Wes Montgomery with John Coltrane

[Epistrophy]

Hello,

Just curious to hear if you know anything about the performance Wes did with Trane somewhere back in 1961, in Newport Jazz Festival? I am also interested if Wes actually played with McCoy Tyner.

Let me know!

Epistrophy

[Doug B]

Hello,

Just curious to hear if you know anything about the performance Wes did with Trane somewhere back in 1961, in Newport Jazz Festival? I am also interested if Wes actually played with McCoy Tyner.

Let me know!

Epistrophy

I know Kenny Burrell did an album with Trane, but I never heard of a release with Wes and Trane.

Please let us know if you find one.

Doug

[jorgemg1984]

It's confusing because apparently there were April Fool's rumours around this story but it seems that it's true

John Coltrane Discography

John Coltrane Sextet

John Coltrane, soprano, tenor sax; Eric Dolphy, alto sax, bass clarinet; McCoy Tyner, piano; Wes Montgomery, guitar; Reggie Workman, bass; Elvin Jones, drums.

"Monterey Jazz Festival", Monterey, CA, September 22, 1961

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There's probably a tape somewhere, but no one has put it online AFAIK. Would love to hear it.

[ragman1]

There are a bundle of reports that Wes and Dolphy joined Coltrane in '61 but no recordings as far as most people can tell. Or it may be that they do exist but the quality's not good enough for an album.

I'm sure if they were out there we'd all know about it.

[James W]

Apparently (off the top of my head) Wes left because he didn't like playing such long numbers.

[Cunamara]

Some stories and rumors, few facts. The things I have run across about it are that it was "legendary" but nobody seems to have recorded it. Wes apparently had no trouble hanging with the band musically. Trane reportedly tried to talk Wes into joining his band, but Wes was on his own thing at that point and declined.

Like I suspect most everyone here, I would certainly love to hear any recording that was made of that. Even a terrible quality recording would probably have been released just because of what it was.

[grahambop]

Found this reference to the event in google books:

[John A.]

There have been rumors of a recording going back decades, but none has ever surfaced. A few candidates have circulated, but they’ve always turned out to be something else. I remember hearing a cassette that was being passed around ca. ‘83-84.

[grahambop]

I also found this in the book on Wes by Adrian Ingram. (The review quoted was from Downbeat.)

[James W]

For what it's worth, this is from Lewis Porter's book on Coltrane:

[AllanAllen]

I agree with Zan Stewart from the Jazz Report.

coltrane's style does not wear well with long choruses

[ragman1]

But no recordings then, so that's that. I'm surprised actually, given it was a public festival.

[Cunamara]

Something to regret, especially for us guitarists.

[John A.]

But no recordings then, so that's that. I'm surprised actually, given it was a public festival.

In 1961 portable tape recorders were not exactly commonplace. The cassette hadn’t even been introduced yet.

[ragman1]

In 1961 portable tape recorders were not exactly commonplace. The cassette hadn’t even been introduced yet.

I don't know what you mean. I'm talking about professional recordings. There are albums of the Monterey Jazz Festival going back to at least 1958.

Monterey Jazz Festival Records Label | Releases | Discogs

[Epistrophy]

I think Wes would have been a great fit to Coltrane’s group but I still think that he was more into playing hardbop than free jazz influenced music that Trane did, so I kind of understand that Wes wanted to play with his own group. Anyway, the articles were interesting to read about. Thanks for the replies.