Alun Morgan
Jazz writer who educated and informed generations of fans
ALUN MORGAN, who has died aged 90, was a writer on jazz whose articles and sleeve notes served as an indispensable companion to several generations of British jazz lovers. Their friendly tone and lucid prose imparted more basic information and critical good sense than the efforts of his more florid contemporaries.
Morgan was born at Pontypridd, South Wales, on February 24 1928, the son of the cashier at Brown Lenox chain works, and educated at the local grammar school. Aged 16 he gained a place at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff, his studies there being interrupted by service in the RAF as an airframe mechanic. In later life he was apt to discuss the intricacy of a Charlie Parker solo and the inner workings of the Avro-lancaster bomber with equal enthusiasm.
Keen on jazz since his student days, Morgan began writing contributions to the jazz pages of Melody Maker in 1952. Jazz had captured the interest of a young and growing audience and Morgan’s articles on Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz and other stars of modern jazz laid the groundwork for countless lifetime enthusiasms.
The early 1950s also saw the advent of long-playing records, whose back covers offered the perfect place for informative essays on their musical contents. As LP releases proliferated, the sleeve-note grew into a minor art form on its own account, with sub-branches ranging from pure advertising puffs to interviews, thumbnail biographies, personal reminiscence and learned exposition. Few could match Morgan’s quiet commentary, which might take in all of these (except the puffs) and leave the reader better informed.
He was particularly good at picking things to listen out for and suggesting connections with the jazz tradition. This is him on the Norwegian saxophonist Totti Bergh: “Totti is laid back, in the very best jazz sense, almost leaning on the beat and producing notes which have a very subtle relationship to the bar lines, the kind of magical, floating quality normally associated with Lester Young.” He explains the musical effect in both technical and layman’s terms, and finally ties it to the influence of a late jazz master – all this in one easy-to-read sentence.
Morgan did, indeed, possess a very accurate musical ear, which he attributed partly to a training in tonic sol-fa at junior school, but mainly to the influence of his father, who “taught me to listen past the melody of a song and discover what was going on beneath it”.
In addition to his work on sleeve notes (he produced an estimated total of between 2,500 and 3,000) and occasional articles and discographies for jazz magazines, Morgan was for many years a regular reviewer for Gramophone and a frequent guest on BBC radio jazz programmes.
In 1956, along with record producer Raymond Horricks, Morgan published Modern Jazz: A Survey of Developments since 1939, the first serious study of the subject, tracing the various stylistic influences behind contemporary jazz. He was also one of several contributors to Jazz On Record – A Critical Guide, which appeared in numerous editions, beginning in 1968.
He managed to keep this up for decades while pursuing the profession of architect, commuting into London from his home in Chatham, Kent. Not surprisingly, there is only one book under Morgan’s name alone, a succinct biography of Count Basie.
In 1991 he retired and emigrated to Australia, closely followed by a shipping container bearing his record collection. From there came a regular flow of correspondence with old friends in Britain, the odd sleeve note and, for some years, a column in Jazz Journal.
Alun Morgan was married twice. He is survived by a son and a daughter of his first marriage.