Indeed!

Great Lee Morgan

For years, the only Lee Morgan 50s session available as a single album was Candy (see my review). But now that the Mosaic set "The Complete Blue Note Lee Morgan Fifties Sessions" has sold out, and presumably the licensing contract has expired, all six original albums have finally been reissued in 2007 by the mother label, EMI. "Indeed" is indeed the trumpeter's first recording -- made on November 4, 1956, a day before "Introducing Lee Morgan," but the latter Savoy session made it to market first back in the day. "Indeed" is a quintet date featuring Lee, lesser known Clarence Sharpe on alto sax, Horace Silver on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. It is a typical "blowing session" of the day, though the original compositions of Silver, Donald Byrd, Benny Golson and Owen Marshall (the latter two will contribute on Lee's next album Lee Morgan, Vol. 2 -- see my review) show that Alfred Lion went to great lengths to showcase his young star in a proper setting. For most, Lee Morgan doesn't hit his stride until his stint with the Jazz Messengers or even his landmark The Sidewinder, but "Indeed" is a great look at early Lee.

Michael Richman has already given a good summary of this album. I'm a big fan of Morgan and think he matured quite early. While his playing on this album is not as impressive as his playing on later Blue Note albums from the 1960s such as "The Sidewinder", "Cornbread", and "Search for the New Land", Morgan was very good from the beginning.Three notes on this album:1. Pianist Horace Silver quotes from Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things" on Roccus.2. The song "The Lady" on this album by Owen Marshall is different from the song of the same title by Rudy Stevenson that Morgan played on "The Rumproller" album.3. My review is based on the 2007 Rudy Van Gelder remastered edition which featured one extra track, an alternate take of "Little T". There is also a 2008 import edition which claims to have extra tracks, but it costs more money and does not actually have any extra tracks. So, be sure to get this Blue Note RVG edition.Perhaps I'm being overly generous in giving this album 5 stars, but I do like it a lot.