Trumpeter Lee Morgan was a teenage phenomenon. He signed with Blue Note at 16, and was 19 when he played on John Coltrane’s Blue Train. He was a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1959-61, but drug problems forced him out. When he returned to the scene in 1963, he came packing this incredible album. The title track, with its long and winding melody and driving rhythm, actually became a chart hit, and this remains one of Blue Note’s best-selling albums to this day. The band is stunning: Joe Henderson on tenor sax, Barry Harris on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, Billy Higgins on drums. All five pieces are Morgan compositions, and though they’re all uptempo, they’re very different from each other, encompassing precise bebop, bluesy boogie, and some unexpectedly avant-garde touches (“Gary’s Notebook”).

– Phil Freeman