Description
Wynton Kelly Trio with Wes Montgomery – Smokin’ at the Half Note – 180 Gram Vinyl Record
Smokin’ at the Half Note joins Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio—Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums—for a record widely regarded as a peak of jazz guitar. Two selections were recorded live at New York’s Half Note club in June 1965; three were remade at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio that September.
The live “No Blues” opens with thirteen minutes of relaxed authority. Montgomery’s thumb-picked tone stays warm at every dynamic, and his movement from single-note lines to octaves and chords creates a complete dramatic arc. Kelly’s blues vocabulary, Chambers’s pulse, and Cobb’s ride cymbal make the quartet feel effortlessly airborne.
“If You Could See Me Now” reveals Montgomery’s ballad phrasing at unusual length, giving melody priority without limiting improvisation. On the studio side, “Unit 7” and “Four on Six” sharpen the rhythmic focus; both became core vehicles for later guitarists studying Montgomery’s combination of swing, structure, and melodic logic.
“What’s New?” closes the original LP with restraint. The album’s reputation rests not on novelty but on an ideal match: Montgomery’s flowing conception placed over the rhythm section associated with Miles Davis’s early-sixties groups. Pat Metheny later cited it as a foundational guitar recording.
This Verve Acoustic Sounds Series edition uses the original five-track LP sequence on 180-gram vinyl. It excludes later material from Willow Weep for Me that appears on expanded compact discs.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
- 1. No Blues (Live at the Half Note / 1965)
- 2. If You Could See Me Now (Live at the Half Note / 1965)
- 3. Unit 7
- 4. Four On Six
- 5. What’s New?
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