Bags Meets Wes![LP]

Personnel: Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Wes Montgomery (guitar); Wynton Kelly (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York, New York on December 18 & 19, 1961. Originally released on Riverside (9407). Includes liner notes by Joe Goldberg. Digitally remastered by Steve Hoffman. Personnel: Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Wes Montgomery (guitar); Wynton Kelly (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York, New York on December 18 & 19, 1961. Originally released on Riverside (9407). Includes liner notes by Joe Goldberg. Digitally remastered using 20-bit K2 Super Coding System technology. Personnel: Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Wes Montgomery (guitar); Wynton Kelly (piano); Sam Jones (bass instrument); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Liner Note Author: Joe Goldberg. One of the classic hard-bop collaborations, BAGS MEETS WES! presents guitarist Wes Montgomery and vibraphonist Milt “Bags” Jackson in an excellent 1961 session. Montgomery’s warm, rootsy tone and blues-derived style provided a perfect complement to Jackson’s intellectual, traditional bop approach, and the two achieve natural, sometimes scintillating dialogues on this date. Backed by a hard-to-beat band–pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Philly Joe Jones–Bags and Wes play largely in a blues mode here, with plenty of stretching out over the 12-bar progressions. Jackson’s “S.K.J.” kicks off the set, and proves one of the highlights, as does Montgomery’s “Jingles,” an up-tempo, minor-key groove-laden song on which the co-leaders unfurl vibrantly melodic lines during their solos.