Wes Montgomery and Nica’s Dream

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This is from the session in 1965 (Belgium). I love the way he stretches out on this performance (almost 9 minutes). Relaxed and joyful… that’s the Wes way.

Wes often approached solos in a three-tiered manner: He would begin a repeating progression with single note lines, derived from scales or modes; after a fitting number of sequences, he would play octaves for a few more sequences, finally culminating with arpeggiated chords.

The use of octaves (playing the same note on two strings one octave apart) for which he is widely known, became known as “the Naptown Sound”. Montgomery was also an excellent “single-line” or “single-note” player, and was very influential in the use of block chords in his solos. His playing on the jazz standard Lover Man is an example of his single-note, octave- and block-chord soloing. (“Lover Man” appears on the Fantasy album The Montgomery Brothers.)

Instead of using a guitar pick, Montgomery plucked the strings with the fleshy part of his thumb, using downstrokes for single notes and a combination of upstrokes and downstrokes for chords and octaves. This technique enabled him to get a mellow, expressive tone from his guitar. George Benson in the liner notes of the Ultimate Wes Montgomery album, wrote, “Wes had a corn on his thumb, which gave his sound that point. He would get one sound for the soft parts, and then that point by using the corn. That’s why no one will ever match Wes. And his thumb was double-jointed. He could bend it all the way back to touch his wrist, which he would do to shock people.”

Well, listen and enjoy one of the greats of jazz guitar….

Herbie Hancock – River “The Joni Letters”

I can’t recommend this album highly enough. Only the highest recommendation possible… This record features the genius songwriting of Joni Mitchell, the intricate collaborations between Hancock and Wayne Shorter, and steller guest performances by Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones, and Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza, and Tina Turner. Here is a mesmerizing performance of “River” on video.

Also, give a listen to the instrumental cut “A Case of You” featuring the sophisticated interplay between Hancock and Shorter. This album may skirt the definition of jazz for some folks, but it is a deeply felt and highly conceived venture. Thanks Herbie for dreaming this one up… kudos, kudos…..

Reviewer Marshall Bowden adds: ” Joni Mitchell’s music will continue to be of interest to jazz singers and songwriters (see my piece The New Singer-Songwriters) as well as musicians who value music that responds well to a deep reading. River: The Joni Letters is a valentine from the world of jazz to Joni Mitchell, communicating that her heartfelt experimentation with that world has stood the test of time and come full circle to influence the music that influenced her.”

Click to hear “A Case of You”:

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Video of Corrine Baily Rae Singing: “River”

If you want to hear another great track by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter playing “Round Midnight” in The Miles Davis Quintet just scroll down through the older posts on this blog.  It’s a really good listen…

Ron Clegg with Emiko Hayashi & Stan Poplin record a new CD titled “trialoque”

Click to hear track #1: 01-sugar

OK, this probably looks like an ad for our new CD… It is available on CD Baby, I Tunes, and Amazon. For now, there are a couple cuts from it here on the blog. In a Sentimental Mood is posted a couple posts back. I’ll be getting back to posting the kind of material my blog is known for soon…

Emiko, Stan Poplin, and I recorded this “ridgetop session” at Highland Studios on August 18, 2008. Emiko and I met last July 4th and played for an hour or two at my home… we had a nice connection both musically and personally. She is a dynamic professional pianist, composer, arranger, and performer based in New York. I later wrote Emiko asking if she would like to play for an afternoon at Joe’s studio while on her summer trip to Santa Cruz. . The idea was to explore some musical territory that showed itself during our first visit.. Emiko said “let’s do it” and she asked Stan Poplin to play on the session. Stan is one of the best acoustic bass players on the west coast… having played with Dave Brubeck, Roger Kellaway, Robben Ford, Mose Allison, and myriad of other great musicians. I feel very fortunate to have had Stan and Emiko on this recording. for they are both exceptional in all ways.

I was looking for an all acoustic sound and with Joe’s expertise we accomplished just that. Emiko played the session on Highland’s 7′ Kawai grand piano, Stan played his 19th century standup bass, and I used my favorite guitar, the Andersen Archtop . We were pretty focused and were able to put down these seven songs that day. We chose to play these jazz classics simply because they are beautiful songs that have stood the test of time.

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