This 91-minute film documentary by Kasper Collin is a fascinating glimpse into the life and death of hard bop trumpet icon Lee Morgan. At the time of the 1972 murder by his common-law wife Helen, the shock resonated through the jazz world, with people either in shock or wondering why something like it had not happened before. This dvd, brings together interviews with musicians, relatives and friends such as Wayne Morgen, Jymie Merritt, Billy Harper, Charles Persip, Larry Ridley and Benny Maupin, weaving it with Morgan’s music and pictures from his apotheotic period with Blue Note Records. Keeping it all together is a 1996 interview with Helen Morgan just weeks before her own death, taking you to Morgan’s musical and personal heights and nadirs, with plenty of “I can’t believe it” moments, filled with more plot twists than an Agatha Christie novel.
The story weaves together the plot with Morgan’s horn and Helen’s voice in a way to create a mosaic of moods, almost like a Greek Tragedy. Fans of Morgan’s music will love moments such as his solos on “Moanin'” and “Dat Dere” but even if you don’t know a minor 7th to a minor’s cap, the story of star crossed lovers who create and destroy each other is a fable that could have become a Verdi opera.