• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

FILM REVIEW: ‘I Called Him Morgan’

by Dwight Brown
April 6, 2017
13
SHARES
267
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn
Lee Morgan with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. (Kasper Collin) Photo courtesy of Kasper Collin

Bee Bop. Jazz. The ’50s and ’60s were a hotbed for cool music, and the hip musicians who played those genres on records and in smoky, dimly lit nightclubs, were a special breed. Years later, most people still revere legendary trumpeters like Miles Davis and Chet Baker and are amazed by the lives they led.

Time to add another artist of note to that list of iconic instrumentalists. His name is Lee Morgan. His life was as colorful and tragic; his talent as deep. This enlightening and haunting documentary gives him his due.

Credit Swedish musical documentarian Kasper Collin for reassembling the sordid pieces of Edward Lee Morgan’s life.

Collin has had some practice. He also documented the career of American avant-garde jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler in My Name Is Albert Ayler in 2006. He continues his tributes to lesser-known jazz artists with this absolutely spellbinding non-fiction film that plays out like a torrid novel.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

It tells the story of an ambitious young man, who was shepherded by the greats, fought the demons of drug addiction, but was finally undone by a paramour. The story is so primal and tortured it also deserves to be a feature film starring someone like Michael B. Jordan or Nate Parker — someone with depth.

Morgan, born in Philly and a gifted trumpeter as a young adolescent, joined the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band at age 18 in the early ’50s. Stints or guest performances with John Coltrane and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers further solidified his reputation in the jazz community for blowing a sweet horn.

Recording around 25 records, mostly for the famed Blue Note Records label, added sheen to his career and allure. But as a musician’s life can go, he had his troubles. An addiction to drugs got him kicked out of Blakey’s band. He was broke, homeless and often sold his worldly possessions for his fix: heroin.

The stabilizing force in Morgan’s increasingly harrowing life was a magnanimous older woman named Helen. She fed him, put a roof over his head, and was his ardent lover and biggest fan. If Morgan regained his footing at all, it was because of her unwavering support. She loved him with all her heart, but not unconditionally. She had her pride. When Morgan turned his attention to a younger lover, his common-law-wife was not about to take it on the chin. She had a plan — and a gun.

Reconstructing Morgan’s bio through old interviews with Morgan, anecdotes from jazz greats like Wayne Shorter and photos and archival footage, vividly recreates the jazz age and the trumpeter’s travails. The most soul-crushing recollections, however, come from Helen herself. Her stories can be heard on an audio cassette interview that was arranged by a night school teacher who was intrigued to find out that one of his students did a stint in prison for committing perhaps one of the most heinous acts of violence in the jazz world.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Hearing Helen recall the ups and downs of her relationship that left her in an emotional fog is like hearing an old jazz 78rpm record that is so scratched you can barely make out the tune, but you do.  Everything you hear and see leads up to an ill-fated, cold wintry New York City night in 1972.

Performers and an audience are gathered at an East Village jazz bar. Morgan is there with a girl on his arm. A shot rings out. An irrevocable crime of passion occurs. Time stands still. People live or die with the consequences.

Collin has assembled a top-notch tech crew for this urban tale. The splendid cinematography of Bradford Young (Arrival, Selma) recreates scenes with the artistry of a painter. Editing by Collins with the help of Hanna Lejonqvist, Eva Hillström and Dino Jonsäter, makes you feel like a picture book has come alive, reeling out photos with a rhythm as precise yet eclectic as a jazz score.

Watch I Called Him Morgan and you will sit enraptured. Morgan’s music and Helen’s foggy memories will take your breath away.

It’s an amazing coda to a jazz musician’s life. It’s the encore Morgan never had the chance to do.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

An exceptional documentary. Haunting.

 

For more movie information, including screening dates, go to http://icalledhimmorgan.com.

 

Thanks to Dwight Brown and NNPA for sharing this story with us.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Oyez! Oyez! Oyelowo! David Oyelowo talks to Kam Williams

Next Post

Nekima Levy-Pounds and Raeisha Williams forgo DFL for ‘people’s endorsement’

Dwight Brown

You Might Also Like

No Content Available
Next Post
Nekima Levy-Pounds and Raeisha Williams forgo DFL for ‘people’s endorsement’

Nekima Levy-Pounds and Raeisha Williams forgo DFL for ‘people’s endorsement’

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming Events

Sep 12
September 12 @ 6:30 pm-December 18 @ 9:30 pm Recurring

Vic Volare Presents MUSIC FOR MARTINIS ft: Vic’s Fabulous Nightclub Academy

Sep 27
8:00 am-12:45 pm

It’s Time to Talk: Forums on Race™

Sep 27
7:30 pm-9:30 pm Recurring

Ayodele Casel Rooted

Sep 30
9:00 am-1:00 pm Recurring

Cars and Caves

View Calendar
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts & Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Events
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: