Saturday 1 November 2008

Wes Montgomery

Wes Montgomery - Down Here On The Ground (1968)



01. Wind Song
02. Georgia On My Mind

03. The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener
04. Down Here On The Ground
05. Up And At It
06. Goin' On To Detroit
07. I Say A Little Prayer For You
08. When I Look In Your Eyes
09. Know It All
10. The Fox


Wes Montgomery (guitar)
Herbie Hancock (piano)

Mike Mainieri (vibraphone)
Ron Carter (bass)
Hubert Laws (flute)
Grady Tate (drums)
Ray Barretto (percussion)
Bobby Rosengarden (percussion)








Wes Montgomery - Down Here On The Ground


"...during 1964-1966 he recorded an interesting series of mostly orchestral dates with arranger Don Sebesky and producer Creed Taylor. These records were generally a good balance between jazz and accessibility, even if the best performances were small-group outings with either the Wynton Kelly Trio or Jimmy Smith.
In 1967 Wes signed with Creed Taylor at A&M and during 1967-1968 he recorded three best-selling albums that found him merely stating simple pop melodies while backed by strings and woodwinds. His jazz fans were upset, but Montgomery's albums were played on AM radio during the period. He helped introduce listeners to jazz, and his live performances were as freewheeling as his earlier Riverside dates."
"By the last year of his life, Montgomery was a pop star, and there is precious little jazz on these chart-oriented sessions for Herb Alpert's label. The familiar parallel octaves are there in plenty, but Montgomery does little more than register the melody, repeat it with some slight elaboration, negotiate a middle eight as straightforwardly as possible, and then on out to a faded ending."

1 comment: