Wes Montgomery - Four Classic Albums (The Montgomery Brothers in Canada / So Much Guitar! / Bags Meets Wes! / Full House) (2024 Digitally Remastered) (2024)

AVID are pleased to present a long overdue second release from legendary jazz guitar great Mr. Wes Montgomery. On this set you will find Wes in the company of his brothers Buddy and Monk for the hard to find “live” classic “The Montgomery Brothers In Canada” plus a wonderful pairing of Wes with Milt Jackson for “Bags Meets Wes!” and then we feature a couple of albums recorded under his own name, the brilliant “So Much Guitar!” and the equally brilliant live set “Full House”. The original sales notes for our first Montgomery set (AMSC1027) describe how label owner Orrin Keepnews was urged by Cannonball Adderley and a review by composer, musician and critic Gunther Schuller to check out an “extraordinarily spectacular... unbearably exciting” young guitarist by the name of Wes Montgomery. Listen for yourself and you will discover that their enthusiasm was well founded! We also discovered that Wes’s self-taught style had much in common with that of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins in that instead of the flowing style of a Charlie Christian his was of a more jabbing, fierce intensity, attacking the instrument in the same way the two saxophonists attacked their horns. On our four selections Wes is in great company, aside from his two brothers on the “Canada” set, the great pianist Hank Jones appears on “So Much Guitar” alongside bassist Ron Carter with Lex Humphries on drums and Ray Barretto for an extra percussive punch! There’s Milt Jackson, of course on “Bags Meets Wes” with Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones on bass and the great “Philly” Joe Jones behind the skins. Finally, for the live Full House set, we have the driving tenor sax of Johnny Griffin ably supported by three guys from Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue line up, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Under pressure for not being John Coltrane, Griffin does a fine job of driving the music forward!! Employing a quote from respected music journalist Ralph J Gleason... “Make no mistake, Wes Montgomery is the best thing to happen to the guitar since Charlie Christian”, from a “phenomenal and drastically original guitarist” who was almost dragged out of domestic bliss (and rearing six children!) by Cannonball Adderley who was passing through his home town of Indianapolis. By the end of 1960 Wes Montgomery had (seemingly albeit reluctantly) firmly established himself on the jazz scene and was now quite literally moving along. As with all AVID releases, we hope you enjoy this classic set and check out our extensive catalogue for more great music across jazz, blues, country and many other musical genres.