WES MONTGOMERY - THE CLASSIC RECORDINGS 1960-1962
In 1959 Montgomery was signed to the Riverside Records
label, and remained there until late 1963, just before the company went
bankrupt. The recordings made during this period are widely considered by fans
and jazz historians to be Montgomery's best and most influential. Two sessions
in January 1960 yielded the record, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes
Montgomery, which was recorded as a quartet with pianist Tommy Flanagan,
bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Tootie Heath. The album featured two of
Montgomery's best known compositions, Four on Six and West Coast Blues. This
album is included on the first volume of this two x four CD series, The
Complete Recordings 1958 - 1960. Was Montgomery received many awards and accolades
throughout his career; he was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Bumpin' in
1965 and received a Grammy for Goin' Out of My Head as Best Instrumental Jazz
Performance by Large Group or Soloist with Large Group, in 1966. He was
nominated again for his version of The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby and the LP Down
Here on the Ground in 1968, and posthumously for Willow, Weep for Me in '69.
His second album, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, earned him Down
Beat magazine's 'New Star' award in 1960. In addition, he won the Down Beat
Critic's Poll award for best Jazz guitarist in 1960, '61, '62,'63, '66, and
'67. Jazz purists relish Montgomery's recordings up through 1965, and sometimes
complain that he abandoned hard-bop for pop jazz toward the end of his career,
although it is arguable that he gained a wider audience for his earlier work
with his soft jazz from 1965-1968. During this late period he would
occasionally turn out original material alongside jazzy orchestral arrangements
of pop songs. In sum, this late period earned him considerable wealth and
created a platform for a new audience to hear his earlier recordings. ~ Amazon
CARMELL JONES QUARTET WITH FORREST WESTBROOK - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED LOS ANGELES SESSION
In August 1960, 24-year old trumpet player Carmell Jones
left his Kansas City home-town and hopped a bus to Los Angeles, intent on
hitting the West Coast jazz scene. There, his impact was immediate and would
prove to be memorable. He was quickly part of a quartet with pianist Forrest
Westbrook, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Bill Schwemmer. They rehearsed at
Westbrook s apartment at 2021 Sta. Monica Blvd, Hollywood, where this
unreleased material was recorded at the end of that month. It was an amazing
session, in which Carmell, oozing confi- dence and assertiveness, demonstrated
a fresh, virile and imaginative style, with a warm ballad tone and an
authoritatively implacable swing at up tempo. The highly responsive rhythm
section locked right on him all the way, and also revealed Forrest Westbrook as
a highly talented and sensi- tive pianist, with an advanced concept of
improvisation, and a built-in propensity for swinging hard. Along with the
pungently powerful Peacock and the driving Schwemmer, they provided an ideally
vigor- ous support for Carmell Jones, who, unbelievably soon, would come to be
regarded as among the finest trumpeters on the West Coast. These never-before-
released recordings, his first on the Coast, show why. ~ Amazon
OTIS TAYLOR - HEY JOE OPUS RED MEAT
With Otis Taylor, it's best to expect the unexpected. While his music,
an amalgamation of roots styles in their rawest form, discusses heavyweight
issues like murder, homelessness, tyranny, and injustice, his personal style is
lighthearted. "I'm good at dark, but I'm not a particularly unhappy
person," he says. "I'd just like to make enough money to buy a
Porsche." -- -- Part of Taylor's appeal is his contrasting character
traits. But it is precisely this element of surprise that makes him one of the
most compelling artists to emerge in recent years. Whether it's his unique
instrumentation (he fancies banjo and cello), or it's the sudden sound of a
female vocal, or a seemingly upbeat opti remains consistent is poignant
storytelling based in truth and history. -- -- Otis Mark Taylor was born in
Chicago in "My dad worked for the railroad and knew a lot of jazz people.
He was a socialist and real bebopper." His mother, Sarah, a tough as nails
woman with liberal leanings, had a penchant for Etta James and Pat Boone. Young
Otis spent time at the Denver Folklore Center where he bought his first
instrument, a banjo. He used to play it while riding his unicycle to high
school. The Folklore Center was also the place where he first heard Mississippi
John Hurt and country blues. He learned to play guitar and harmonica and by his
mid-teens, he formed his first groups' the Butterscotch Fire Department Blues
Band and later the Otis Taylor Blues Band. -- (Source: artist website) -- UPC
725543191526 -- The Amazon ASIN for the mp3 version of this CD is B00X5BRSZG --
Another listing by Zip ~ Amazon
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