MAO Legendary Albums | Wes Montgomery: Smokin' at the Half Note

Not just the members of the quartet, this album is a legend in its own right. It's said to be the place where two of the songs from the album entered the great jazz songbook. By 1965, the self-taught Montgomery was invited everywhere, including New York's Half-Note with his usual quartet. The rhythm section, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, happened to accompany Miles Davis for four years earlier. For some reason, only No Blues and If I Could See Me Now from the concert recording made it onto the first release, the rest being studio recordings three months later. Two of the "many" tracks, Unit 7 and Four on Six, became standards from this album, but the bluesy, hidden tension of What's New is also full of excitement. The almost breathless momentum throughout is now textbook, like a sizzling steam engine at full speed, and it's not just the guitars that give this feeling, the piano and accompaniment do too, as the whole quartet unveil whistle-able yet nuanced melodies with their endlessly precise interplay. The first LP release has been followed by numerous analogue and digital discs since 1965, because this material never gets old. The band's guitarist, Áron Komjáti, who gives a colourful sound in all shades of jazz, is here interpreting the classic songs as a soloist.