18 समीक्षाएं
I recently started listening to Lee Morgan's wonderful music but didn't know anything about him. This documentary is a great look into his career, his storied relationship with his wife, and the events surrounding his death. Unfortunately, the documentary doesn't have an abundance of photos or clips to work with. They do a pretty good job working with what they have, but it does make me wonder if the length should have been cut given the gap of artifacts to use. I also wonder why they didn't dive more into Morgan's childhood.
- benm-41751
- 15 फ़र॰ 2018
- परमालिंक
The focus of this documentary is renowned American jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan (1938 - 1972) as well as his common-law wife Helen More who restored and saved Lee's life during a time of serious drug addiction only to end it later on.
The movie's directing style, by Kasper Collin, reflects the beauty and mood of the jazz music it portrays. A very clever bonus is the use of coloured footage of people walking about the streets of New York in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s. This helps greatly in recalling moods and styles of eras that are long gone.
The main narration of this film is an audio recording of More in 1996. While it is mostly insightful, it is occasionally difficult to understand as More had an unusual accent that is not always easy to comprehend. Collin ought to have used subtitles during these segments.
With many magnificent still photos, TV footage, and interviews with Morgan's past bend members, it was unfortunate that only a brief audio recording of Morgan could be found as evidence of the man himself offstage. But the music - highlighted by Morgan's brilliant artistry as a trumpet player - more than makes up for this gap.
The movie's directing style, by Kasper Collin, reflects the beauty and mood of the jazz music it portrays. A very clever bonus is the use of coloured footage of people walking about the streets of New York in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s. This helps greatly in recalling moods and styles of eras that are long gone.
The main narration of this film is an audio recording of More in 1996. While it is mostly insightful, it is occasionally difficult to understand as More had an unusual accent that is not always easy to comprehend. Collin ought to have used subtitles during these segments.
With many magnificent still photos, TV footage, and interviews with Morgan's past bend members, it was unfortunate that only a brief audio recording of Morgan could be found as evidence of the man himself offstage. But the music - highlighted by Morgan's brilliant artistry as a trumpet player - more than makes up for this gap.
- proud_luddite
- 18 फ़र॰ 2018
- परमालिंक
Having never heard of Lee Morgan this was an interesting story, but the construction was very by- the-numbers. A standard talking head movie that relied on a tape made in the 90's that sadly didn't illuminate enough to really get a sense of the complete tale. Had this been made when more people involved were alive, it might have been stronger, but they made do with what they had and I can't fault them for that. An interesting TV documentary show episode and about at that level technically. Jazz fans check it out.
- TheUserIDYouEnteredHasAlready
- 1 अप्रैल 2017
- परमालिंक
I had realy good time watching this documetary. If you like jazz and 70' Nyc athmospere is a must watch!
If you love and understand real jazz--and especially if you love the long-ago New York City that gave birth to bebop and hard bop--there is nothing out there like this film. It is also fitting that a non-American made it, given that the United States has so turned its back on its greatest artistic creation and the musicians who created it. (Just compare this film with the shameful recent American documentary about Trane--with its pandering casting of Denzel Washington as narrator and utterly stupid and irrelevant choices of people to interview (Bill Clinton? Carlos Santana? Common? Cornell West? John Densmore?). From the late-night Larry Thomas jazz radio program and New York City snowfall and that opens I Called Him Morgan(and hey, whatever happened to that snow? It seems to have disappeared along with the jazz scene),the interviews with jazz musicians of Lee Morgan's time (one of whom who objects to the term "jazz," aptly preferring "black classical music"), and with it's beautifully paced rendering of acompelling American story of love and pain...for someone like me, who lived through all of that, it just could not have been better.
- kozure-okami-744-789585
- 3 जुल॰ 2017
- परमालिंक
- funsterdad
- 25 जुल॰ 2017
- परमालिंक
The two negative reviews here are based on the individual reviewers' ignorance of jazz music in general, and the life and music of Lee Morgan in particular. I found this film arresting and completely engaging, even if the pace is incremental. In my view, this is an excellent documentary of the life and TIMES of this great musician. For someone who is not really interested in jazz music of the fifties and sixties, this might seem interminably slow and pointless, but for people who love this period of music history it is told with reverence, love and care.
- bartleby56
- 4 जन॰ 2018
- परमालिंक
Seen at the Viennale 2016: This one is straight like a motorway in the desert. Nothing substantial is added to breathe in some life into this documentary. The usual interviews with musicians that were around with Morgan. Fun to see was a program in the window of a jazz club from the '60s with Lee Morgan Quintett playing today and Keith Jarrett the next day. Having seen Keith Jarrett this summer in Vienna it brings Lee Morgan closer to today. I did not know that Lee Morgan was murdered by his wife in his mid-30's. A main item of this movie is a music cassette from 1996 with an interview of his wife and murder Helen. One month after the interview Helen died. Instead of this documentary it would have been much more interesting to produce a radio show with the length of two hours, playing Lee Morgan tunes alternating with the interview of Helen.
I agree with the positive reviews of this movie, and simply want to add my appreciation for how human-centered it is. It is not simply a collection of names, dates, and music samples, like many other Jazz documentaries. The latter, too, are essential, however this documentary is largely about people who were simultaneously creating jazz culture and being shaped by both it and their fellow denizens of that world. Prior to watching this movie I had known only that Morgan's wife shot and killed him, and was very surprised to see her treated with compassion by the documentarian, as well as by various people who were there at the time and were friends with her and Morgan.
There is a lot to be learned about jazz from watching this film, but it's ultimately its poignancy which make it so compelling.
There is a lot to be learned about jazz from watching this film, but it's ultimately its poignancy which make it so compelling.
- ebeckstr-1
- 16 अग॰ 2018
- परमालिंक
This haunting documentary about the life of a great jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan and his wife Helen is one I will not soon forget. Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collin weaves the tale of their lives and their relationship through interviews with his friends and fellow musicians including saxophonist Wayne Shorter. He caps it off with an interview with Helen a month before her death in 1996. Through extraordinary black and white archival photographs, rare TV performances and an amazing soundtrack of Lee's music, we are transported to the NYC jazz scene from the 50s to the 70s.
As a music aficionado, I was aware of jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey, but not of Lee Morgan. The footage of his trumpet playing with these masters really drew me in. As one friend said in the film, "Lee really knew how to tell a story musically." His was an exceptional talent as a young teenager of 17. However, his addiction to heroin took him out and it wasn't until he met Helen, that he got back on his feet to play. Through her care, inspiration and love, she managed his career and uplifted him back to compose and play music and eventually form his own band, The Lee Morgan Quartet.
Lee had years of success playing not only clubs in the East but also on the West Coast. Some of my favorite parts of the documentary include footage on a TV show called "Soul", where he dedicates a piece to the activist Angela Davis entitled "Angela", and another TV show hosted by Steve Allen, a talk show host popular at the time. The other favorite part was with the jazz mobile workshop where he worked with young people on musical arrangements and gave them a chance to play and learn from him.
The twist and turns of Lee and Helen's life together end tragically when Lee plays at a popular club called Slugs, down in the East Village of NYC. On a snowy night in February 1972, his life is cut short at the young age of 33 by the woman who had brought him back to life. Following an altercation between sets, Morgan's common law wife Helen Moore, shot him.
I give this film 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to ages 13 to 18 as well as adult jazz lovers. You can catch I Called Him Morgan on DVD and Blu-ray beginning October 31, 2017.
By Terry S., KIDS FIRST! Adult Juror.
As a music aficionado, I was aware of jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey, but not of Lee Morgan. The footage of his trumpet playing with these masters really drew me in. As one friend said in the film, "Lee really knew how to tell a story musically." His was an exceptional talent as a young teenager of 17. However, his addiction to heroin took him out and it wasn't until he met Helen, that he got back on his feet to play. Through her care, inspiration and love, she managed his career and uplifted him back to compose and play music and eventually form his own band, The Lee Morgan Quartet.
Lee had years of success playing not only clubs in the East but also on the West Coast. Some of my favorite parts of the documentary include footage on a TV show called "Soul", where he dedicates a piece to the activist Angela Davis entitled "Angela", and another TV show hosted by Steve Allen, a talk show host popular at the time. The other favorite part was with the jazz mobile workshop where he worked with young people on musical arrangements and gave them a chance to play and learn from him.
The twist and turns of Lee and Helen's life together end tragically when Lee plays at a popular club called Slugs, down in the East Village of NYC. On a snowy night in February 1972, his life is cut short at the young age of 33 by the woman who had brought him back to life. Following an altercation between sets, Morgan's common law wife Helen Moore, shot him.
I give this film 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to ages 13 to 18 as well as adult jazz lovers. You can catch I Called Him Morgan on DVD and Blu-ray beginning October 31, 2017.
By Terry S., KIDS FIRST! Adult Juror.
This was very good. It really set the mood for time periods of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and of course it was very informative on the music and personal life of Lee Morgan, a great jazz trumpet player. Great interviews with his fellow band members and wife also.
I Called Him Morgan is a beautiful and elegiac documentary on the life and death of the great jazz trumpet player Lee Morgan.
Helen Morgan nursed her common-law husband, jazz great Lee Morgan, through heroin addiction. On a February night in 1972, she walked into Slug's Saloon in the East Village with a gun in her purse, and after they fought and he physically threw her out of the bar, she returned and shot him. Highly recommended.
Helen Morgan nursed her common-law husband, jazz great Lee Morgan, through heroin addiction. On a February night in 1972, she walked into Slug's Saloon in the East Village with a gun in her purse, and after they fought and he physically threw her out of the bar, she returned and shot him. Highly recommended.
- PaulDBrazill
- 3 अप्रैल 2022
- परमालिंक
Surprising, I didn't know the musicians, nor their stories, sad, an action on impulse and destruction for a lifetime, I felt very sorry for Helen, children who are already born condemned to a suffering future, and when could they have risen again, an act thoughtless, interrupts a future that could have been happy... Love sometimes salvation, sometimes perdition... Beautiful and sad documentary...
- RosanaBotafogo
- 8 जुल॰ 2022
- परमालिंक
I found this documentary on a FB Profile of a friend who recommended it. Well, she is a Jazz musician, so it´s understandable. I thought the story-telling was slow and boring and after I watched the whole documentary I thought to myself :
there are people you have never heard about and it this is sometimes even better- like in this case here
- powderandlouder
- 16 अप्रैल 2020
- परमालिंक