Wes Montgomery, Live in Belgium 1965 PDF

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Wes Montgomery, Live in Belgium 1965; This essay is a reflection and analysis of Wes Montgomery’s Live in BelgiumConcert 1965. This concert was recorded on April 4th,1965. The concert analyzed for this paper was part of the Wes Montgomery Live in ’65 tour which representedMontgomery on his only Euro...

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Wes Montgomery, Live in Belgium 1965 Antonio Zavala Anaya MUSL 1327: Jazz to Rock

This essay is a reflection and analysis of Wes Montgomery’s Live in Belgium Concert 1965. This concert was recorded on April 4th, 1965. The concert analyzed for this paper was part of the Wes Montgomery Live in ’65 tour which represented Montgomery on his only European trip, recorded in Belgium, Germany and Britain with pianists Harold Mabern, Martial Solal and others.

The lineup of instrumentation during Montgomery’s performance in Belgium began with Montgomery as guitar with pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Arthur Harper and drummer Jimmy Lovelace. Dressed in black suits and skinny ties, his quartet interprets five songs beginning with John Coltrane’s “Impressions” translated to guitar. Followed by “Twisted Blues,” “Here’s that rainy day” then “Jingles” and ending with “The boy next door” that can be appreciated as an enjoyable ballad.

The performance exhibits a fluidity, drive and connection between the members of the quartet. The songs vary from the fondness on romantic ballads and soft Latin shuffles on “The boy next door” or the classic swingers like “Jingles” to the drive with plenty of heat and stylish, fast-paced jazz on the other tunes.

During this course we have been asked to watch different concerts and hear some jazz songs, but in my opinion, this was even though a short concert my favorite, and Montgomery’s guitar adaption to “Impressions” the best jazz melody. The heat and drive of the songs its enjoyable and contagious. And of great taste the coordination between the players and I found astonishing the freedom and flow of Montgomery’s guitar while playing.

Analyzing his performance on” Impressions” the listener can notice it has a fast and active melody, it begins with Montgomery on the guitar but quickly followed by the rest of the band. We could consider there is no solos since the guitar is the lead instrument but always have the other instruments in support. Still, Mabern on the piano have a quick follow up with the lead instrument making it almost as important as the guitar. Mabern provides a subtle put symphonic rhythm that outperforms the rest of the band. The concert video provides constant close-ups of Montgomery in a way that makes the audience notice his secrets to the magical sound he makes at a great speed.

On “Twisted blues” we can clearly see the ease in which the players get along with each other as the intro before the main melody is perfectly coordinated between the guitar, the piano and the bass making the drums a background instrument which can hardly be heard. As the song continues from the intro goes into a soft but fast solo from Harper on the bass which is then accompanied with all the other instruments as secondary on a soft volume. As the tune moves on the other instruments start to catch the drift and speed of the bass augmenting the volume of the song.

“Jingles” is a classic swinger style, it starts with a slow intro which keeps getting faster and faster. The melody is fast and drive with plenty of heat. The piano could be considered the main instrument on this song since it’s the one that manage the tempo on the song. Around the middle of the melody the piano start slowing down along with the guitar and bass leading to a solo from the drums. After the solo Mabern returns to lead on the fast tempo until the end which finalize with a sympathetic piano exit finalizing the song....