I Called Him Morgan

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.