Lee Morgan

The Profile

American jazz trumpeter and leading hard‑bop figure. A Blue Note mainstay, he rose with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, scored a crossover hit with The Sidewinder, and pursued bolder directions on albums like Search for the New Land and The Procrastinator. He died in 1972 in New York.

Born July 10, 1938 in Philadelphia; died February 19, 1972 in New York City. Instrument: trumpet. Key associations: Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Dizzy Gillespie. Label: Blue Note (also Vee‑Jay).

American hard‑bop trumpeter on Blue Note, Lee Morgan cut landmark albums with top-tier lineups. The Sidewinder broke big, while Search for the New Land and The Procrastinator pushed past bop’s comfort zone. Live at the Lighthouse captures his late creative peak onstage. His life ended tragically in 1972, but the records still blaze.