's brother Jimmy, has uncovered information that previous researchers have failed to come up with--like the precise itinerary of Lee; quotations from Helen Morgan and the fact that Mrs. Morgan's court records are missing. We also learn that Morgan was legally married once to Kiko Morgan and now we know who is probably getting his royalty checks. McMillan's only shortcoming is his tendency to give long, detailed analysis of Lee's recording sessions. They tend to be oriented toward musicians, take up a great deal of book, maybe a one-third, and read like reviews which would be perfect for a periodical, but are a bit tedious for a book. Yet, the biography, after all, is very interesting and worth being in all jazz lovers' library, especially the ones who would learn to not make the same mistakes Lee made. Larry Reni Thomas carolinajazzconnectionwithlarrythomas.blogspot.com Writer--"The Lady Who Shot Lee Morgan

I am a little confused. How can anyone say that Mrs. Morgan's interview and the article I wrote on my blogspot (carolinajazzconnection.blogspot.com) doesn't amount to new and exclusive information is beyond me? She talks about her life with him and how the shooting came about. She did not have a spokesperson nor was she "an eyewitness." She was one of the main characters who the "eyewitness" saw commit the crime. By the way, the Billy Hart interview is quite interesting--the first thing he said was--"I wasn't there." I don't know John Campos, but I do know bassist Paul West, who told me that he was sitting at the same table with Mrs. Morgan when she got up and confronted Lee. He was indeed an eyewitness. He talks about it in a downbeat January 2007 article. He also told me that my article was a pretty good description of why it happened and how it happened. Read The Lady Who Shot Lee Morgan by Larry Reni Thomas. Some historians would call it information from a primary sources; the others would be deemed secondary sources.

Steve: I am not so sure Mrs. Morgan has been interviewed by anyone except me. If there is another one with her quotes, where is it? It doesn't exist. There have been "numerous investigations" but none of them was, as the wise folks say, straight from the horse's mouth and none that told her side of the story, which I recorded in an almost two hour exclusive interview. I have also produced an audio documentary called The Helen Morgan Project. Larry Reni Thomas Author The Lady Who Shot Lee Morgan

I have not read the new Lee Morgan biography yet, but I plan to as soon as possible. I talked to the author a few months ago. We talked about the exclusive taped interview I conducted with the late Helen Morgan, Lee's ex-wife and killer. We talked for over two hours in February 1996, about a month before her death, about their lives together and about the tragic event in February 1972 when he shot him with a gun he had purchased for her protection. I am a writer/radio announcer with 30 years experience who has produced a program called the Carolina Connection (she was a North Carolina native) in which I profile jazz personalities with a Carolina connection (i.e. Monk, Trane, Max and Nina). The program will soon be available on the internet at carolinajazzconnectionwithlarryrthomas.blogspot.com.