Lee Morgan – Caramba (LP)

In May 1968 when he entered Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to record his album ¡Caramba!, trumpeter Lee Morgan was still two months shy of his 30th birthday, which makes the fact that this was his 23rd Blue Note recording all the more astounding.
Having cut his first Blue Note date as a precocious 18-year-old hot shot, Morgan was by now a full-fledged master, his technical prowess on his horn matched equally by the expressiveness and emotional depth of his playing. He had also continued to grow as a composer who could conjure myriad different moods and styles with his writing, as this diverse 5-song set of his original compositions attests.