Charles1dad, the time period you stated is my favorite in regard to Miles. He was to the trumpet as Mingus was to the bass. Their musical contributions overshadowed their instrument. While I wouldn't pick Mingus for the all time best bass player, he was a giant in jazz; and so it was with Miles.
I begin my review with the best jazz LP ever, "Somthin Else" headed by Cannonball Adderly. This LP contains the most beautiful Miles ever. Hank Jones on piano; Sam Jones, bass; and Blakey on drums complete this group. These five musicians are like five fingers in a glove, they function as one hand.
First, is "Autumn Leaves". After the intro, we hear that ever so beautiful trumpet of Miles playing the melody. Next we have "Love For Sale". Again, there's that Miles trumpet capturing the essence of this tune better than a vocal version. This is followed by "Somthin Else". On this one we hear the classic "hard bop" Miles, and he soars (but not as high as Lee Morgan). "One For Daddy-O" is Cannonball's time to fly, and he zooms into the stratosphere with Miles on his tail; can't leave that melodic piano of Hank Jones out on this one, Blakey play's a supporting role throughout.
Now we have "Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, A Night In Tunisia"; Lee Morgan, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; and jymie merritt, bass.
On the first cut, "A Night In Tunisia", Thunder Drums comes ripping out striking lightning and raising thunder from his magical drums. He's sounding like three drummers all beating at the same time. Wayne Shorter comes in, followed by Lee Morgan blowing notes faster than a "tommy gun" can spit out bullets, and not one of them slurred or out of place. (eat your heart out Miles). This is the one thing Miles could never do. We are listening to the personification of "Hard bop in the big city", on this jam.
On to Miles home turf, "beauty". "Since I Fell For You" on "The Best of Lee Morgan" is the tune I've chosen to display Lee's talents in that arena. He gets so much into the essence of this tune that his instrumental version conveys more than the vocal. As beautiful as Lee can blow, I concede this to Miles; however, Lee could be titled "Mr. hard bop", and this is where he soars over Miles.
The trumpet to Lee Morgan was as the scalpel is to a skilled surgeon, he could do more with it than anyone else. All of Blakey's "Jazz Messengers" with Lee Morgan can verify this. Miles once stated that he could never blow as fast as "Diz", and Lee can blow even faster than Diz. But what good is speed if you don't have the ideas with the speed; and Lee had the ideas to match.
I am more convinced now than before, that Lee Morgan's virtuosity on trumpet was unmatched by anyone.