There are certain artists that you can never get enough of. There are labels that specialize in delivering reissues, and then there are ones such as Resonance that find heretofore “undiscovered” recordings that never originally saw the light of day for a myriad of reasons.
I love both types of labels, and when it comes to artists like Stan Getz, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans or Lester Young, I get an extra flutter in my heart when I find out something “new” is out there.
Wes Montgomery is one of these guys. Resonance has done a yeoman’s job of finding hidden treasures from the Wes Montgomery cache, and this most recent find is a delight. He’s recorded on a tape machine (in a surprisingly well sounding fashion) in a casual club setting in his hometown on Indianapolis, sititing in with a local piano trio led by the impressive bopping sounds of Eddie Higgins in January of 1959, just a year before he made it to the big time by signing with Riverside Records and releasing the classic The Incredible Jazz Guitar. SO, you’re getting Wes just on the cusp of jazz immortality.
The six songs here exude relaxed and casual swing in the best sense, with Higgins and Montgomery sounding like stablemates on nifty toe tappers like “Give Me The Simple Life” and “Stompin’ At The Savoy.” Each guy throws a few quotes from other songs to keep the other on his toes, and the take hear of “Li’l Darling” has a perfectly timed pulse to it that can only be reached by a truly sensitive soul. Higgins is a delight on his intro to “Ruby, My Dear” which is actually a medley, as Montgomery take the baton and turns it into a lithe “Laura,” before the team closes with an all too short bopper of “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To.” Thornton Wilder would have picked a gig like this if “Our Town” was a musical.
Resonance Records