Lee Morgan was born on July 10, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother and sister bought him a trumpet for his birthday when he was about 13 years old. He took trumpet lessons and played alto horn in his high school band. Philly had an active jazz scene and Morgan was fascinated with jazz from the beginning. He was very much influenced by Clifford Brown.

When Morgan was 18 he started playing with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. He played with them for about 18 months. He played on a few Hank Mobley recordings and on John Coltrane’s Blue Trane. In 1958, he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. During his time in the group, he struggled with a heroin addiction. In 1961, he left the Jazz Messengers because his heroin habit was out of control and went home to kick it.

After two years, Morgan returned to the jazz scene. He started playing more avant-garde jazz, recording with Grachan Moncur III. In 1964, he recorded The Sidewinder with Joe Henderson. This became a crossover success. That same year, he rejoined the jazz messengers. He only stayed with the group for a year. His heroin addiction returned, and Blakey had to kick Morgan out of the band.

It was during this period that Morgan started dating Helen More. More helped him clean up his act and start playing again. She eventually became his common-law wife. On February 19, 1972, More and Morgan had an argument at one of his gigs. Between sets More shot Morgan in the chest. Morgan bleed to death on the way to the hospital. He was 33 years old.

Here is a performance from 1958.