Frank Morgan, San Quentin and Me...

I was a superstar in prison. All the fear of going to prison was taken out of the whole thing, because it became a really comfortable haven. It's taken me a long time to get out of the comfortable situation of the prison and really face up to life. If, after my first solo at the Village Vanguard after I came out, they hadn't applauded me so loudly, if someone had said "Boo", I'd have run back to San Quentin.

Frank Morgan

***BeBop Lives!*** (1986) signed by Frank, Cedar Walton, Buster Williams

I met Bird after the show and told him I wanted to learn how to play one of those things. I didn't even know it was called an alto at that time. I remember I was mad at Bird for a while for insisting that I should begin on clarinet and then go to saxophone. It was good advice and the next day my father got me started on clarinet. Bird was a beautiful person and it's the memories of him and his music that have sustained me throughout my life. He is certainly the prime factor in my love for the music I play.

Frank Morgan on his idol Charlie Parker

***Yardbird Reflections*** (1989) signed by Frank, Mulgrew Miller, Ron Carter, Al Foster

What comes out of his horn is soulful, full of fire and timeless.

Wynton Marsalis describing Frank Morgan

***Reflections*** (1991) signed by Frank, Joe Henderson,Ron Carter, Mulgrew Miller, Al Foster

We were inclined to accept a little erratic behavior, given his status. When he played the horn, you forgot about those things.

bassist Ron Carter on Frank Morgan

***Major Changes*** (1987) signed by Frank, McCoy Tyner, Avery Sharpe, Louis Hayes

Born in Minneapolis, Frank Morgan moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to live with his dad, Stanley Morgan, a guitarist with The Ink Spots, a popular band in the 1940s and 1950s. Frank was an exceptionally gifted saxophonist and his idol was Charlie Parker. They met when Frank was only seven years old and Charlie remained a big influence in Frank's life, both good and bad. While living in Los Angeles, Frank was exposed to other important jazz players like Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray and Charles Mingus. When he was only fifteen, Frank was asked to replace the great Johnny Hodges in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. His father deemed him too young to be on the road, so Frank joined the house band at the fabled Club Alabam on Central Avenue in Los Angeles, where he backed Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker, and many others.

Frank started his recording career in 1953, but soon was arrested for drugs. So began a lifetime of addiction and incarceration, and Frank was in and out of prison for the next thirty years. When Frank finally emerged from his last prison stint in 1985, he was fifty-three years old. Broke but not broken, he began to record and tour prolifically to make up for the thirty year gap between the release of his first and second records. I saw him several times, and he had such a beautiful tone and was lightning fast in the hard bop tradition.

***Double Image*** (1986) signed by Frank, George Cables “Duet To it!”

One night while he was signing some records we talked about his career. I asked Frank, what's the best band you ever played with? "That's easy, San Quentin. We had Art Pepper (on alto), Hampton Hawes (on piano), Leroy Vinnegar (on bass) and Frank Butler on drums. We used to play every Friday night (for fellow inmates). We would color our white stripes with charcoal to make them look like tuxedos. There's a film of us somewhere in the National Archives." Who were some of the other great players you played with? " Bunch of guys in San Quentin. You wouldn't know their names, no one's ever heard of them. They did some bad things and they're never getting out, but they practice and play ten to twelve hours a day and they are incredible."

Frank's eyes were cloudy and worn, from the road and prison life. I asked him how long he'd been clean and sober, as I told him that I had had some troubles. Frank said he was on methadone since getting out of prison. "It's harder to kick than heroin" he said with resignation, but he was happy to be playing and recording. And free.

Frank Morgan was as kind and generous as a man could be, and prodigiously talented in spite of his demons.