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Complete Wes Montgomery on Verve


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Hm, guess I got too much of it already and quite some doesn't really interest me that much.

Still need "Further Adventures" though...

And I really don't see why so many people seem so pissed about Hip-O, regarding packaging and prices. Sure, they're not cheap, but they're not that expensive either (not from a European point of view... and no, it doesn't just feel like that now that the Swiss franc is that overpriced, it always felt like that). I quite like the sets I have (the Oscar, Ella and Nat Cole and Getz ones, the Creed Taylor/Impulse set, as well as the JB singles and most recently - and as of yet unplayed - the Tammi Terrell).

Edited by king ubu
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In fact the packaging is mostly quite nice I find - although how you have to squeeze in the CDs in those 7"-boxes is a nuisance. But the whole design and the booklet parts of the sets, I enjoy them. The First Impulse is really wonderful (and sized rougly at 10") - I was quite amazed really, when I got it!

I forgot, I also have the complete JB at the Garden set - another winner!

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I wonder ...[] how they will treat the overdubbed Half Note tracks.

Can they do substantially different/better from "Impressions: The Verve Jazz Sides"?

I never got the VME edition... but also have the rather nice and moody "Willow Weep for Me" (which came out in the LPR series).

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It's about time - I wonder if there will be anything unreleased in it, and how they will treat the overdubbed Half Note tracks.

Wasn't this already done on the 2-CD Impressions from years back?

Can't imagine picking this up myself, as I've got pretty much all the Verve Wes I want, but I could see where others woud enjoy this.

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It's about time - I wonder if there will be anything unreleased in it, and how they will treat the overdubbed Half Note tracks.

Wasn't this already done on the 2-CD Impressions from years back?

Yep. The hope would be that they would present the tracks both ways, the "real" versions for music's sake, the overdubbed versions for historical reference.

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Okay I may be the only one who is tired of this Hip-o stuff... but I still think it's way overpriced and not well package... Ditch the stupid book and give me another CD of music....<_<

Interested but I'm boycotting this Hip-O crap until they change their packaging.. (God awful) and WAY lower their prices...:angry::angry::angry::angry:

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I might get this...don't own any of it on vinyl or CD, always depended on radio and/or borrowed LPs/discs when I wanted to get a taste, so...maybe. Much to study and admire in terms of production and presentation, maybe not so much in terms of "art", but...such is life.

I like the idea of buying it once and being done with it.

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The little bit of what I've heard of his covering of pop tunes hasn't inspired me to listen to more. I think I prefer the Riverside years but I'm willing to give the Verve sides more of a listen if someone here tells me they're worthwhile. (I do have all of the Half-Note stuff minus the overdubs. And one cut from the Jimmy Smith session that I like. )

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The little bit of what I've heard of his covering of pop tunes hasn't inspired me to listen to more. I think I prefer the Riverside years but I'm willing to give the Verve sides more of a listen if someone here tells me they're worthwhile. (I do have all of the Half-Note stuff minus the overdubs. And one cut from the Jimmy Smith session that I like. )

They've kinda been "in the air" for decades now, at least in my world, so all I can say is that they are what they are - fine playing presented in a more "commercial" setting than on the Riversides, but not nearly as much as on the A&M stuff. The arrangements are all well done, but are definitely there to make the music more "accessible".

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I like the stuff recorded for the Tequila album, as it is just Wes, Ron Carter and Grady Tate (plus Ray Barretto on some tracks) - a sparse setting of more commercial tunes, but well done and very transparent. The strings on some tracks are rather discreet, an ideal moody backdrop.

The tracks with Jimmy Smith are roughly half big band and half trio/quartet - the small group track are great as Jimmy and Wes cut loose. Creed Taylor is all over this, but the A&M stuf is where it tends to be too much.

I have most of this but I might go for it - amazon.com offers it for $ 79.60, amazon.de for EUR 137,99 !!! - should be the other way 'round. JPC lists it for EUR 89,99.

Edited by mikeweil
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I like the stuff recorded for the Tequila album, as it is just Wes, Ron Carter and Grady Tate (plus Ray Barretto on some tracks) - a sparse setting of more commercial tunes, but well done and very transparent. The strings on some tracks are rather discreet, an ideal moody backdrop.

The tracks with Jimmy Smith are roughly half big band and half trio/quartet - the small group track are great as Jimmy and Wes cut loose. Creed Taylor is all over this, but the A&M stuf is where it tends to be too much.

I have most of this but I might go for it - amazon.com offers it for $ 79.60, amazon.de for EUR 137,99 !!! - should be the other way 'round. JPC lists it for EUR 89,99.

I have Tequila, the Half Note material and I had* :( the two Jimmy Smith-Wes Montgomery CDs, which was enough for me. It seemed to be the cream of the crop, so I don't think I'm in the market for this.

* They went to a better place, specifically Australia. :P

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IIRC Wes' Verve LPs were:

Bumpin'

California Dreamin'

Tequila

Movin' Wes

Goin' Out Of My Head

Jimmy and Wes - The Dynamic Duo

The Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes

Smokin' at the Half Note

... plus an album of unreleased tracks issued in Japan Just Walkin'

... and one posthumous album Willow Weep For Me

The box will be five discs.

The two albums I omitted are added - tha nks to Chuck!

Edited by mikeweil
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Allow me to get very personal, and from the heart:

I'd get this in a heartbeat. Why? Wes (at just about the same time as Charlie Christian and Django---my early to late teens) on these records, on Verve but A&M too, inspired me forthwith to forget my tinfoil white boy rock guitar heroes and resolve to become a real musician. I'm talking 1968 or so, so those roots are very deep in the soil for me. The Riverside stuff came a few years later, when I was ready. I think for the most part the arrangements make a very classy presentation of Wes and there's nothing to apologize for. They really brought out his melodicism and humanity. Nothing 'entry level' about it, just beautiful playing tastefully framed.

I owned The Best of Wes Montgomery on Verve (on vinyl, naturally) from age 17 until I had to leave it and other LPs I'd had almost as long in Den Haag, Holland in 2007. I had planned to move there and it didn't work out. I couldn't afford to pay for weight overages on the flight back stateside. Broke my heart to do it, too. For all I know they are where I left them, and I'd love to get that copy and all my albums back. If my erstwhile host can be reached it's possible.

But the incredible thing was that a few years before this I'd dropped that LP and it cracked---and still played perfectly ! My heart is still broken, but I did own it for years, got so much joy from it, and it had such an effect on my musical development.

The music is what counts and a CD set will do just fine.

Edited by fasstrack
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