Guitarist Tim Fitzgerald gives tribute to his inspiration Wes Montgomery on this swinging set of tunes made famous by the famous thumb strummer. It’s not just an imitation, though, as Fitzgerald gooses up the charts with a hip team of Victor Garcia/tp, Greg Ward II/as, Chris Madsen/ts, Tom Vaitsas/p, Christian Dillingham/b and George Fludas/dr.
Fludas snaps things right up on the hard bopping “S.O.S” with Fitzgerald supplying more tasty licks than a Tootsie Roll Pop. The strings sway on “Four On Six”, and the saxes are relaxed on “Far Wes”. The team is free wheeling for “Jingles”, with Fitzgerald waving the chords like a magic wand on the waltzing “West Coast Blues”. There’s a nice bluesy bop to “ Fried Pies” and Fitzgerald digs into red clay on ”Twisted Blues” while tender on the dreamy “While We’re Young”. Timeless sounds brought up to date.