Wes Montgomery - Full House - My Perspective
Wes Montgomery is one of my favorite jazz guitarists and Full House is my favorite album by him. The performance was recorded live at Tsubo in Berkeley, California, on June 25, 1962. The session featured a quintet that included Wynton Kelly on piano, Johnny Griffin on tenor saxophone, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb on any Wes record almost always means great things are going to happen musically. Very few of the many Wes records have horns. There is the Impressions two CD set with arrangements by Oliver Nelson (and Jimmy Smith on organ on many tracks) that is well done but it is a big band setting and not the jazz combo setting that Wes is usually in. The title track, Full House, is the first track below and on the album. Johnny Griffin's solo is a model of a great solo with an arc that dips in little by little building and pusheing the envelope and then comes back to earth with a graceful exit. The next track below, Cariba, is an exuberant jazz blues with a great Latin groove and nice bass solo by Paul Chambers. Wynton Kelly shines throughout the album and is great at interplay and comping with Wes. They never step on each other musically. This album never gets old for me and has gotten many of my friends pulled into jazz. This is truly an all star session in every sense. The 1987 reissue has bonus tracks if you are interested but the original album plus one reissued song is below.
The Full album plus Born to Be Blue (added in 1987) is the link below
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kShytdy5ZXduvO47jH6qjlsGOE1BZvXlA
So glad you liked the album. One of my all time favorite jazz records. It never gets old for me. Wes is the Michael Jordan of jazz guitar. I always welcome your posts and input. Have a great week!
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