I Called Him Morgan Page #4

able to hold together at all,

you know.

He informed me he was

starting a new group.

And would I like to be in it?

Sure, we got together at

a place called Slugs'.

[Jerry] He had never come

to a job without her.

We did the contract

with her, you know?

It was like she

was managing him.

I did always work out,

you know, "When is he

coming in?

Well, he can come in

so and so time.

Okay, let's make it this time."

This was always with her.

She carried his trumpet case,

you know?

She did everything for him.

He played a lot, you know?

[Helen] He started dressing,

because he liked to

wear his white shirt.

Shirt, tie, leather jacket,

shoe shine.

Yeah, he liked

to be clean now.

He liked to be clean.

And then when his shirts

aren't ironed, he'd

want me to iron his shirt.

I'd do all that.

[jazz music playing]

He wrote this tune for me

called "Helen's Ritual."

Puttin' lotion and things on.

[laughs] Gettin' ready to

go somewhere, took me

a half hour.

'Cause I've got to go

through that ritual,

that lotion.

Every day when

we were going out,

wherever we were going,

whatever, that lotion...

"Helen's ritual."

[Al] I didn't meet him

until after they had

a relationship goin' good.

And sure, I said sure.

Me and him about the same age.

And I said "Miss Helen."

And I would say they

needed each other

at the time that she met him.

She had someone

to take care of,

and he had someone

to take care of him.

And it seemed to

be a good thing.

[jazz music playing]

[Lee] Good evening,

ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Lee Morgan.

For those of you

who might have just come in,

the reason for all

these microphones

is that we're recording

live for Blue Note Records.

Lee Morgan Quintet live at

Hermosa Beach, The Lighthouse.

Now here's "Absolution."

We were enjoying it.

You know, we really enjoyed it

because it gave us

a chance, first of all,

to be away for

a month from New York.

Because we here by the ocean.

What I remember one thing,

Lee practiced every day.

Yeah.

He would make me feel

like, "Well, maybe

I should practice too."

[laughs]

He was enjoying

not wearing any shoes

and walking on the sand

in his bare feet, you know.

[laughs]

How can you not be relaxed?

This was a great place

to relax.

[jazz music playing]

[Lee] Right now, it's just

me and my wife, solo.

A lot of times, I would say

at least half of the time,

I'd take her with me.

And she serves as wife,

cook, secretary...

everything else, you know?

Besides, it's a nice vacation

for her as well.

I could understand

Helen's position.

I mean, she wanted

to be in that world.

And he was the key.

And traveling up and

down the West Coast

and rubbing elbows

with that crowd.

[Jymie] She always did

all the arrangements

for the traveling.

And she just, big head

come in the door,

and you'd know it was Helen.

[Bennie] That was a good part

of his life, I'm sure.

I mean, they really

cared about each other.

They loved each other.

I see them sometimes,

they were walking,

holding hands, you know.

Laughing about

something, you know.

Lee was always

making her laugh.

And I think that's

one thing she liked

a lot, you know.

[crickets chirping]

[Helen] I met Miles...

nasty.

Nasty, you know?

I met him.

He said hello, I said hello.

He said, "And who are you

supposed to be?"

I said, "I am not

'supposed to be.'"

I am Helen Morgan.

He said, "Oh, you mean

Morgan's woman?"

I said yes.

He said, "Well, I guess

you know who I am."

[laughs]

And I said, "I don't

have to know who you are."

And he laughed, you know.

He said, "I see

you got a quick mouth."

And the words he said

to me like this,

"I don't mess too much

around with b*tches

with quick mouths."

And I said, "Well, I don't

consider myself that."

[Al] She was

the entertainment's wife.

You know, it was her thing.

It seemed to be

working good,

as far as I could see.

More power to her.

[jazz music playing]

[Ron] I saw her one day,

and I said, "Are you

still with Lee?"

She said, "Of course."

She said, "Yeah, I got

him back on his feet,

and we're doing this and this."

Then I saw a different Helen.

It wasn't the Helen

that I grew up with.

It was a woman who cared,

who almost had adopted a child

because Lee and her were

quite different in age.

And I was very proud of her.

I was proud of her when I

knew her as a young man.

But as a man, I became

even more proud of her.

Because she was helping

someone get back on their feet

who had a lot of talent.

[Paul] His life was

restored by Helen.

And it was joy to watch.

He had his own group.

He was playing, was producing.

And he was living.

[Bennie] We would get together

sometimes at his apartment--

at their apartment, actually.

Lee would call me.

He'd say, "Why don't you come

over and we'll have dinner?

So I said, "Okay."

This apartment they had

was beautiful.

It was immaculate.

Helen took care of the house.

You know, she would

fix us a nice dinner.

We would sit down

and have dinner.

And then after dinner,

Lee would, you know,

want to go out.

Because he liked to go out

and hear other musicians.

So we would leave.

Helen would say,"No, I'm

not going with you guys,

because you're going

to be out too late.

I just want to stay here.

It would be good to

get him out of here

so I could be here by myself."

She was like, "Take him away."

[laughs]

That kind of thing.

So he said, "I'll be back."

But it was always fun.

[Paul] And so

during that time, I said

"What Lee needs now

is not only the support

that he gets from

his home, from Helen,

but he needs to be put in

with a group of young people

who are aspiring to be

like him, artistically.

So I brought him in to

Jazzmobile Workshop.

[vocalizing]

[Lee] I would teach

anybody who wants it.

It's mostly designed

for youngsters,

but anybody who wants to come.

It's not really teaching.

We've had, like,

arrangements for big bands,

small bands, whatnot.

And these are donated by,

say, by Thad or Benny Golson,

or Oliver Nelson,

Wayne Shorter.

You know, our top writers.

And they get a chance to play.

Some of the more talented ones

are trying to write themselves.

And we kind of

evaluate their things,

you know.

I notice a lot of times

I'm talking to them,

and I'll say something or

mention something

that might have happened in

the 50s or something,

talking about Clifford Brown...

And he'll be looking at me

with a puzzled look.

And I realize that here,

I'm talking to a kid

that's only 15 years old.

To him, I'm ancient.

You see what I'm trying to say?

[Paul] These young kids,

they loved him.

And they were soaking up

all that he had to offer.

And he wanted to give and

give and give and give.

[jazz music playing]

[Lee] I find that

the essence of creativity

is the newness of things.

And the only way

to keep things new

is to have constant

changes in environment

and surroundings and people.

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