Wes Montgomery's Live at the Half Note is widely regarded as the guitarist's crowning achievement and the definitive post-bop guitar album. As great as that date is, I actually prefer this earlier outing recorded at a Berkeley, California coffeehouse in the summer of '62. Producer Orrin Keepnews goes to great lengths explaining his pivotal role in the album's birthing and for once, his self-aggrandizing appraisal seems warranted. Montgomery was working in relative obscurity at an Indianapolis nightclub when Keepnews, heeding the advice of his A&R man Cannonball Adderley, stopped in and signed him to Riverside. The inspiration for this live date was the hugely successful concert album by the Adderley brothers waxed a few years earlier in San Francisco (and also among the first batch of Keepnews Collection titles). Keepnews figured he could hit the jackpot twice and Lady Luck had a hand in making it so through the serendipitous confluence of the then Miles Davis rhythm section and Johnny Griffin, both in the area for other gigs. The album's title takes on trifold meaning through a poker metaphor, the SRO attendance and the contents of this new reissue, which maxes out the disc's capacity with five bonus tracks (two more than the last edition).
Montgomery is in superlative form, his agile octave-riddled patterns pacing beautifully through program of originals and standards. Griffin's "fastest tenor" mantle is in full effect, his sleek lines mirroring the speed and precision of the guitarist's plectral runs. Wynton Kelly is third in the solo order, though any ownership over the rhythm section is subverted by the commensurately strong playing of Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. These three operated as equals under Miles leadership and the same holds true here. Kelly and Griffin abstain on the Spanish-tinged "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" leaving the leader to shape filigree figures in the company of Chambers' plush bass and Cobb's dulcet drums. Rife with racing repetitions and an explosive string of breaks by Cobb, the Dizzy bop bauble "Blue 'n' Boogie" underscores the debt Grant Green owed Montgomery. "Cariba" serves as the obligatory samba number and Cobb responds by sprinkling familiar rhythmic spices over his syncopations. The velocity and variety of Montgomery's ensuing solo once again transcends the surface predictability of its conveyance. He also scripts the title track and the smoking closer "S.O.S.," two more settings where his frets engage in flurried sparring with Griffin's mercurial horn. The ceiling stacked crowd eats it up and the 24-bit remastered sound translates to a better than stage-side seat. I was a late recruit to the Cult of Wes. This album converted me.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on April 4, 2007 3:06 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................