Wes Montgomery - The Classic Recordings: 1958-1960 (2017)

American jazz guitarist John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery, born March 6, 1923, is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian. Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana to a musical family; his brothers, Monk (double bass and electric bass) and Buddy (vibraphone and piano), were jazz performers too. In his early career, to support his family of eight, Montgomery worked in a factory from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, then performed in local clubs from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am. Cannonball Adderley heard Montgomery in a local club and was floored. The next morning he called record producer Orrin Keepnews, who signed Montgomery to a recording contract with Riverside Records. Adderley later recorded with Montgomery on his 'Pollwinners' album. He also made contributions to recordings by Jimmy Smith. Montgomery toured with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton's orchestra from July 1948 to January 1950, and can be heard on recordings from this period. Most of the recordings released by Montgomery and his brothers from 1958-1959 were released on the Pacific Jazz label. This four CD collection features Wes Montgomery's complete recorded output from 1958 - 1962 and includes three classic albums with Wes as leader, a further four with his brothers, released as The Montgomery Brothers, and the classic collaboration Wes (along with Cannonball Adderley) made with jazz vocalist and lyricist Jon Hendricks on the album, 'A Good Git Together'. This compilation contains possibly the finest music Wes Montgomery was ever to make during his short life - he died in 1968 of a heart attack at the age of 45 - and certainly remains a classic collection of some of the best jazz music ever recorded.