Customer Reviews

Road Song

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

ROAD SONG, originally issued as A&M SP 3012, CTI series, was recorded a month before Wes Montgomery died of a heart attack on June 15, 1968 at age 45 and relesed posthumously. The title song and "Serene," named in honor of his wife, were written by Wes. Other outstanding tracks are "Scarborough Fair" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?." Superb guitar playing, as always. Listening to this makes one wonder what more he would have accomplished had he not died so young. It's hard to name all the artists he's influenced. As the liner notes state: "This is the last one. Be glad we have it."

This was the first Wes Montgomery album I'd ever heard when I was a child. Regardless of what critics say, this is one of the best albums ever recorded. If this isn't jazz, then what is? Just because he didn't play the same old standards (pop song from the 30's and 40's) critics gave him hell. I'm an organ player with a love for guitar and I know that the way he play's the octave strums so clean he is the master of this style. The tunes are very touching and short. Some you may know ( Yesterday, Where Have All the Flowers Gone). The originals are clasic (Road Song, Serene). The album is complemented with strings and some tunes are in the baroque style. Don Sebesky did the conducting and arranging. Not to mention Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Grady Tate and a host of other great musicians support Wes in the most classy manner. The album is about 30 min. long. but it says a life time in such a short time. I've bought this album 3 times in the last 20 years and it still is my favorite guitar album. Wes always was ahead of the game. I'm just sad to know that he didn't live to see the release. He died a month after recording it. Buy It Now!!!

Wes Montgomery.
Considered by many to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists that ever lived. His sound was revolutionary, and often imitated. Many, to this day use his technique of playing the same notes in two different octaves in unison.

Wes doesnt have that much space to demonstrate this technique here. His playing waves through classical arrangements of strings and horns.

I like to think of this album as, Jazz Meets Classical. Most, if not all, the songs on this album start off with classical influenced intros, then float into jazzy renditions of rather, pop tunes, that were popular at the time, with some standards.

Many disregard this as a great album. I beg to difer. Yes the jazz influences here are sometimes over shadowed by classical influences. But then again, if I were a classical fan, I'd think of it the other way, so all in all, the two musical art forms go together well here on this album. They add a little charisma to the music, and its a change from the usual swing and improvisation.

I dont know if Wes was talked into this. Maybe it had something to do with his association with A&M Records. Either way, I like how the end product came out.

Wes Montgomery had died before this album had come out. He also delivered a Hollywood Palace appearence the same year, just weeks before his death. It was a shame because Wes could not deliver any more wonderful music like this wonderful package.

There are two sides of Wes Montgomery. The strictly jazz side of him, and the pop Wes Montgomery. Both sides had wonderful jazz guitar playing, and swang beautiful, no matter what songs he was preforming.

If you like Henry Mancini, or Percy Faith, you'll love this CD. On the flip side, if you're an avid jazz, you might love this CD. I would think so, but from the bad feedback from this album, I'm not so sure.

Critics say Montgomery did not improvise on these A&M releases. This is clearly wrong! Improvisation does not dominate this tunes, but that element is still there.

Anyway you look at it, this is jazz guitar with a twist! Road Song, Fly Me To The Moon, Greensleeves, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, and Scarborough Fair (canticle) stand out for me, but then again, the whole album is a gem!

It was too bad Montgomery died so young. The jazz world lost a guitar legend. His death will be morned for many years to come. Let's just be thankful we have brilliant albums like this one to enjoy for more many years.

No apologies, caveats, or disclaimers: This is a Five Star cd!

Some folks reviewing this disc seem to be afraid to admit that this album is a jazz classic because it had orchestration. I love this album the way it is. This was my first Wes Montgomery album, in fact this is one of the first record albums I ever heard and as a boy and I have fond memories of playing it on my cheap record player over and over again.

Yes, as I got older I bought Wes' other albums, the more "straight" jazz albums, but "Road Song" is my favorite (Smokin' at the Half Note is my second favorite).

Let's be clear. Everything Wes Montgomery did was at least good, if not great. His later work is much criticized for being commercial, and, to some extent they make some valid points. I certainly am one of those that wishes that this album, as well as "Down Here on the Ground" had been recorded without the often cheesy string sections. Not that I'm necessarily opposed to strings - Charlie Parker did some great stuff with string sections. This was the first Wes Montgomery album I heard, long before I was seriously into jazz, and though I didn't like the strings, the guitar playing just blew my mind. This isn't the album I would recommend that one buys first. Check out "Incredible Guitar..." and "Smokin' at the Halfnote", which are real 5-star albums, but eventually you should listen to this one. If you look past some of the obviously commercial aspects, there is some great music. The title track is a classic.

The good is obviously Wes, the bad is equally obvious Don Sebesky. I own in my collection every album Wes did record in his life and I really love him as a musician. I think that Wes was a special talent, he was so great that he deserves to be listened even when you put in the reader his most commercial works. No one doubt that this was a commercial operation, but Wes could do nothing but shine, and he did in this recordings too. Let's put in this way. In this case a mad scientist, Don Sebesky, tried to put him down but even if he tried the hardest he couldn't make it, because Wes was certainly bigger than him. Don here put Wes's guitar under some of the worst orchestra arrangements ever heard, I'm not joking. Don Sebesky had a really kitsch, pretentious, futile and baroque taste that's for sure and he proved it fully here. Baroque orchestra fills are all over the place in every single place, but anyway like a diamond in the trash, Wes shined. A couple of tunes still have less obtrusive and nice orchestration, I'm talking about Road song in particular. If the album would had more arrangements like this one it would be a lot better, but you know how mad scientist are??! Don't buy this one if you don't know Wes, buy something more important some true gems. But if you know Wes buy this one too, because in the end this would be another half an hour with the greatest guitar player that ever lived.

Compared with another similar Wes Montgomery cd, A Day in the Life, this recording is a notch inferior because the label Verve basically culled all the tracks Wes did shortly before his passing and put them together to make this album; thus a couple lame tracks would not have been included and some better new vibrant ones would have been added.

If this cd gets five stars then A Day in the Life would get six stars.

Why am I giving this cd five stars anyway?

Because I am not comparing it to other pre-Verve recordings Wes made like Boss Guitar - If I did, this cd would get two stars.

I am comparing it to other Pop/MOR/Sweet/Commercial/Lite/Easy Listening jazz guitar recordings I have heard by the likes of George Benson, Earl Klugh, Lee Ritenour, Larry Carleton etc.

Like Wes, these afore-menitioned artists have made quality non-commercial jazz recordings.

However, in this particular commercial pop jazz field, this and the other afore-mentioned recording by Wes is over and above far superior to ones made by the other artists mentioned.

This recording, while commercial due to the adding of strings and mainstream/pop material of the day. still contains high quality playing by Wes which is not far removed from his pre-Verve recordings. Wes and the production team make a strong attempt to avoid melodic cliches where it is hard to do in much of the pop material, and each song is mostly distinguishable from the next one that follows.

Of the commercial jazz (Fuzak) material I heard by the other artists mentioned; the playing and production is full of pop jazz cliches and each song is indistinguishable from the next.

Another way to compare this is to compare Pop Jazz recordings made by Miles Davis in the late 70's/Early 80's to those made by Kenny G. - Quality Jazz with a dose of pop sensibilities VS Smaltz

Pop jazz recordings made by Wes Montgomery like this one are comparable to such Pop jazz recordings made by Miles.

Such Pop Jazz recordings are so full of quality that I can still listen to them even though my tastes in Jazz have matured to the likes of enjoying works by Ornette Coleman and Roland Kirk.

Wes made the album he wanted to make. He didn't have to prove anything to anyone, least of all purists who didn't have to pay his bills. He deserved a larger audience, and Creed Taylor's orchestration helped usher in a golden age of early fusion from Donald Byrd, Bobby Hutcherson, Stanley Turrentine, Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers and others. The album was a big hit then and its success was well-deserved....It helped re-invigorate jazz instrumental music that was becoming repetitive and predictable on one hand and overly introspective and dissonant on the other.

Wretched orchestration! Producer Creed Taylor did Wes no favors by introducing Montgomery to "the orchestral setting that was to be his recording milieu until his death..."

If you are looking classic for Wes albums, skip this one!