Still celebrating Black History month on the blog and here is a record from one of the greatest jazz guitarists ever. I can not remember if i got a 20% discount on this or not. That point is irrelevant as I would have paid the full $8 for this no problem. I took a week off from writing the blog and I trying to catch up (despite being still being a good two and a half months ahead). I think the idea is that the sooner I write this month’s posts, the sooner I can listen to next months records, and so on. Furthermore, the more records I can clear, the sooner I can buy more records (note: although purchasing has slowed down, I am still buying records).
So here we are with one of the missing links of guitar, the man whose technique influenced the guitarists you love today (or at least 20 years ago): Wes Montgomery. Along with Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt, Montgomery is a seminal figure. His early work with his two brothers, Buddy and Monk, leaned towards hard bop. In his later career, he moved more into pop work which led to a larger audience. His premature death from a heart attack shocked the music world. I have had his records on this blog before so I am basically leaving this at that. I probably did mention this lat post, (which you can link here) but I will repeat it. Montgomery’s trademark sound came from using his thumb as a pick, a technique he developed early on to quiet his guitar from disturbing his neighbors.
This record, released on Verve in 1966, was from that pop oriented period, which led to mixed reviews from some purists. It was however, a commercial success, reaching # 1 on the Jazz charts as well as #4 on the R&B. With arrangements by Don Sebesky as well as Herbie Hancock on piano, I felt that this was a pretty good little record, complete with jazz infused pop standards as well as one of Montgomery’s better tunes (re-worked from his first album)”Mr Walker”. Also appearing on the record, is “Sunny”, “More,More, Amor”, “Green Peppers”, and “Without You”.
However, I bought this for the title track so here we are with this, the Mamas and Pappa’s hit, as our sample.
Great little record. Satisfactory.