''The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery'' is an album by the American jazz guitarist

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for his unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and for his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a ...

. Most of its tracks exemplify two of Montgomery's distinguishing techniques: "thumb picking" and the use of octaves. In 2017, the album was selected for the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".What made Wes Montgomery a legend-Inside The National Recording Registry-WNYC
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Reception

The album is considered by many fans and critics to be the pinnacle of Montgomery's recorded studio work. ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' selected it as part of its suggested "Core Collection".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic Michael G. Nastos praised the album, writing: "Setting him apart from the rest, this recording established Montgomery as the most formidable modern guitarist of the era, and eventually its most influential...Montgomery is clearly talented beyond convention, consistently brilliant, and indeed incredible in the company of his sidemen, and this recording—an essential addition to every jazz guitarist fan's collection—put him on the map." Of the CD reissue, critic Chris May of ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' wrote: "''The Incredible Jazz Guitar'' burst onto the US scene in 1960 like a benign hurricane, and it still sounds like a gale almost 50 years later... Montgomery—empathetically accompanied by pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist

Percy Heath Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet througho ...

(then riding high with the

Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical music, classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. The Quartet consisted of John Lewis (pianist), John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphon ...

), and drummer

Albert Heath Albert "Tootie" Heath (May 31, 1935 – April 3, 2024) was an American jazz hard bop drummer, the brother of tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and the double-bassist Percy Heath. With Stanley Cowell, the Heaths formed the Heath Brothers jazz b ...

—makes the guitar sound like it never had before. It has sounded similar since, of course, thanks to the legion of Montgomery-influenced players, but rarely so close to perfection.... ''The Incredible Jazz Guitar'' endures, and will continue to do so."

LP Track listing

Airegin "Airegin" is a jazz standard composed by American jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins in 1954. Rollins chose the name "Airegin", as it is an anadrome of "Nigeria". Recording history "Airegin" was first recorded in 1954 by the Miles Davis Quintet and ...

" (

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

) – 4:26 #"D-Natural Blues" (

) – 5:23 #" Polka Dots and Moonbeams" (

Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television, and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Award for Best Original Song, Academy Awards for ...

, Johnny Burke) – 4:44 #"Four on Six" (Montgomery) – 6:15 #"West Coast Blues" (Montgomery) – 7:26 #"

In Your Own Sweet Way "In Your Own Sweet Way" is a 1955 jazz standard, and one of the most famous compositions by Dave Brubeck. It was written around 1952, but its copyright notice was dated 1955. Brubeck's wife Iola, for whom the song was written, later wrote a lyric ...

" (

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

) – 4:53 #"Mister Walker" (Montgomery) – 4:33 #"

Gone With the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

" ( Allie Wrubel,

Herb Magidson Herbert A. Magidson (January 7, 1906 – January 2, 1986) was an American popular lyricist. His work was used in over 23 films and four Broadway revues. He won the first Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1934. Life and career Magidson was ...

) – 6:24 *Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 recorded at Reeves Sound Studios, NYC, January 26, 1960 *Tracks 3, 7, and 8 recorded at Reeves Sound Studios, NYC, January 28, 1960 *For CD reissues, track 7 is often listed as ""Mr. Walker (Renie)". "Renie" is an unrelated 12-bar blues composition by Wes Montgomery that was originally released on the 1960 '' Montgomeryland'' LP by the

Montgomery Brothers The Montgomery Brothers were a jazz trio consisting of the brothers Wes Montgomery (electric guitar, 1923–1968), Buddy Montgomery (piano, vibraphone, 1930–2009), and Monk Montgomery (electric bass, double bass, 1921–1982). During the mi ...

. Riverside RLP 12-320, RLP 1169; Fantasy OJC 036, OJCCD 036-2

Personnel

Musicians * Wes Montgomery –

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

* Tommy Flanagan –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Production * Orrin Keepnews – producer, liner notes * Jack Higgins – engineer (recording) * Paul Bacon-Ken Braren-Harris Lewine – design * Lawrence N. Shustak – photography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Incredible Jazz Guitar Of Wes Montgomery, The Wes Montgomery albums 1960 albums Albums produced by Orrin Keepnews Riverside Records albums Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Original Jazz Classics albums United States National Recording Registry albums