Wes Montgomery S/D

> Would love to see video of his hands just to see what the hell he is doing.

Ever heard of youtube?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pAtNJdnaEGY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CQRc959Sx1E

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_nyIdbMRMPw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YrY8pr2ub0Y

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QCUE6AWfOPs

wes is the coolest

I love the Verve stuff. Don't believe for a minute that he was any less of a player after he left Riverside. Sure, some of the arrangements veer towards easy listening and some are silly, but there are some hard-charging tracks on these LPs! I seriously think that Wes's solo on "What the World Needs Now", off Tequila, is his BEST SOLO EVER. I've listened to it hundreds of times and it still kills me. Usually on the Verve LPs there will be a couple of tracks to show off the arrangements (throw Oliver Nelson a bone or whoever else was doing the record), then there will be a couple of smaller group numbers (which will get down and dirty a bit) and then usually one or two just beautiful chord-melody ballads that might have a bit of the big-band/orchestra but is mainly about Wes. If you can get past the 60's "bachelor pad"/lounge vibe some of the tunes have, there are some great, great moments on all the Verve LPs (I have them all except for California Dreamin'). The ones with Jimmy Smith are awesome too.

Also absolutely search the live stuff from the one Europe tour that was recorded I think in '65. The tracks have been re-issued countless times under a bazillion different names but they are pretty easy to spot. I think this stuff is even more burnin' than Full House (which is also fantastic), Wes plays like a man possessed on the fast tracks here and tears up the place.

Not much to destroy but I never got into Bags Meets Wes although its reputation is pretty high. He plays with a different tone on that one and it always kind of bothered me.

Man, I forgot how great his chord solos were.

Love this guy.

(particularly in re West Coast Blues)

i love any of his records with mel rhyne (and mel rhyne's more recent trio stuff w/peter bernstein and kenny washington)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B006O2BTAI/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=5174&s=music
anyone heard this yet? The first full album of previously unheard Wes Montgomery music in over 25 years contains studio & live performances recorded in Indianapolis 1957 1958! Includes four tracks recorded at Indianapolis s famed club, The Hub Bub. 24-page booklet with family photographs provided by the Montgomery family. Liner notes by some of music s most respected writers including Dan Morgenstern, David N. Baker, Bill
Milkowski, Michael Cuscuna, and others.

durr
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BOBq7PtyL._SS400_.jpg

want

review on amazon sez:
Recorded in 3 sessions just before his breakout years with the Pacific Jazz and Riverside record companies, Wes is in incredible form, on the level of his legendary Smokin' At The Half Note performances. Unbelievably, the tapes were originally offered on eBay and eventually found their way to the renowned jazz producer Michael Cuscuna and associates who digitally restored the tapes with impressive overall sound.

Another totally great Wes Montgomery live album is the one he did with The Wynton Kelly Trio, Full House. It smokes just as much as Smokin...

I have been listening to a lot of Wes recently, I am actually starting to like a lot of his stuff with string arrangements which I thought was shit a few years ago.

Wes was always in form, it´s just that he got to play with better people after his record deal and learned to take the lead.

Joe Pass once said that, “there have been only three real innovators on the (jazz) guitar- Wes, Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt."

He reminds me of Reinhardt, absolutely no hype in saying he was a true torch bearer of musical greatness.

those recent Wes releases on Resonance are recommended -- in the beginning and one night in indy.

just been reading about them, sounds brilliant and thanks

some of em come from amateur recordings but they sound astonishingly good all things considered...

Full House is ridic, that was my first Wes LP. found a copy for maybe $4 at some store in Chicago 15 yrs ago.

First jazz guitarist I liked and spoiled me for almost everyone else. Incredible Jazz Guitar was one of my first jazz CDs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtvilT2LZXc
I still love this

This book discusses the techniques he applied in his playing (solos and comping) - quite advanced stuff. Apparently he was very much inspired by the ideas of Charlie Parker. Wes got hired by Lionel Hampton "because he could play the solos of Charlie Christian note for note".

https://ec-assets.sheetmusicplus.com/items/4064248/cover_images/cover-large_file.jpg

My late teacher knew Wes and used a similar thumb style. It has its technical limits but produces so much of a richer tone than most picking. Picked jazz guitar is really not that pleasant a sound in the hands of all but a few.

I saw James blood ulmer in power trio format around 1986 or 1987 and from where I was sitting it looked like he played exclusively with his thumb, it was insane

picked up a vinyl copy of willow weep for me in kansas city last week - his take on Coltrane's "Impressions" is just incredible

he is the only jazz guitarist who you can say was easily as talented as Reinhardt without any challopry. Love the guy.

http://www.resonancerecords.org/_img/covers/HCD-2029-l.jpg

This new one from Resonance records is really nice, it isn't as essential a Wes live album as Full House or Smokin' At The Half Note, but not many are tbf.

This is a great line-up so a very much appreciated release. Samples on iTunes sound great.

Yeah it is a pretty sick band, even the trio tracks without Wes are rather excellent because Wynton Kelly is so fucking great.

Yeah gotta get this.

i recently was gifted Down Here On the Ground and A Day In the Life by my father-in-law. i know those two are considered by some to be an example of Wes aiming for the lowest common denominator/fairweather jazz fan audience, but the playing is so good on both that I can't agree with that.

obv gotta pick up this Seattle sesh, if possible.

another absolutely smokin' double live set from Resonance: In Paris: The Definitive ORTF Recording. Top band with Mabern on piano and Johnny Griffin on tenor, love it so far.

Yeah, that set is fantastic.

I love everything about The Wes Montgomery Trio album, especially the '60s-licious watercolour cover.

And this live set with pickup musicians — a few minutes here and there teaching them the tunes and boom, they're locked in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmUUi6wGwRA

Dude was born on 10th and Pershing in Indy in 1923 and I bet it was just as tough a neighborhood then as it is now.

You see clips of him playing and I just don't see how he can play all that with his thumb. Truly a unique guitarist.