Even though Wes Montgomery had to work as a factory worker in the early days of his career, he was hailed as a guitar prodigy at the time. This was because he had invented a completely new way of playing the guitar. With the thumb of his right hand he created a soft, muted sound, while improvising with his other fingerings in such a way that the high, clear sounds and the low, dark ones sounded
… simultaneously. This sound was later adopted by guitarists like Grant Green and George Benson. His live performances also showed that he was not afraid of experimentation. In America he had his own quartet, but when he came to Europe he preferred to play with local talent. In Holland he shared the stage with Pim and Ruud Jacobs and drummer Han Bennink. During the recordings that were made in 1965 in the NDR studio in Hamburg, he did it a bit bigger with a four-man horn section including Johnny Griffin and Ronnie Scott (of the eponymous jazz club in London). This legendary concert is now finally released on CD with a blu-ray with recordings of the rehearsals. (AD)more
