WES MONTGOMERY Vinilo y CD

Review: Resonance Records expands its Takao Fujioka Collection this June with two new anthologies spotlighting previously unreleased performances by pianist Bill Evans and guitarist Wes Montgomery. Wes's Best: The Best of Wes Montgomery compiles the best five of the label's celebrated archival issues of Wes' work, including Echoes of Indiana Avenue, In the Beginning, and Smokin' in Seattle, the latter drawn from 1966 radio sessions with Wynton Kelly's trio, recorded shortly after Smokin' at the Half Note. Three tracks also appear from Back on Indiana Avenue, which debuted as a double vinyl set for RSD 2019. Overseen by producer Zev Feldman with the support of the Evans and Montgomery estates, the release offers rare insight into Montgomery's artistic evolution over time, and as with earlier entries in the series, cover artwork comes from Way Out West editor Takao Fujioka.

Review: Released in 1960 on Riverside, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery was recorded in just two days at Reeves Sound Studios in New York City. With a small group featuring Tommy Flanagan on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Albert Heath on drums, this album showcases Montgomery's groundbreaking thumb-picking technique and use of octaves. Praised as the pinnacle of his studio work, the album was a game-changer on the US jazz scene and cemented Wes Montgomery as one of the era's most influential guitarists.

Review: This reissue contains the complete classic album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, featuring the guitarist in a quartet form with the wonderful rhythm section of Tommy Flanagan, Percy Heath and Albert "Tootie" Heath. Two of the album's tunes have been reprised and added as bonus tracks: 'D-Natural Blues' and 'West Coast Blues'. Montgomery was one of the most revered guitarists in jazz history, and The Incredible Jazz Guitar... was his third album as a bandleader, leading to high praise on release and receiving a five-star rating in Chicago music press fixture, DownBeat Magazine. To quote its original five-star review by Ira Giller: "If anyone took time to examine the ballots of the 1960 critics' poll closely, they would have seen that I was one of two who voted for Wes Montgomery as number one on the guitar in the established category."

Review: Revered jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery originally released Full House in 1962, and it became one of his most popular albums. Recorded live at Tsubo coffee house in Berkeley, California, the classic LP showcased particular selections from his performance which became hugely influential thanks to Montgomery's distinctive, expressive tone. Now Craft have gathered together all the original analogue tapes to present a definitive edition of the album spread across three discs, including some alternate takes recorded during the hybrid recording session and concert. After his untimely passing in 1968, Montgomery's playing became a source of fascination for successive generations of jazz guitarists, and here, laid out in comprehensive fashion, is the reason why.

Review: Wes Montgomery is a jazz giant and one of the scene's finest guitarists. He worked with the Wynton Kelly Trio back in the mid-sixties and that is when he played a set at the famed Half Note jazz club in New York City with drummer Jimmy Cobb and bassists Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Herman Wright and Larry Ridley. The show was more than two horns long and was for radio broadcast and now it has been remastered for this triple album Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings. A booklet with new essays and interviews adds extra context to a classic album.