Before Coleman Hawkins and Lester young established the saxophone’s credentials in the 1930’s, as the pre-eminent jazz voice (OK I’m a saxophonist, so biased), the instrument most elementally associated with jazz was the trumpet. King Oliver at the birth of New Orleans jazz and, particularly, Louis Armstong in the 20’s and 30’s continue to provide a platform on which all subsequent generations of trumpeters have stood. This is a lineage that Wynton Marsalis frequently acknowledges.

My focus in this piece is on three modern trumpeters, all of whom appeared seemingly out of nowhere in their teens, apparently fully formed in the arts and crafts of their music. Each of them died far too young.

Clifford Brown, Booker Little and Lee Morgan all burst onto the scene in the 1950’s.  Interestingly two of these figures, Clifford and Booker were mentored and recruited by Max Roach, the master jazz drummer. Booker Little succeeding Clifford Brown in Max’s quintet soon after Brown’s death.  Lee Morgan was mentored by another drum legend; Art Blakey with whom he played a starring role in the Jazz Messengers edition of the late 50’s. In both cases Blakey and Roach encouraged their proteges to compose for their bands. The careers of all three underline the importance of early mentorship and the power of the jazz rumour mill in identifying new talent.

The premature deaths of both Clifford and Booker had a profound effect on both Max Roach & Sonny Rollins. In interviews late in his life Max Roach often reflected on the struggles he faced in coming to terms with their deaths. Sonny credits the younger Clifford Brown with his own determination to finally kick his drug habit.

Good to nod in Max’s direction as 2024 marks the centenary of his birth and I’ll certainly devote an episode or more to him in the coming months.

Lee Morgan’s life was marked by narcotics addiction. His dependence on drugs did nothing to reduce his remarkable creativity as a performer, leader, and composer at least until the mid-60’s when he briefly dropped out of the scene.

Both Clifford Brown, who can justly claim to be the most influential modern jazz trumpeter of all time and Booker Little both successfully eschewed the dominating drug & drink jazz culture of the time. Clifford died in a car crash on the way to a gig, a crash that also ended the life of the Roach-Brown pianist Richie Powell (Bud’s brother). Booker Little died of uraemia at the age of 23. Lee Morgan was in the early stages of resurrecting his career when he was tragically shot dead at the hands of his former partner and manager Helen Moore at Slugs Jazz Club in New York in February 1972.

Each of these trumpeters’ tick all of the boxes needed to achieve jazz legend status. Stunning techniques, immediately recognisable sound worlds, total command in a wide variety of musical settings, leaving a legacy of important compositions and setting a standard that other musicians still seek to follow. Their relatively brief careers leave jazz aficionados wondering what they might have gone on to achieve had they lived.

Lee Morgan’s narcotics addiction had a chaotic effect on his private life, and he owed a great deal to the love and perseverance of his partner Helen Moore who worked tirelessly to support Morgan and to resurrect his career in the early 70’s. Tragically it was Helen Moore who shot him, probably accidentally in 1972.  I can highly recommend the recent documentary “I Called Him Morgan” by Swedish film maker Casper Collin. which brings together a number of contributors with first hand knowledge of Lee Morgan, most notably Helen Moore herself.

Booker Little (1938-1961)

Booker Little a native of Memphis Tennessee a thriving centre of jazz at that time where he was a contemporary of George Coleman (who appears on the Max Roach video and is still active on the N.Y. jazz scene in his late 80’s) the stunning pianist Phineas Newborn and Charles Lloyd. Booker moved to Chicago to enrol at its music conservatoire in 1955 and met Sonny Rollins who had temporarily located to the Chicago YMCA. Sonny mentored Booker and recommended him to Max Roach which is where he was first introduced to the jazz public and where the bulk of his legacy of recordings can be found. Booker was at the cutting edge of modernism and in his last year was moving off in much freer directions along with such players as Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane.

Here’s some rare footage of Booker Little at work with the Roach band, along with George Coleman on sax.

Clifford Brown (1930-56)

Born in Wilmington Delaware, like Booker Little, Clifford Brown grew up in a musical family where his precocious talent was noticed and encouraged. While recovering from an earlier car crash Dizzy Gillespie sought Clifford out and encouraged him to move to New York. Clifford was a founder member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and went on to co-lead the stunning and hard working quintet with Max Roach with Harold Land and then Sonny Rollins on tenor sax. The Roach-Brown recordings sit at the heart of Clifford’s recording legacy.

All contemporary accounts and recollections of Clifford reference his intensity on the bandstand and his quiet, studious nature in his private life.

Lee Morgan (1938-72)

Born in Philadelphia another storied jazz city, Lee Morgan was briefly tutored by Clifford Brown before going on the road with the Dizzy Gillespie orchestra at 18. One of his early recordings at just 19 was in John Coltrane’s landmark Blue Trane album. Lee had a 4 year spell with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1958 that established his jazz credentials. It was Morgan who encouraged Wayne Shorter to join up with Blakey-they became close friends and recorded numerously together both with Blakey and as leaders and sidemen on many classic Blue Note albums in the 1960’s. Morgan’s all too brief return to jazz is best encapsulated in an 8 CD live recording package “Live At The Lighthouse”. It gives a poignant indication of what might have been.

The Playlist

My playlist features some of the major recordings the three trumpeters made during their short careers with a particular focus on their original compositions. I often listen to Lee Morgan’s passionate rendition of Benny Golson’s posthumous recollection of Clifford Brown, “I Remember Clifford”. One trumpet legend paying tribute to another. I also include a track from an early recording with Sarah Vaughan.