This is from Wes Montgomery's first recording session 12/30/57, a year or two before he moved from Indianapolis. He plucks and strums entirely with his thumb, which gives him a sinuous tone, and fluent octave and chordal melodies. Soon jazz lovers realized he was the best jazz guitarist.
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"Bumpin' on Sunset" is the follow-up work to the previous year's "Bumpin'" with an added menace to the street. The harshness is reflected in blues that is very harsh sounding yet couched in the softness of the night. Claus Ogerman expertly paints the after hours feel with a very lean arrangement, letting Montgomery be the focus of this work. Ron Carter is on bass, Ray Barretto is on congas and ...
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"Goin' Out of My Head" by far represents the song writing talents of the 1960's at their peak. The lyrics are double-edged, so that what can sound like a highly descriptive love song could also be a song about getting dumped very hard. For Wes Montgomery, "Goin' Out of My Head" became his greatest hit recording. With a sensuous rhythmic walking riff, the chart by the great Oliver Nelson turns t...
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When Johnny Mandel was called in to write the score for "The Sandpiper," he turned in an expertly written score that reflected the beauty of the Big Sur country in California with the tensions rising and falling between two oddly paired people. Don Sebesky writes a very hip chart for the accompanying orchestra with little fillers for Margaret Ross' harp. Montgomery plays a complex series of mel...
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When "Bumpin'" was first recorded in May of 1965, the word "bumpin'" meant investigating the night life in all of its bleary-eyed, half awake glory. Guitarist Wes Montgomery (1924 - 1968) certainly knew of this world for many years. He was the most important jazz guitarist since Charlie Christian and had evolved by trial and error his own method of playing his instrument. With his thumb playing...
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"A Day in the Life" was the last track of The Beatles trail blazing album "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" album. It was banned by the BBC for having the line "I'd Love to Turn You On." It's basically a song about the mess the world is going through, sighting the death of tara Browne and the filling of thousands of pot holes in Blackburn. It's generally considered a masterpiece by m...
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Montgomery, Davis sidemen cookin on a summer night in Berkeley.Reissue are a funny lot. One one hand, useless but to true fans and obsessive audiophiles, on the other, careful high quality reconstructions of an artists labor. Either way, they're not for everyone. While many people see them as a way for the record companies to bilk every last penny out of an artists catalog, there are some tru...
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Wes Montgomery is our star tomorrow and as a prelude to what you can expect, here is Wes Montgomery with the ABC orchestra on "The Hollywood Palace" show telecast of December 12, 1967.
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Wes Montogomery, y'all.
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Critics tend to dismiss this recording because it was recorded with popular appeal in mind. The string arrangements and melodic statements made it ideal for AM radio at the time it was released. But you should download the song "Chim Chim Cherree" to hear a masterful Wes solo. While he blows the band is basically a quartet, and Wes sounds like an entire big band, something no other guitarist...
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