Wes was playing at the Carousel Lounge in Atlanta, circa 1966, to a light crowd who really didn't have a clue who he was. It was a week day, and I'm sure the crowd got larger, and hopefully hipper later in the week. When he took a break he accepted my invitation to buy him a drink. He sat down across the table from me. (that was like God sitting across the table), and asked me how his new amp sounded. I was floored. God asking a mere peon to pass judgement. He was as warm as his playing. One of the most memorable few moments in my nearly 70 years on the planet. We all lost him just a couple of years later. I cried. Still brings tears to my eyes.
I used to play with Punchy Adkinson who played with Wes on his first two albums. Punchy sounded like John Coltrane. It was an honor for me to play with him, but the greatest thing about it was hearing stories about Wes, like yours. Story after story about how beautiful this man really was and how hehad a big heart, always giving of himself and never having a bad thing to say about somebody else. You could hear that in his playing, that's what drew me to him when I first heard Wes was just heart coming out in those strings.
For me there is no other guitarist. He is the biggest. all the guitarists of the world study it without ever reaching to equal it and less to overcome it. he is the secret of study of all jazz guitarists, his melodic and rhythmic sense is from another world. you were a privileged being for having seen, known, spoken, and shared with the angel of jazz. I envy him in a good way. I write to you from Venezuela, a country beaten by communism, but that of its people appreciates good things and jazz is the best of all. A hug
the ears of Wes and the pianist are great....just to have that skill to hear the chords and sync with Wes'S brilliant sense of timing is amazing, watched this 30 times this week
Yes nowadays it seems like magic, but thats how far we’ve regressed unfortunately. Can you believe this guy was popular and sold records compared to the garbage you hear on the radio. Kinda shocking how dumbed down we’re all getting
That's exactly how I felt the first time I heard Wes. Are used to play with punchy Adkinson to play run his first two albums. All the stories I heard about him we're basically went to beautiful human being he was. I had to share this with you.
First, Wes teaches the song to his accompanist, and then he gives it up for him to do whatever he wants with it. It’s all is so beautiful to be a witness to
So cool being able to see them work through the song. So much of Wes' character comes through in this video, his sense of humor and the calm yet confident direction he provides to his fellow musician. This makes me love the man even more.
The whole greatest thing when referring to musicians is like skating on thin ice. Wes was- is- a master. So are several other jazz guitarists- so I have to disagree. It really isn't 'end of story'- rather it should be the beginning of a story of discovery and of appreciation of a whole diverse field.
George Benson ... a close second; a very close second. Most only know him from Breezin, Weekend in LA but listen to his early days with Jack Macduff and GB is right up there!👏
Thank you, WES MONTGOMERY for doing your part to help tame and save mankind with your gift, talent and exposing to the rest of us on how it's supposed to be done. Your legacy is sealed. In the meantime, I'll keep the music playing.
I have seriously been praying since i was little for God to make me a musician. Please. 56 now. These are musicians. At least I have the opportunity to praise Him for making people like these.
He doesnt make you a musician, boy. You maken decision to become one and you put in the work. I hope you still find it in you to make that decision.. i bet you have something great to offer the world!
This is my favorite part of the DVD. Watching Wes teach these guys this song. It blows out of the water the theory that wes didn't know anything about music and just played although being self talk. It's great seeing him explain these chord changes and his famous going up halfstep 2 - 5 changes. This is priceless.
My thoughts exactly, he knows what chords he’s playing and that alone tells you everything you need to know about his thorough understanding of what he is doing.
Yes Wes had a very comprehensive understanding of music theory and harmonic structures. He may not have known how to read music but he fully understood what he was doing and playing.
Not reading music ain't the same as not knowing music. The likes of Errol Garner, Tal Farlow and Bela Fleck were/are not readers, but you'd be hard pressed to find more harmonically-rhythmically sophisticated musicisns.
I know I'm six years late on this, but what DVD are you referring to? I'd love to see it. And in regard to him being self taught, I've never believed that about Wes. He may not have taken formal lessons, but somebody showed him stuff about how to play, music theory, etc.
To whom is may concern. Thank you, for introducing me to this very talented creative musician. Sounds beautiful I can listen to his music all day if clouds had musical sound it would be this. 🤗🙋🏽♀️👸🏽♉💯🤎✌🏾✊🏾🌎❤️🕊️👍🏽😁 Life is Beautiful.😎 Jazz at it's best.
@@paulgibby6932 Yes, they are great, but don't forget that this was a standard pop song for that era. The guys knew the tune, and had probably played it many times, before. They just had to pick up how Wes did it.
I've listened to the greatest from Charlie Christian to Rosenwinkel, but Wes is my favourite of all. Great timing, great tone and beautiful, expressive, logical phrasing with no over playing, no tricks, no effects, only a great harmonic and melodic taste and knowledge. And a big big soul, the kindest musician of his time.
All the great jazz musicians who I ever heard say anything about Wes was always the same thing. Bewilderment; whether it was about his personality or his guitar technique or his jazz phrasing or his intricate harmonic movements. Everything about Wes wsa wonderful. And have never been duplicated.
One of his bassists, I can't recall who, said of Wes: "He's got something only God can give a man." I believe it was Larry Ridley, another jazz great from Indianapolis - but not 100% sure. Talent like Wes had comes along so seldom; I feel fortunate to be alive in a time when his beautiful recordings are preserved for future generations to enjoy and marvel at. My only regret is that I didn't get to see him live. I was only seven years old when he died.
@@donkotouc8377 - Re: "Who sounds like Wes today? Nobody..." That's the true measure of his enormous talent - how singular and unique he was, how rarely individuals with that kind of genius come along. I'm a musician myself - guitar and bass - and play jazz, and I've been a fan of great music even longer than that. Over the years, I've heard this-or-that player touted as "sounding like Wes Montgomery" or "the next Wes Montgomery," and it has never been even remotely true. That's not a knock or a criticism on the many brilliant players in the idiom, it is just a statement of fact. No one has ever managed to duplicate his sound and style successfully. He is like Charlie Parker or John Coltrane in that respect; there can be only one. George Benson and Pat Martino,both very young and starting off their own legendary careers as greats of jazz guitar, were proteges of Wes during the 1960s. Benson and Martino have both spoken of asking Wes how he played a certain passage or what he was doing in a given tune, and Wes answering, "I don't know..." He couldn't really explain what he did or why he did it. He just did it. It's like that with the real geniuses, people at the highest level of their field of endeavor. Most of them have a hard time explaining what they have done or why they did it. That's how Wes was. He just understood music at the deepest, most-profound level - almost instinctively. That's not to minimize how hard he worked to master his craft; he worked extremely hard, according to those who knew him - it is just that he possessed an innate aptitude which was inexplicable. All-time jazz piano great Erroll Garner was similarly-gifted. As a child, very shortly after learning piano, he was playing advanced pieces, and although he never learned to read music, at his height he knew more than one-thousand songs/tunes from memory and could play them in any key. Once, Garner attended a classical piano recital of some length, a half hour or more. He later astounded his friends at home, by playing most of it perfectly and entirely from memory. Guys like that, they're operating on a whole different musical plain than most people - even most musicians.
@@donkotouc8377 - Wow, I envy you, Don, if you got to see/hear the greats back in the day..... that must have been amazing! If you loved music, that post-war era c. 1945-1969 or so - was absolutely a wonderful time to be alive. Some older friends of mine describe the club scene years ago in Chicago (where I lived for a long time, in N. Illinois) as being just street after street jammed with clubs playing live music. Tons of great shows, gigs for musicians to learn their craft and entertain audiences at the same time. Indianapolis was that way, too, which is how the Montgomery Brothers learned to play.
I've seen so many great jazz videos on YT, and the majority come from Europe. France, Holland, Spain, Italy...such a wonderful, natural way of presenting the music.
My Lord - there’s no words. Just no words. I’ve heard extended versions of this as well. I am so bloody grateful these video recordings still exist. Truly, this is magical.
To this day listening to Wes still gives me goose bumps, because his thinking on what he wants to do next, is simply astounding, there are, and mostly likely will be in the future great guitarist, that's a fact, however Wes was simply a blessing from above, no more, no less...
Very interesting to watch these jazz cats learning this song on the spot, it's beautiful how everything unfolds and Wes must have been the kindest man to work with, so much talent !!!
I witnessed in that footage a genuine genius on the piano who picked up improvised rehearsal without a sheet music , what an incredible team of geniuses with Wes , that surely helped elevating his work !
This is so great! A little before the 6 minute mark Wes starts to throw in those ii - V progressions that he loved so much. My guitar teacher/mentor in the '70s, Ted Dunbar, was friends with Wes. He once described Wes as a gorilla with no teeth - a very strong and extremely kind and gentle man. Wes was one of a kind, a musical genius, and my all time guitar hero.
I'm not surprised you're a Wes man, George. You are so musical & funky! After I graduated Indiana, David Baker suggested I give Rutgers a try. I corresponded w Mr. Dunbar, but decided to move to NYC, and try to be a rock-n-roller, instead. I could've learned a lot, if I'd chosen his tutledge.
@@johnengland2996 Hey, John, nice to hear from you! Yeah, Wes is my all time favorite. I don't try to play like him, but I get such inspiration from listening. I think you did fine doing what you did. I hope you're doing well - stay safe and stay healthy - hope to see you one day soon!
Thanks for posting! Footage of the masters playing live is rare enough, but it's even rarer to see someone teaching the other players the tune, offering little suggestions, working it out. Love watching the piano player; he knows he's good and can cut the gig, but he's also excited to be playing with someone like Wes Montgomery, he's literally wide-eyed. Fun and fascinating. Again, thanks. I'll be watching this more than once.
all the greats are humble in my experience; the ones with attitude are usually befuddled by jealousy or envy and can't get beyond themselves; but not the greats! at least in my 50+ years of playing.
Wow no charts and they came out with this gem! How astute was piano guy and how cool were the bassist and drummer while Wes broke it down ? Gotta love musicians.
The one and only...there’s never going to another one like him...that sound...his sound. Genius! Found an old cassette tape in some street market in Tel Aviv 30 years ago called “bumping on sunset”, didn’t know who it is... still fresh
Man this was incredible! I’ve never heard Wes Montgomery speak before. And his playing so effortless and beautifully perfect 😎 so sad that he died just three years after in 1968… 45 incredible years of life and music
Watched so many docs where our great black American musicians of the early to mid 1900s would discuss their time:tours in Europe, and how they enjoyed it, some relocating there. Not to say European whites were without issues but I sense the respect wes was given even from this clip. He was talking to a human being and was being talked back to as a human being. I sense the freedom and calm in his demeanor.
from experience: in jazz we don't see race ever... as its about the music. and those that like to claim its a black thing are woefully ignorant and extremely racist.
@@baycman yeah you’re right. Ive read so many stories about how Monk, Bird, Oscar, Miles, Coltrane, and other of our greats would sit at the feet of the great European jazz inventors, not to mention the other jazz creators of Asian decent. I even heard that Louis Armstrong trekked to some remote village outside Guadalajara, Mex and there, got the idea to start improving over traditional American pop standards. But I’m sure you knew that already. Got another secret too, although you prob already know but-Hip hop? R and B? Blues? Gospel?-All Germanic in terms of their roots… @baycam, I’ve consulted the board members and you are hereby banned from speaking and typing until further notice. Now Go stare at the corner until I call your name.
Have always and will always love this guy. It is such a joy to watch these guys work. You can feel the musical love between them. The thing that brought us musicians together as people in the 60's and 70's.
As old as I am and never mind how many times I have been around the musical block it is always pure joy and eye opening education for me every time I listen to the remarkable, gifted and wonderful Wes Montgomery. .
What a GREAT story! I was in 7th grade when we lost Wes... My mom told me the news just as my dad and I were walking in the front door from a guitar lesson... It was the first time someone important to me had passed away.
I had a temporary event around the time Wes went to the other side; I had a vinyl record with him lying in our rehearsing room that I had forgot on top of a vocal amp, and it got bent from the heat; I do not know why...but I became so sad about it..and said to my friend....It is almost like someone had died..I do not know why I felt that way...I usually would not be too much offended by such a thing...and later in a day or two I heard that he had died...I think he died before that happened. Just a thing that makes me wonder sometimes.
My Bro. and me too! We'd been out of High School a few years... some cats in the Barber Shop were saying Wes had died. Utter denial and unbelieving settled in..... we still talk about him in present tense.... Peace.
I'm kinda curious. When Wes starts playing the melody, Pim Jacobs asks, "What's the name of it?" and Wes says, "I don't know." He's played this song before, most notably on the album A Dynamic New Sound. I wonder if that was just a song he learned on the fly during the recording date of that album or something. Despite that, he's amazing Also, notice how kind Montgomery is. He always responds with a "yea" or something positive. Whenever Jacobs plays a wrong chord, Montgomery kindly tells him how to correct it. He's one of the best guitarists this world has ever seen, yet, he was the kindest guy on the planet. I have nothing but admiration for "The Man" Wes Montgomery. This also shows how good his ear was and the knowledge he had on music theory. Idc what anyone says about Montgomery not knowing theory, this video proves that he actually did know music theory. If those people actually listened to his playing, his music was a combination of hard work and knowledge; just as much as it was pure talent.
This is great footage 👍jazz cats putting it together, legendary musicians here,all top of class, love this stuff,I can hear what they speak, suggesting half step chromatic walk down ,its like ur there,phenom bassist, I'm gonna search for more of these
This is so kool! When u play live with other great musicians one must take note on how humble these guys are coz that attitude keeps everyone easy to work with amazing rehearsel Wes & team thankyou up there in heaven (RIP) X
Yeah! After Wes stopped to show a turn of a major seven and a ninth chord ..the piano player says...let´s do it in a faster tempo!! that impressed even Wes..he laughs amazingly.
Wes is playing with some fine musicians and it makes him shine even more. We went down to Hermosa Beach to the Light House to see him play, the place was packed, we didn't stay.
So glad you posted this ... sure dont know too many welders that sound like this ... what an amazing snapshot of of an amazing legacy ... this vid is really a treasure
These two might as well be negotiating world peace, designing a rocket ship… Fascinating! Brilliant language they’re speaking, music that is … Much Respect! 🤓🤘
Out of HS in 1963, and slowly becoming aware of jazz, primarily on an L.A radio station with DJ Johnny Magnuson. Heard Mose Allison, Lambert, Hendricks, and Yvonne, Coltrane, etc. But became smitten with Wes and his guitar.
Great art gets to me. My throat tightens. My eyes water. That happens when witnessing artistic aptitudes unthinkable to the common creative mind. Here we see this. While Wes is broadly understood to be among the greats, the piano player is on another level too. What a blessing this video is. Beyond amazing. I'm sitting here shaking my head, left and right. From nothing, they create something that makes generations to follow sit in stunned silence.
Just being in the same band with Wes Montgomery - being good-enough to be in the same band! - is an amazing accomplishment all by itself. Pim Jacobs on piano is a revelation - or at least he was to me, when I first heard him - and the bass and drums were equally wonderful. They compared favorably with Wes' best bands back in the 'States. They had a real connection.
