Bebop Lives! (1986)

About this title: Altoist Frank Morgan pays tribute to his bebop beginnings on this live set from the Village Vanguard. He matches wits with flugelhornist Johnny Coles, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy Higgins. Morgan takes "Come Sunday" as his ballad feature, really putting a lot of emotion into the piece, and performs five bop standards (including a version of "A Night In Tunisia" that was added to the CD version of this release) and Jackie McLean's "Little Melonae" with the full group. The music often swings hard, and Morgan, although initially influenced strongly by Charlie ... read more

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.