The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

*The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery* is everything the title boldly suggests. In addition to Montgomery’s rich, round single notes and octaves—all articulated with just his thumb—we also hear piano legend Tommy Flanagan in a notable sideman appearance (another being John Coltrane’s *Giant Steps*). And laying the foundation with a big, capacious rhythm section beat are brothers Percy and Albert “Tootie” Heath on bass and drums, respectively. Montgomery takes off right away with Sonny Rollins’ uptempo classic “Airegin” (“Nigeria” backwards), bringing a level of clarity and invention to his bebop lines more commonly heard from the great horn virtuosos of the day. It’s there on the more restrained tempos as well, such as Dave Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way” and the late-’30s standard “Gone With the Wind.” Yet amid all the harmonic complexity, Montgomery could also access bone-deep blues feeling like no one else, as on the slow “D-Natural Blues.” His elegant compositions “Four on Six” and “West Coast Blues” came to be regarded as modern standards, and “Mr. Walker” predicted the kind of funky crossover vibe he’d pursue on his later records for Verve and A&M.

The incredible Wes Montgomery of 1960 was more discernible and distinctive than the guitarist who would emerge a few years later as a pop stylist and precursor to George Benson in the '70s.