SEARCH FOR THE NEW LAND by LEE MORGAN

A brilliant album that proves that even at the height of his success, Lee Morgan was one of the freest thinkers on Blue Note!The first cut on the album is the title track – "Search For The New Land" – and it's a beautiful 16 minute exploration of modal jazz themes, with an unusual stop/start device as a means of ushering solos by different bandmates, like Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, and Herbie Hancock. All of the rest of the tracks are originals, too, and although they have a bit more of a conventional structure, they're still pretty darn freewheeling, and display Morgan's mid-period writing at its finest. Titles include "The Joker", "Melancholee", and "Mr. Kenyatta".