As we noted earlier, Pink Martini's Gavin Bondy has great chops and may well be on his way to a legendary career. The San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Opera both have outstanding trumpet players in their own right, and even some former players have found a way to stay engaged with this exotic instrument.
Jeffery S. McMillan, for example, played the horn before going to work for the as an archivist for the New York's Metropolitan Opera. He's now working with SFO's media relations department, and that's how we became acquainted with his engaging biography of Jazz great, Lee Morgan.
His book, Delightfulee, has won praise and awards from leading jazz experts and we found it to be a very entertaining read. this is the first biography to seriously examine Morgan's vast contributions to jazz, both as a performer and as a composer. Thanks to exclusive access to Lee Morgan's now-deceased brother, McMillan is also able to provide unparalleled insight into Morgan's personal and family life.
Cover photo by Francis Wolff © Mosaic Images
"By the time of his death, at thirty-three—murdered in
a New York City club by his girlfriend during a gig—Morgan had begun a new
phase of his career, experimenting with freer-forms of musical expression," says McMillan. "It is my hope that this work will address the need for greater attention in the
literature to this magnicent and inuential artist. If it can stimulate
interest in Morgan’s legacy and attract newcomers to his music, all of the
effort will have been worth it."
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