Lee Morgan

Taru was recorded in February 1968 and then left in the vaults for twelve years. It finds Lee Morgan at a crossroads, moving between modal jazz, post-bop, ballads and boogaloo within a single session. Blue Note finally issued it in 1980 in the LT series, which brought unreleased sessions from the 1960s and 1970s to light.

The session took place on February 15, 1968, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with Rudy Van Gelder engineering. It marked Morgan's first recorded meeting with tenor saxophonist Bennie Maupin, who would play an important part on Caramba! and Live At The Lighthouse. Guitarist George Benson lifts the band with inspired solos throughout. John Hicks on piano, Reggie Workman on bass and Billy Higgins on drums complete the sextet.

The six pieces cover a lot of ground. Hicks's Avotcja One opens the record in modal territory, over a rhythm section that gives the soloists plenty of air. Morgan wrote four of the tunes: the ballad Haeschen, the gospel-tinged Dee Lawd, the hard-charging Get Yourself Together and the funky boogaloo Durem, which closes the album. The title track, a second ballad, comes from Cal Massey. The Philadelphia trumpeter and composer was a favourite source for Morgan, who recorded his tunes on Lee-Way, The Sixth Sense and Caramba! among others.

Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Scott Yanow described the sextet as advanced for its time and noted how it pushes Morgan towards fiery, exploratory playing. Benson in particular solos on equal terms with the two horns. His guitar gives the sextet a colour of its own.

This stereo Tone Poet edition was produced by Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analogue master tapes. It is pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.