Your Favorite Wes Montgomery Album

**princeplanet** · 01-13-2017, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by Groyniad

my favorite jazz story - i'm curious if anyone else has heard it

ray brown is pressed by someone at sometime to say who he enjoyed playing with most

(this bit sounds plausible to me - i can imagine someone wanting to ask a man (the man?) who has played with everyone, who he enjoyed playing with most)

he dismissed the question (of course)

it was pressed

he dismissed it again (sure)

pressed politely again (i can imagine really wanting to hear him say something on this topic)

he says:

the two most musical people he's played with (nice way to put it) are bird and wes.

i really like that story

if you love bird as much as we all do, its a good way of saying how amazing wes really is.

This is why I've always said that despite the accolades, Wes is still underrated! Sure, we know that Cannonball Adderley "discovered" him, and that Coltrane wanted him in his band, but compared to the adulation that many Jazz greats seem to receive (posthumously or not), not enough Jazz people would put Wes in the same building as Bird. let alone on the same mantle. (While we're at it, maybe make a little room for Rollins up there as well....

).

**2bornot2bop** · 01-30-2017, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by Danny W.

For me it's "Bags Meet Wes." I've listened to "Delilah" at least once a week since the day the record was released fifty-two years ago. I love the sound of vibes and guitar, and my first jazz group came about partially because of this album (photo from 1967).

My closest runner-up is "Full House," although I think "The Boxed Set" is a good answer too.

Danny W.

This is a photo of your "first jazz group?" That's so kewl! What year, what city?

**WayOffBroadway** · 02-01-2017, 09:58 PM

Dynamic New Sound from '59. Incredible Jazz Guitar a close second.

**maxsmith** · 02-09-2017, 02:57 PM

"Full House".

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**jaco** · 03-31-2017, 02:01 PM

"Willow Weep for Me" was an album I grew up with as a kid (15 and on...) there's probably "better" Wes albums but this one remains a sentimental favorite...I still have the original LP...it sounds as fresh today as it did back then...plus Wes live was something else.

**Toddep** · 04-02-2017, 12:40 AM

"So Much Guitar" was the first Wes I heard and changed my life...

The last song on the record, "One for my Baby" is unique, in that on a stereo version, Wes's guitar is on one side and the rest of the band is on the other. I would just turn down one channel and hear Wes by himself. Later on, I transcribed his solo and would play it over the other channel.

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**lawson-stone** · 04-03-2017, 09:44 AM

I so wanted to come up with some obscure Wes album nobody knew about. I've listened to every Wes CD out there (that I know of).

But... Smokin' at the Half Note just changes my life every time I listen to it.

**mooncef** · 04-08-2017, 09:12 AM

I don't know what's up with me but the "smoking at a half note " didn't click with me realy ! anybody can explain why is it so praised to be wes best album ?

**grahambop** · 04-08-2017, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by mooncef

I don't know what's up with me but the "smoking at a half note " didn't click with me realy ! anybody can explain why is it so praised to be wes best album ?

Try the two studio tracks that were added on some versions of this record (i.e. Four on Six, and Unit 7). Those 2 tracks are Wes at his best, and his sound is well recorded.

**mr. beaumont** · 04-08-2017, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by mooncef

I don't know what's up with me but the "smoking at a half note " didn't click with me realy ! anybody can explain why is it so praised to be wes best album ?

If for Unit 7 alone...

But we all know Full House is actually Wes' best.

**matt.guitarteacher** · 04-08-2017, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by mooncef

I don't know what's up with me but the "smoking at a half note " didn't click with me realy ! anybody can explain why is it so praised to be wes best album ?

I didn't care for it early on , mostly I think, due to my unfamiliarity with the tunes and particularly Wes' feel on many of them. I was more standards focused and especially ballads, and Wes plays a lot of kind of different tunes.

The ballads on this are super slow as well, and were difficult for me to listen to. Is misty on this one? Hated that tune that way several years ago. Really wanted to hear a filled out chord melody or pretty eighth note runs etc. etc. It's a more sophisticated doubletime feel which may be best appreciated later.

His version of misty is now one of my favorite tracks of his. The berry aspects that made it DIFFICULT to listen to - before I had more of an ear for that kind of doubletime feel - are actually my FAVORITE parts now. It's where the good stuff is.

Honestly, you have to be somewhat down with that doubletime feel to really appreciate what Wes fortress on these bluesier tunes as well. So, that's most of the album there.

I found that with most difficult (at the time) albums that I end up REALLY liking later, there's kind of a entry-point tune - kind of a gateway drug to getting into the album. Keith Jarrett trio was really hard to listen to 20 years or so ago , but one of the ballads - "Little girl blue" or "old folks" - was kind of the entry point. With Ella , it was Mr. Paganini. Suddenly had more of a curiosity about all the other tracks which were tougher at first...

Unit 7 is a good recommendation for smokin'. I think it's the most accessible. It's the gateway drug.

**Alter** · 04-10-2017, 11:17 AM

I can never decide on which one of his albums is my favorite. Everything that is recorded in a live setting is so hip, the way he plays, so i think it would be most of his live albums.

**Robertkoa** · 05-16-2017, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by ronjazz

Wes was like almost every great jazz guitarist I've met, and that means most of them: generous, warm, friendly, open, funny; just like his playing. I was in a very fortunate position in my career, since I produced events and clubs as well as played, so I met and worked with Kessel, Ellis, Farlow, Hall, Benson, Martino, Metheny, Frisell, Stern, Scofield, Puma, Remler, Coryell, Mottola, Tropea, Bertoncini, Pizzarelli, Barnes, Burrell, both Raneys, Goodrick, Abercrombie, Malone, Juris, Szabo and so on. They were all wonderful people, generous with their wisdom, and easy to be with.

Wow...
Was Wes a mind blower when People first heard him due to his Fluency with Octaves ......... like Hendrix was for Rock - or was there so much Talent around already that he was considered Great but not a mind bender ?

I assume Art Tatum must have been one ....

John Tropea did a really cool R&B Album with some Jazz and Rock long ago ...which I can't remember the Music but I had the cassette - I hope to take that much further...but he was ahead of his Time...very underrated for how cool he Played.

**jazzjames** · 05-17-2017, 01:49 AM

Boss Guitar. Great performances and Wes's best recorded tone in my opinion.

**pcsanwald** · 05-17-2017, 02:09 PM

If I had to pick one, Full House all the way. But, my sentimental favorite is "A Day In The Life" because it was my first jazz guitar record, and "Windy" is one of the first melodies I learned by ear off a record.

**sgcim** · 05-17-2017, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by mooncef

I don't know what's up with me but the "smoking at a half note " didn't click with me realy ! anybody can explain why is it so praised to be wes best album ?

Because Pat Metheny said so...

**pubylakeg** · 05-17-2017, 05:26 PM

Very cool to see this thread still get postings.

And remember guys, only 2 days to go...
Wes Montgomery/Wynton Kelly Trio - Smokin' In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse (1966) [Deluxe Edition] - Amazon.com Music

**Ol' Fret** · 05-17-2017, 06:50 PM

"Full House" has it all - at least, what can be captured on a 'live' record. And most jazz folks would agree that Wes really came to life outside the studio atmosphere.

On "Full House", Wes's playing, especially his melodic and coherent soli, were additionally fueled by the 'Little Giant' Griff and by Wynton Kelly, and probably the best rhythm group with whom Wes ever played: Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb.

**nevershouldhavesoldit** · 05-26-2022, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by pubylakeg

Very cool to see this thread still get postings.

And remember guys, only 2 days to go...
Wes Montgomery/Wynton Kelly Trio - Smokin' In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse (1966) [Deluxe Edition] - Amazon.com Music

It said “only 1 left”, so I bought it. Arrives tomorrow- will report.

**Stringswinger** · 05-26-2022, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit

It said “only 1 left”, so I bought it. Arrives tomorrow- will report.

It is great. Just great. Like everything Wes did. Listening to Wes changed my life.

**mr. beaumont** · 05-26-2022, 03:49 PM

I just drew a black line that went down through every box. Then I remembered it was on my computer screen.

**Marinero** · 05-26-2022, 05:57 PM

"Down Here on the Ground" was the first "guitar jazz" album I first listened to in 1968. As a saxophonist/flutist/R@B/Soul guitarist, it changed my thinking about the nature of the guitar. Wes was an original and his voice is as valid today as it was during his lifetime. An American original.
Marinero

**kris** · 05-27-2022, 05:46 AM

I'd have to listen to all of his records first, and I only have 12 Wes's records.
All are good.

**nevershouldhavesoldit** · 05-27-2022, 06:04 PM

[Forgive me if I missed a reference to this one. I just ran a search on "Seattle" and this was not among the results.]

I just got a copy of Smokin' in Seattle. If I understand it correctly, this was recorded at a Seattle club for broadcast on a local radio station and the tapes were allegedly forgotten until a few years ago. I think Wes is only on 4 of the 10 tracks, and I don't know why. But Wynton Kelly's trio is the band, so it's a fine album all the way around. They do a nice version of Jingles that's chorded a bit differently from the others I have (e.g. The WM Trio). It's far from his greatest albums, but I think it's worth having for anyone who loves Wes's playing.