One of Wes Montgomery’s best live recordings is reissued for his centennial. It is swinging hard bop.
Wynton Kelly Trio / Wes Montgomery – Smokin’ at the Half Note (Verve, 2023)
There are different kind of centennials. When Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Charles Mingus was born a 100 years ago it was hard not to notice if you were a jazz fan. There were tributes, reissues, books. The Wes Montgomery centennial this year is a bit more subdued, but here at least is a vinyl reissue of one of his best live recordings.
The harmonic sophistication, swing and melodic improvisations Montgomery became known for, it is all here on this 1965 live recording from New York. He swings hard and fast on his guitar on his own song ”Four on Six” and he shows his tender lyricism on ”What’s New.”
Part of the success is that he is accompanied by pianist Wynton Kelly’s trio with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. They worked together as the Miles Davis rhythm section between 1959 and 1963. Their deep but elegant groves almost defines hard bop. They were not afraid of the Miles Davis connection, in fact they start off this album with his ”No Blues,” and the album title Smokin’ is easy to associate with Miles Davis albums like Cookin’ or Relaxin.’
An important career cut short
It was not their first encounter with Montgomery who hired them for his equally successful 1962 live album Full House. On Smokin’ they get equal billing; in fact, the trio gets the top billing which is not wrong since they are very much the reason for the success of this album. Kelly is a good soloist like Montgomery and they complement each other on their respective instrument.
Montgomery was self-taught on the guitar which resulted in his unusual technique of playing the strings with his thumb but it did not hinder him from reaching harmonic sophistication. In 1961 he played with John Coltrane’s band which at the time also included advanced reed player Eric Dolphy. This was at a time when saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded with guitarist Jim Hall.
Unfortunately, Montgomery’s career was cut short. He died from a heart attack aged 45 years but he remains an important guitarist in the history of jazz. Smokin’ is one of the albums which shows why.
Jazz Desk 