Lee Morgan

Infinity Lee Morgan Japan Import edition

Just two months after recording his extraordinary sextet album “Cornbread”, prolific trumpeter Lee Morgan returned to Rudy Van Gelder's studio in November 1965 with his quintet – a smaller but no less powerful line-up – to record “Infinity”, which for unknown reasons was not released until 1981. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and drummer Billy Higgins, both of whom appeared on the previous album, once again accompany Morgan, along with pianist Larry Willis and double bassist Reggie Workman. The five-track program goes far beyond the tradition of hard bop and points to a future yet to be written. Four captivating original compositions by Morgan and McLean's stirring ballad “Portrait Of Doll” cover a wide range of musical styles, including the haunting title track, the relaxed 6/8 groove of “Miss Nettie B”, the complex, interwoven lines of “Growing Pains,” and the driving closing track “Zip Code.” Scott Yanow's review on AllMusic says: “The music, while rooted in the hard bop tradition, is sophisticated and quite tricky, really inspiring the talented musicians. An underrated gem!”

As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US's analog reissues such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited Japan only UHQCD with OBI stripe. The original recording session for “Infinity” took place on November 16, 1965 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan's first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.