He wrote his biggest hit on a piece of toilet paper: In 1964, "The Sidewinder" catapulted trumpeter Lee Morgan, age 25, into the company of Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, and Ahmad Jamal—other jazz musicians who'd garnered unlikely hit singles. At 33, Morgan had recorded over two-dozen albums and survived several heroin-related mishaps—including passing out against a hot radiator—only to be shot dead at a gig by his common-law wife.
Author Jeffery S. McMillan's DelightfuLee (University of Michigan Press) vividly tells the story of the famed Blue Note Records star. Citing "half-valve effects, grace notes, triplet figures, smeared notes, false fingering oscillations, and displaced rhythmic accents," McMillan not only scouts the technical details that marked Morgan as a prodigy but captures the ease, daredevil swagger, and "bursting, splatty attack" that made the trumpeter great.
Along with acute observations about Morgan's classic LPs, including The Cooker and Candy, McMillan unearths little tidbits, too. Through his friendship with Jimmy Morgan, the trumpeter's protective brother, McMillan discovered the tale behind "The Midget," a tune whose title came from Miles Davis. Davis mocked Morgan's sports coupe: "Why don't you get rid of that midget and get a real car!"
Another new book, the third edition of Electronic and Experimental Music (Routledge) by Thom Holmes, reminds me why so few write books on experimental electronic music: There's just too much to cover.
Holmes surveys crucial innovators (Varèse, Stockhausen, Xenakis, et al.) and presents every major concept from the pliable nature of recorded sound to voltage-controlled synthesizers, granular synthesis, and sampling. Despite a few typos (Holmes misdates Xenakis's Metastasis by a decade) and sporadic goofs (MetaSynth is sound software, not a programming language), the book is a superlative intersection of history and practice. With its charts, pictures, historical antecedents, and well-explained concepts, Electronic and Experimental Music is an essential resource for anyone interested in extraordinary sound.
Alas, turntablism, rock, and "space-age pop music" consume too much space and the major movements of the last 20 years that upended the nature of music and musical performance—noise, lowercase sound, phonography, and plunderphonics—are missing, but maybe that's another book altogether. How many other books can boast a diagram of the Hammond Novachord, a photo of Takehisa Kosugi, and a concise description of Brian Eno's Discreet Music within just a couple of chapters? 
Thurs 8/7
JAZZ UNDER THE STARS
Singer Gail Pettis graces this series of summertime jazz concerts. Weather permitting, you can peer into the telescope of PLU's Keck Observatory and survey th pe night sky after the gig. Outdoor Amphitheater, PLU Campus, near Eighth Ave S and Wheeler St, Tacoma, 253-535-7602, 7 pm, free.
AHMAD JAMAL
Nearing 80, Jamal retains his unique dynamism and power: fierce keyboard runs that startlingly freeze in midphrase, placid interludes, and cadenzas stuffed with orchestra-sized chords comparable to Errol Garner, though with less humor and more bite. With longtime bassist James Cammack as well as James Johnson III on drums and the ex–Weather Report percussion master Manolo Badrena. Not to be missed. Through Sun Aug 10 at 7:30 pm. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, 441-9729, sets at 7:30 and 9:30 pm, $30.50.
Fri 8/8
SCMS SUMMER FESTIVAL
The Redmond arm of the Seattle Chamber Music Society's annual festival continues. For the free 7 pm recital, Ida Levin and Anton Nel play Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major, op. 96. The main concert offers a quintet for strings by Schubert, the obligatory Shostakovich (the Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in C minor, op. 8), and another sonata for piano and violin, one by Leoš Janáek. Overlake School, 20301 NE 108th St, Redmond, 283-8808, 8 pm, $16–$42.
DENNIS REA
The composer-guitarist-writer serves up a triple bill of his own projects: the dubbed-out thumb pianos of Tempered Steel, a trio with Tom Baker and Brian Heaney, and the Tanabata Ensemble. Named for the sequential date, 08-08-08, Tanabata performs Rea's lovely Eight Trigrams, an arrangement of an ancient Naxi song. When I heard it at a Composer Spotlight several months ago, it reminded me of a mellow Sun Ra ballad crossed with gamelan music. Fourth floor Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 789-1939, 8 pm, $5–$15 sliding scale donation.
BOB MARSH
During a multiday Seattle residency, this Bay Area–based vocalist, cellist, and electronics whiz leads two large ensembles, one for strings, the other for electronics. With an abiding interest in microtones and unusual instruments—the Saturday show includes tap dancing—Marsh has also mastered perhaps the most difficult element of freely improvised music: wry humor. A free, open rehearsal starts at 3 pm. Marsh also leads daytime workshops and evening performances Sat Aug 9 at Good Shepherd Center and Sun Aug 10 at Gallery 1412. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave, 322-1533, 8 pm, free, but donations accepted.
Mon 8/11
WASHINGTON COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
An echo of the late-'80s New York Composers Orchestra, which championed Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb, WACO premieres a new big-band composition by French hornist Tom Varner. Seattle Drum School, 12510 15th Ave NE, 364-8815, 8 pm, $5/$10.
Tues 8/12
ANDY BEY
Bey's lustrous baritone conjures easy and superficial comparisons to the late great "Mr. B.," Billy Eckstine. While Bey shares Mr. B's mastery of Ellington songs—both have recorded classic renditions of "Caravan"—Bey's languid yet controlled vibrato never veers into the jarring operatic tremolo that occasionally marred Eckstine's later recordings. A fine pianist, Bey also has an enviably subterranean growl and cooing falsetto that gives chills. Don't miss him. Also Wed Aug 13. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, 441-9729, 7:30 pm, $24.50.
Wed 8/13
COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT
Composer Bruce Hamilton, director of Western Washington University's electronic music studio, discusses his work. Hamilton's electroacoustic music tempers classic, big-boned textures reminiscent of the GRM and Francis Dhomont with animated rhythms derived from granular synthesis. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919, 7:30 pm, free.
