The title track The Sidewinder created a new style of jazz by incorporating R&B and Latino influences into the music. It is also danceable and was therefore released as a single. This in turn climbed the pop charts and brought the entire album into the charts as well. This is how it found buyers who otherwise would not have been enthusiastic about jazz at all.
Lee Morgan was self-confident enough to claim when he recorded this album at the age of 25 that he had to give the young talents a helping hand – Joe Henderson, who was one year older than him, was meant. You can hear Lee Morgan on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Barry Harris on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The combo was audibly fun in Rudy van Gelder’s studio. Musical recommendation for people for whom jazz is actually too boring.
