Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nick Moran was born on April 14, 1963 in New York City and began playing trumpet at age ten, switching over to the guitar at thirteen. His early musical influences were the British rock guitarists Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Peter Frampton. He played in several rock groups throughout high school and college while studying classical guitar. He first discovered the music of George Benson at age fifteen along with Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.
Nick’s study of jazz began informally in 1991 with arranging and ear training classes at the Fachbereich Musik in Mainz, Germany, where he also played guitar and trumpet in the university big band. He returned to New York in 1998 and began formal jazz studies and graduated from City College of New York in 2001. He did rhythm section studies for two years with bassist Ron Carter and studied composition with pianist/arranger Mike Holober.
He has been a member of the Ray Santos Orchestra, Akiko Tsuruga, Shunzo Ohno, Tom Hubbard, Marco Panascia, Adam Rafferty, Rick Stone, Nick Russo and Russ Spiegel, Cliff Korman and Burt Eckoff. Nick Moran currently leads two bands, is an active solo performer, plays a seven-string guitar, performs throughout New York City and is a producer and recording engineer.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Marshall was born Edwin Marshall on April 13, 1938 in Springfield, Massachusetts and learned to play the drums as a child. He played in his father’s swing group and R&B bands while in high school. He moved to New York City in 1956, developing his percussion style under the influence of Max Roach and Art Blakey.
Two years later he was playing with Charlie Mariano followed by a stint with Toshiko Akiyoshi prior to Army service. He reunited with Akiyoshi in 1965, then worked with the house band at The Dom in New York, and with Stan Getz, Sam Rivers and toured with Dionne Warwick.
In 1967 he was a member of the fusion group The Fourth Way, touring San Francisco during the early Seventies, followed by work with Jon Hendricks and the Pointer Sisters. He would go on to work in Almanac with Bennie Maupin, Cecil McBee and Mike Nock releasing an album in ’77.
In the 1980s he worked in the project Bebop & Beyond, recording tribute albums to Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. Undergoing heart surgery in 1984, temporarily sidelined his career, but he continued to perform on the recorder. He then taught at the San Francisco School of the Arts, issued his second release as a leader in 1999 and in the 2000s worked on the San Francisco Arts Commission. Drummer Eddie Marshall died of a heart attack on Wednesday, September 7, 2011.
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Requisites
Tom Cat ~ Lee Morgan | By Eddie Carter
Submitted for your approval this morning is a Lee Morgan album that many may not be familiar with. Tom Cat (Blue Note Classic LT-1058) is an excellent hard bop album originally recorded in 1964. However, its release was postponed because “The Sidewinder” achieved tremendous success for both the trumpeter and the label. “Search For The New Land,” another superb 1964 session, was released two years later, but Tom Cat remained unreleased until sixteen years after it was recorded. Curtis Fuller on trombone; Jackie McLean on alto saxophone; McCoy Tyner on piano; Bob Cranshaw on bass; and Art Blakey on drums complete the sextet. The copy I own is the 1980 U.S. stereo release.
The album opener is the title tune, Tom Cat, by Lee Morgan. The trio’s introduction strolls in like a cat entering a room ahead of the sextet’s easygoing melody. Lee definitely gets his message across to the listener in the lead solo. Jackie finds common ground in the second reading. Curtis follows with a mellow swing next, then McCoy is as good as it gets in the closer preceding the theme’s reprise and fadeout. Lee’s Exotique begins with a mysterious modal introduction that blossoms into the ensemble’s lively theme. Morgan leads off with an exciting opening solo, then McLean steps in to deliver a spirited statement. Fuller responds to the cooking intensity next, then Tyner follows with a concise comment. Lee adds a few more thoughts, and Blakey gets the last word before the closing chorus dissolves into nothingness.
Twice Around by Lee Morgan opens with the quintet’s introduction slowly, then picks up pace rapidly for the ensemble’s brisk theme. Curtis steps out first on this uptempo cooker, then Jackie opens it up further with a robust reading. Lee takes care of business in the first of two scintillating statements. McCoy follows him with a swift solo, then Lee returns to wail briefly. Art sails in last for a short workout, leading to the theme’s restatement and finale. Twilight Mist is a beautiful, tender ballad by McCoy Tyner. The pianist opens the song with a gentle introduction before Morgan leads the group through the lovely melody. The trumpeter approaches the opening statement elegantly, then steps aside for Tyner’s haunting interpretation ahead of the return to the theme and a gorgeous ending.
Rigormortis by Lee Morgan takes us home on an upbeat note with the sextet’s brisk theme led by the front line. Lee sets things in motion with an invigorating solo. Jackie finds his groove with a few swinging ideas next. Curtis scores a bullseye in the following reading, and McCoy is on target in a lively short statement. Lee and Art build an effective climax, bouncing ideas off each other, leading to the closing chorus. Alfred Lion produced Tom Cat, and Rudy Van Gelder managed the recording console. The album’s sound quality is excellent, with an outstanding soundstage that lets the musicians deliver a private studio session in the listener’s listening room.
If you’ve had a long day or week and are in the mood to unwind with an exceptional, hard bop album, I invite you to discover Tom Cat by Lee Morgan on your next visit to your favorite record shop. Lee and an extraordinary lineup deliver 41 minutes of enjoyable music that’s impossible to listen to without your fingers snapping and your toes tapping. Though lesser known and overlooked in Morgan’s discography, Tom Cat is an excellent release that should easily earn its place in any jazz library!
~ Search For The New Land (Blue Note BLP 4169/BST 84169), The Sidewinder (Blue Note BLP 4157/BST 84157) – Source: Discogs.com © 2026 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Herbie Hancock was born Herbert Jeffrey Hancock on April 12, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois. Starting with a classical music education, he was considered a child prodigy, studied from age seven and played the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Chicago Symphony at age eleven.
Through his teens he was influenced by the vocal group Hi-Lo’s, Herbie never had a jazz teacher, developing his ear and sense of harmony. Influenced by Clare Fischer, Bill Evans, Ravel and Gil Evans, his harmonic guru was Chris Anderson with whom he studied. In the Sixties he attended Grinnell College, moved to Chicago, began working with Donald Byrd and Coleman Hawkins, studied at the Manhattan School of Music, quickly gained a reputation and played sessions with Oliver Nelson and Phil Woods.
In 1962 Hancock recorded his first solo album Takin’ Off for Blue Note Records that contained the hit for both Hancock and Mongo Santamaria – Watermelon Man. More importantly it caught the ear of Miles Davis and landed him an introduction by Tony Williams and membership of the second great quintet in 1963. It was during the Davis years that Herbie found his voice and subsequently produced two of the decade’s most influential albums, Empyrean Isles and Maiden Voyage.
He has recorded a catalogue of nearly sixty albums as a leader dozens of sessions as a sideman, working with the likes of Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Grant Green, Bobby Hutcherson, Sam Rivers, Donald Byrd, George Coleman, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard among others. He has been the subject of five films, won an Oscar for “Round Midnight soundtrack, received 14 Grammy Awards, five Playboy Music Polls and was honored as a NEA Jazz Master in 2004 along with a host of other recognitions. He is currently occupies the Creative Chair for Jazz with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Hancock joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty as a professor in the UCLA music department where he teaches jazz music. He has received a Kennedy Center Honors Award for achievement in the performing arts, won 14 Grammy Awards, 1 Oscar for the Original Soundtrack of ‘Round Midnight and has been honored as an NEA Jazz Master among numerous other accolades.
He is the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University. Holders of the chair deliver a series of six lectures on poetry, “The Norton Lectures”, poetry being “interpreted in the broadest sense, including all poetic expression in language, music, or fine arts.” His theme is “The Ethics of Jazz. Pianist Herbie Hancock continues to advance the jazz genre in new directions.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Anita Gravine was born April 11, 1946 in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. An experienced but little-known singer, in the mid-’60s, she sang with the bands of Larry Elgart, Buddy Morrow, and Urbie Green. She made her solo debut with Dream Dancing on the Progressive label in the early ’80s.
This was followed by her release of I Always Knew in 1985 for the now defunct Stash Records that displayed her appealing voice, solid sense of swing, and versatility. Gravine’s third project Welcome to My Dream, although not a critical success, continues to prove she can handle both ballad and up-tempo songs with ease of voice and rhythmic assurance.
She has worked with arranger and pianist Mike Abene, George Mraz, Billy Hart and Tom Harrell. She released Welcome To My Dream for Jazz Alliance in 1993. In 2010 Anita released the last of her four albums “Lights! Camera! Passion! Jazz And The Italian Cinema”, and she continues to perform and tour.
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