Billboard : 01/27/1958
Score of 77

Virile outpouring from young Morgan who is evolving into one of the most commanding trumpet voices on the modern scene. In this showcase, he is facile indeed. Compatriot in front-line, baritonist Pepper Adams, frequently plays with forceful flow, but is not as consistently listenable as on past recordings. Pianist B. Timmons sparkling in solos. Rhythmic surge and general good soloing should convince modern buyer.

—–

Audio
Charles A. Robertson : March, 1958

Rapidly growing out of his classification as a new star on trumpet, Lee Morgan joins a newer star on baritone sax for this session. With more than twice the number of years of band experience behind him, Pepper Adams has yet to enjoy as much solo exposure on records as Morgan has acquired in the brief time since he left his native Philadelphia. As the baritone men will always be outnumbered by the trumpeters, a fresh talent on that instrument is always welcome. The lateness of his arrival on the scene is explained by ten years spent as a member of the Detroit school which serves as a training center for so many musicians. From his scholarly appearance, like that of an Oxford don, and the ferocity of his attack, he can be classed as one of the angry young men of jazz. His full tone is used to extract the utmost from his horn in intense heated statements or the flowing line of a more pensive mood.

A Night in Tunisia, his showpiece with the Dizzy Gillespie band, allows Morgan to demonstrate his great facility in knotty technical passages, as do Heavy Dipper and Just One Of Those Things, the two fast numbers. But the test of his growing maturity comes on a tender Lover Man, and a moving interpretation of the minor-setting of New-Ma. Drummer Philly Joe Jones sets the pace, aided by pianist Bobby Timmons and Paul Chambers on bass.

—–

American Record Guide
Martin Williams : March, 1958
A review of both The Cooker and Coltrane’s Blue Train

The Coltrane record is exceptional for the very powerful solo that that tenor saxist has on the title blues. Coltrane’s playing has improved remarkably in the past year or so and is now a unique combination of energy and fluency and a haunting tonality and harmonic sense. One might call it a projection of the qualities of much elementary blues guitar. His faults show on some of the four other tracks: he still approaches each number as a kind of expanding suitcase into which he puts great chunks of what he can play and project. That he needn’t do this shows on the opening chorus of I’m Old Fashioned. Trombonist Curtis Fuller makes promisingly robust restatements of J.J. Johnson originals with conviction, except on I’m Old Fashioned. Already, nineteen-year-old Lee Morgan has shown a promising ability to fuse the virtuoso side of “modern” trumpet (Gillespie, Navarro) with the more lyric conception (Miles Davis), in a sense taking this problem up where Clifford Brown left it. One could point to his (fleeting to be sure) trouble with time, to his weakness at sustaining slow tempos (on Blue Train he clearly double-times, Coltrane plays against the rhythm’s double time; his Lover Man doesn’t hold up very well). But all that is perhaps beside the real point: he has (or surely will soon have) the equipment to say a lot of things. Coltrane’s problem is that though he has something to say and is rapidly gaining the equipment to say it, he may just gush it all out. Morgan’s is that he does not yet have very much to say. But that is no censure at his age. Pepper Adams was voted somebody-or-other’s “new star” on baritone sax. Here he hardly seems to have been ready for that honor – I am thinking of his ideas and of his execution on Just One Of Those Things.

—–

Pittsburgh Courier : 02/08/1958
Harold L. Keith : 4 stars
A review of both The Cooker and Coltrane’s Blue Train

Young Lee Morgan‘s evolvement into one of the “boss men” on trumpet is now complete.

His amazing talent is displayed on two Blue Note discs, LPs 1578 and 1577, which has just been released. On 1578, The Cooker, Lee is hooked up with baritone saxist Pepper Adams, pianist Bob Timmons, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones, drums. On 1577, Blue Train, Ken Drew replaces Timmons, John Coltrane replaces Adams, and Curt Fuller is added to the combo.

The result of this assemblage is a Lee Morgan who has tremendous range, tone, inventiveness, and technique. On Just One of Those Things, Lee is something else and then, he puts his dulcet side to work on Lover Man, which is attacked with facility and deep conception. Another piece on which Lee struts his stuff is Locomotion, a steaming item pumped off with fanfare by Philly Joe and pushed down the rails at a fast clip by Coltrane and Fuller before Lee takes over with one of his patented syncopated runs. Dig Lee’s tongue work on his second chorus.

There are those who disagree, but it is proposed here that Lee now ranks with Diz and Bird as a boss “axe man.” on 1577, Lee resorts to the use of quick bursts of staccato phrasing in tempo to highlight the piece, Lady Bird, and the classical Night in Tunisia is heard in slower tempo than usual with Mr. Morgan pulling off some fantastic things.

But Lee wasn’t everything on these items, even despite the fact that he wrote Heavy Dipper, one of the piece de resistance of 1578. For example, Coltrane’s work on I’m Old Fashioned is carried out with deep soul and flawless tonation. Likewise Curtis Fuller is in rare form.

—–

San Francisco Chronicle
Ralph J. Gleason : 03/02/1958
Album of the Week

Morgan is in his early twenties but has already become one of the most impressive trumpeters in modern jazz and has been featured with the Dizzy Gillespie orchestra. This is a fine LP, with P. Chambers and Philly J. Jones in the rhythm section.

—–

San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 05/11/1958

Morgan is the fantastically brilliant young trumpeter whose work with the Gillespie Band brought him into national fame a year or so ago. Certainly he challenges Diz himself on the brilliance of his ideas and execution; his every phrase a tour de force and he stands out above even his confreres here, though they include such men as Pepper Adams and Philly Joe Jones. He will be greater than this as he ages (he is only 20 now) but even now he is at the top.

—–

Liner Notes by Robert Levin

Lee Morgan, not yet twenty years old at this writing, is here represented for the fifth time as a leader of a Blue Note recording session. His fantastically rapid growth (technically and musically) as witness these previous efforts; BLP 1538, BLP 1541, BLP 1557, and BLP 1575, along with this one, paces him beyond the “upcoming” or “potential” status into the ranks of those whose potential has been realized. Lee stands, right now, as one of the top trumpet players in modern jazz.

As the title states, Lee is a “Cooker.” He plays hot. His style, related to the Gillespie – Navarro – Brown school, is strong and vital. There is enthusiasm in his music. A kind of “happy to be playing” feeling that is immediately communicated to the listener.

Born and reared in Philadelphia, Lee began fronting his own combos around the Philly area when he was only fifteen. Later, he sat in on weekly “Workshop” sessions at Music City, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. He spent several weeks with Art Blakey‘s Jazz Messengers before going on the road with the Dizzy Gillespie orchestra of which he is still an important member.

Lee’s constant improvement can be largely attributed to Diz. The maturity that he has acquired from working with a band made up of extremely accomplished musicians, under the direction of a man like Dizzy, cannot be overemphasized. While Dizzy’s brilliant musical capabilities are often obscured by his flare of showmanship, this, in now way, detracts from the admiration that almost all contemporary musicians have for him. Dizzy is still the boss, the master, the teacher, and Lee, perhaps his star pupil.

Pepper Adams, a scholarly looking, strong-toned baritone saxophonist, who placed first in the “New Star – 1957 Down Beat Critic’s Poll” makes his initial Blue Note appearance on this record. Born in Highland Park (a suburb of Detroit), Michigan on October 8, 1930, Pepper moved to Rochester, New York when he was five and began listening to people like Fats Waller over the radio when he was in the first or second grade. He lived in Rochester until he was sixteen, picking up the tenor when he was twelve, and digging in particular the big bands of Jimmy Lunceford, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. He played with his high school band and local groups and collected records by Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Benny Goodman, Don Byas, [Artist8706,Charlie Christian, et al. He moved back to Detroit in 1946 and switch to baritone, then worked his first big-time gig with Lucky Thompson. After that he played with jut about all the young Detroiters who were eventually to make a success in the east (most on this label); Barry Harris, Billy Mitchell, Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, Don Byrd, Doug Watkins, Curtis Fuller, the Jones brothers and Yusef Lateef. Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson and Wardell Gray were others with whom he worked. Pepper remained in Detroit until early 1956 when Oscar Pettiford got him a gig with the Stan Kenton orchestra. That band broke up six months later in Los Angeles, but Pepper stayed on the coast to work with Dave Pell, Shorty Rogers, etc. He came back east with the Maynard Ferguson big band – quit it in New York and then returned with Chet Baker. Once again in L.A. Pepper left Baker and came back to New York where he has since remained. He says that Hawk, Harry Carney, and Wardell Gray have been his biggest influences and names Carney and Cecil Payne as his favorite baritonists.

Bobby Timmons, another (and one of the better) Bud Powell oriented pianists, was born in Philadelphia on December 19, 1935. His uncle was a piano teacher and he began taking lessons when he was eight. He’s been playing professionally since 1952, gigging, at first, around Philly primarily with Morgan. He broke into the New York scene in the early part of 1956 with Kenny Dorham and his Jazz Prophets. This was followed by jobs with Sonny Stitt, Cannonball and Dinah Washington. He is currently a member of Maynard Ferguson’s Birdland Dream Band. Bobby lists as his favorite piano players Bud Powell, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson and Red Garland.

Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, who round out the rhythm section, are a pair of exceptional performers who have achieved a rather unusual and certainly lofty stature – they are appreciated, highly and equally, by both musicians and fans. Chambers, since he left Detroit, has spent the better part of his working hours with Miles Davis and has gained a respectability as a bass player that seriously rivals the great Oscar Pettiford’s. Philly Joe is a strikingly intuitive and inventive drummer who combines power with good taste. He, like Paul, has worked extensively with Miles and those who have caught him in person or on other recordings will support the statement that he is among the three or four best drummers.

Lee’s latter three Blue Note offerings have been set within the sparkling context of tunes written, mostly, by the provocative Benny Golson. Herein he reverts back to the format of his first recording, playing in a less “strict” atmosphere and just plain wailing throughout.

A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy’s tune which has been Lee’s showcase vehicle since he joined the Gillespie organization) leads off the set. Lee’s solo is easily his best on record. Player with an almost frenetic forcefulness, it has a sharp, biting excitement about it that (as is also true of Pepper’s solo) is in keeping with the oriental-mysterious flavor of the piece. Bobby’s statement is swift and effective and Philly Joe drives the group in magnificent fashion.

Happy Dipper, by Lee, is (contrary to the title) a light item with a pretty unison theme. Lee, Pepper, Bobby and Paul each demonstrate their instrumental prowess before Lee and Pepper exchange several sets of fours with Philly, which are followed by a return to the theme.

Cole Porter‘s Just One Of Those Things, a favorite of quite a few modern jazz musicians, is played at a fast, driving tempo. Pepper, Lee and Bobby (in that sequence) solo in an energetic manner that precedes a moving brace of horn and drum exchanges.

The mournful Lover Man provokes a pensive mood through exquisite, beautifully constructed statements by Lee, Bobby, Pepper and Lee again. Both horns echo the old Charlie Parker – Howard McGhee version in the ending.

Lee’s New-Ma is a minor-keyed opus which, after the theme, features moody, expressive solos by Bobby, Paul, Lee and Philly.

After listening to this album it will be hard to deny that Lee Morgan is, as they say, “something else.” The enthusiasm of youth that is naturally his is now merged with a “pro’s” sense of control that should enable him to advance onto even greater heights than he has thus far reached.