Wes Montgomery All The Things You Are "Rare Recording" Live at Half Note 

there's no "wrong note" in jazz

@@fankitonkizonki not entirely correct. You have to really know what you do on the guitar as a jazz player to say such thing, meaning you will always know where to go- to which chord change, which chord extension, which chord tone.(and by knowing I don’t necessarily mean knowing rationally but also listening and experiencing and feeling the notes). If you know all that, then yes, you will always know where to take your playing and incorporate a lot of colors to your playing. But at the beginning when learning jazz, in my experience, there is ALOT of bad notes, lol

@@fankitonkizonki LOL .. sure there are, like in any music... but maybe you just tried to be sarcastic ;)

I am a jazz guitarist with two cd's out. when I was younger in my early twenties my first jazz gig was with Wamon "Punchy" Atkinson, who played sax on Wes' first two albums. this was an honor for me. he spoke about him the same way you are and said he was the nicest man you'll ever meet. to me this comes out in his playing. it's so great to hear these stories first hand. it makes it more real. thanks for sharing! you and everyone else had to be thrilled when he came back after the whole world recognized his greatness!

I recently put up a you tube of one of my originals called "Traveling" and there's also one of me playing Wes' "Road Song" w a big band you might enjoy.

Yeah I just got done working through the standard, can play and connect several arpeggios over each chord... Time to learn wes' take on it! I'll be lucky to finish transcribing half of this in a year.

It’s great that this is inspired you to take it seriously! Keep it going!

I totally agree. I’m grateful to have found this version that isn’t on any of his lps as an up tune w him burning like this!

Also, Wes did a live radio broadcast playing Autumn Leaves. There is a copy floating around but difficult to get. @@teddypantelas

Thanks for the post Teddy.Jim Leihenseder.

Thanks very much for the post Teddy. Wes is amazing on this, as always!

teddypantelas Really love Wes Montgomery. Those were my first intros to Jazz guitar, but of recent, the last 20 years leaning more towards Grant Green and Kenny Burrell.

No one's cut him yet! Great post Teddy.

@cranglepiano absolutely

Wes stands up to repeated listening, over and over again, because his playing and the playing of his bandmates, was so deep and packed with musical content. It's a rare jazz musician who can legitimately make that claim.

@@GeorgiaBoy1961 Do we always have to agree so much ? 😉 I guess so, the reason is right

Yes he was! Effortlessly too. Just amazing. This is the only recording of him playing this tune as an up tempo tune playing a solo on it too. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

I hear you!

I totally agree!

Ear knowledge, heard everything he played. Natural,,,

Certainly one of the top 10 all time tunes, no doubt.

@@icecreamforcrowhurst You might enjoy Gene Harris playing this at Berne Jazz Festival with Johnny Griffen, Martin Drew and others, on RU-vid. It's a marathon marvel.

​@pamtebelman2321 That's been one of my favourite jazz videos for years. Johnny Griffin's solo is brilliant. Some lunatics in the comments actually complained it was too long. Like, as if a couple of minutes for each artist should be a set rule or something. W-W-WHUTT??!!

I agree totally that wes was king and still is of jazz_guitar!

How lucky

You’re welcome.

I’m totally agree with you!!

He even plays better and more fluent than most with a pick...

in german language -- WES spielt hier nur downstrokes mit dem DAUMEN .. plays only downstrokes .. no up strokes with thumb when sinlenote playing .. never a pick . Upstrokes too when playing Oktaves and Chords ..

Rick Beato has excellent video breakdowns of Wes' single line and multi-line solos.

hell yes, man!

musamor7

How fortunate for us, his fans, that Wes innovated such a unique way to play his chosen instrument. Although he played guitar, Wes was influenced a great deal by horn players and pianists in his conception of jazz. He was also highly-influenced by big band jazz, as one can hear when he does a block-chord solo or passage not unlike the "shout" chorus of the brass section in a big band. Wes' brothers were also superb musicians; I am convinced that Wes would have been a star on any instrument he chose. He chose guitar, and to the instrument, he is not unlike Charlie Christian was to alto sax. The man everyone studied and tried to figure out and emulate, to the degree possible anyway. No one has ever copped Wes's style accurately - not a single person. A few like George Benson have come close at times, but in the end, Wes remains utterly unique.

@ musamor75: That story of how Wes started playing with a pick may be apocryphal, or not - but it is now part of the Wes legend. He was a notorious night owl, too, staying up to all hours either playing gigs or practicing so the story may well be true. Wes related in interviews that he tried at various times to learn to play with a pick, but that he just couldn't get on with it. George Benson, who - along with Pat Martino was one of Wes' proteges during the early-mid 1960s - said that Wes' RH thumb was unusual anatomically in that the tip of his thumb extended well beyond the nail bed. Benson called it a corn, but regardless of what it was - it gave Wes the ability to play not only down-strokes, but up-strokes as well. He could alternate pick with his thumb! Wes had that popping Clifford Brown articulation jazz soloists strive so hard to achieve. It's very very difficult to do on guitar, but Wes made it happen via his unique approach to playing with his thumb, plus his extensive repertoire of hammer-ons, pull-offs, glisses, slides, ghost notes, rhythmic accents, and sweeps. He was also very adept at what classical guitarists call a rest stroke, to add emphasis or attack to a given note or passage. Wes also managed to achieve a very wide dynamic range, playing the softest of quiet passages well, as well as the shout section/climatic portion of any tune. Last but not least, the thumb - being flesh - gives a warm, round, fat tone that it is very difficult to achieve with a plectrum/pick. Of course, none of the technique stuff would matter if not for the genius of Wes' musical imagination and vision, his "big ears," (that's how jazz cats describe someone who simply 'hears it' and can play the music at a very high level), and his ability to bring even the most-trite melodies and hackneyed themes to life. One time, the guys in the band thought they'd sand-bag Wes by counting off the most low-down, gut-bucket old blues groove they could, thinking whatwill he be able to do with that?? Wes turned the tables and surprised them by turning that number into something memorable and beautiful. That's the kind of special he was. After his untimely death, someone asked his frequent playing companion and fellow Indiana native, bassist Larry Ridley, about Wes, and he said, "What Wes had, only God can give a man." Now whether you believe in the deity or not, we can probably all agree that he was 'touched' in a very special and rare way.

I totally agree. As I said before I feel that Wes is King when it comes to jazz guitar. Thanks for checking this post out.

I would have to agree that Wes plus the Wynton Kelly Trio were pretty much the ultimate, but I'd also have to award a tie to his bands on the 1965 European tour, in particular Harold Mabern, Art Harper and Jimmy Lovelace, and the Pim Jacobs Trio in Holland. Wes' performances with both groups rank as some of the finest playing of his career.

@@GeorgiaBoy1961 Oh no.... you again ;) and I dont have to add a single word... as they say, great minds think alike ;)

It's great that you met Wes! What an honor! I totally agree with what he said to you. It's all about the music and listening to one and other so the group plays as ONE. this way new things can happen thane are truly fresh because of the ability of letting go! Your more than welcome too btw it's my privilege to share this.

Thanks for sharing your experience with Wes Montgomery personally! You are more than welcome, I want as many people that can hear Wes play “all the things you are”!

The very first hardcore modern jazz recording I ever purchased was the vinyl record of the complete "Smoking at the Half Note" recording, plus a few studio sides. That was around 1978 - and it still blows my mind today - forty years later.

I’d have to agree with you. I always associate that rhythm section with Wes Montgomery because it’s a perfect fit!

@@teddypantelas - It's such a terrible shame that three of the four members of this sublime group would be dead by the early 1970s - Wes in 1968, Chambers in early 1969, and Kelly himself in 1971. Jimmy Cobb lived a long life and died at the age of 91 in 2020. But imagine the music all of them could have made together had they had more time to play together!

It had to be an honor to witness Wes at that time! To see the genius sounding great already and still developing into what he became. I appreciate you sharing your experience with us!!! Now we have a miracle in seeing him thru technology.. A dream come true for me, even though it's not the same as what you got to see and feel at the same time.

Wes always surrounded himself with great players. He also had that magic - every note was golden. He was a powerful force in jazz at the time. You are so right, they are all playing like one!

@@teddypantelas always had rhythmic hits/motifs in his solos that the rest of the band would catch on and play with too . awesomem

He sure is like no other! Wes is king!!!

The best that ever e was

Wes the monster on the guitar uni c

@Leo in my opinion every note Wes played was golden. Every solo he took was my favorite solo. Everyone has the right to their own views that's what makes life so beautiful. I posed this because it's the only version of Wes playing this tune anywhere as the lead instrument and at this tempo. It's Killin'! In my opinion bursting with life and beautiful burning lines. I had to make sure veryones got to hear this gem. Peace. Feel free to listen to my you tube of an original for Bill Evans called Bill's Peace. Take care and thanks for listening.

@@teddypantelas we need more from that gig....please

My top three of all time ( across all instruments, and in no particular order), Wes, Tatum, and Clifford.

jazzguitar31 being fully high and listening to this

ES175jazz is the Supreme best guitrist of all time ever

The best musician end guitar player that ever lived

@ Byron Atkins: The Wynton Kelly Trio - normally Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums - occasionally did gigs without Kelly during this era. He was usually replaced by Ron McClure. McClure was not as big a name, obviously, as Paul Chambers, but a very capable and wonderful player in his own right. These sessions, if they belong to the 1965 gigs at the Half Note, I'd bet were done with Chambers on bass. The just-issued sessions from 1965 in Seattle, however, were done with McClure.

+James martin Wes was your mentor? Seriously? How did he teach?

Warren Nunes' very approachable books opened my ears and fingers to jazz chords and how they relate. I treasure my old worn copies, and go back to them often, even after many years. I regret that they're no longer in print for young players.

Wes had a very advanced harmonic sense and could compose and play on the spot very sophisticated and hip reharmonizations to jazz standards. He was also super-imposing scales and arpeggios over chords to create altered chord sounds for tension and release effects, pretty much before anyone else. A few pianists were doing it then, but Wes was almost alone amongst jazz guitarists in doing it. Example - using a melodic minor scale a half-step above a five (V) chord to produce altered V-chord sounds to resolve to the I chord. Quite common now, but not in those days - and Wes' fluent use of these sounds is evident even today. The guy was just a complete master of the jazz art - one of the handful of the very best musicians the music had/has to offer.

What a master...!!! Im 63yrs old and am soo thankful I found him at an early age and able to enjoy his gifts. I had an album..Bumpin, To hear The Shadow of Your Smile in jazz form took my breath away and still does. Here Comes That Rainy Day is another favorite. I must admit its hard to choose..so I listen to all I can find😃 Music has helped me survive , when I had nowhere else to go it was and is always. there for me . THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR THIS WEBSITE💝Angie

That same band, minus Chambers and with Ron McClure on bass, did some live recordings in Seattle in 1965.

This was from an afternoon matinee that was recorded live for Radio.

I was 18 in 1973 and wanted to be Eric Clapton. Then one night I picked up a Cincinnati radio station by way of "skip" and heard a guitar player who totally changed my life. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had never been exposed to actual, legit jazz and was baffled at how he knew how to do what he was doing, how a mortal could speak that language and make a guitar sound so sexy. It was blues, but it was so much more than blues. I didn't know for a few years, but I had heard Wes Montgomery for the first time. I spent the following thirty years trying to be Wes Montgomery. I have only been stricken that way by two musicians, the second one being Charlie Parker. If Wes is not a "guitar God" then no one is.

Hehehe great comment !

It's funny you mention that, because after Wes died, his good friend and old partner from Indianapolis, bassist Larry Ridley, said, "Wes Montgomery had something that only God can give a man..."

You’re right about that!

You see ? Clapton ? Ha ha Django reinhardt Wes Montgomery Joe pass

It's Larry Ridley on bass: Tracklist 1 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio Impressions 6:11 2 -Wes Montgomery Mi Cosa [unaccompanied Guitar] 3:34 3 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio Blues #1 5:45 4 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio Birks’ Works 5:41 5 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio Laura 6:46 6 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio Cariba 8:48 7 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio Blues #2 3:04 8 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio Four On Six 8:07 9 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio Blues #3 / Closing announcements 1:26 10 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio All The Things You Are 6:43 11 -Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly Trio I Remember You 7:21 Credits Bass - Larry Ridley (tracks: 4-11), Ron Carter (tracks: 1-3) Drums - Jimmy Cobb Guitar - Wes Montgomery Piano - Wynton Kelly

Thanks for sharing that. I heard his name on one of the other songs from the broadcast. I appreciate it.

It’s mind boggling!

It’s not!

@ icecreamforcrohurst: Re: "How is that guitar playing even possible?" That's the very question people were asking in amazement when Wes burst onto the music scene around 1960 or so. He was doing things which had never been done before - which had been considered impossible, until he showed they weren't. Like taking entire solo choruses in block chords, for example, or playing at those ridiculous tempos with just his thumb. How was it possible? The man was a genius, the real deal.

@@GeorgiaBoy1961 yes indeed a musical genius

@@icecreamforcrowhurst - The word "genius" gets overused a great deal in music, but it is wholly justified in the case of Wes Montgomery, because he was the genuine article.

I find it hard to believe too. How could anyone that loves jazz or even is guitarist not like this! His playing is incredible on this tune. This is the only recording of him playing a solo on this tune too to boot!

Pat Methany is a talented musician, but he is nowhere near to being in the same league with Wes. Sorry, Pat, keep trying - you ain't there yet!

Contrary!

It means us with just a phone can hear it