Lee Morgan was a Philadelphia bad boy. When he joined Dizzy Gillespie's band on trumpet at 18, the sky was the limit. That's his legendary solo on John Coltrane's 1957 "Blue Train." In the 1960s, he became a star; only Miles Davis shined brighter. 'The Sidewinder' (1963) is, arguably, one of the best jazz albums of all time. An outspoken advocate for his fellow musicians, he lobbied the television networks to feature more 1971 jazz greats. His end came in between two 1972 sets at Slug's Saloon on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where his ex-wife shot him dead during an argument. In so doing, she not only murdered a kind soul, but she robbed us all of his genius ever since. He was 33.
