Wes Montgomery Willow Weep For Me CD

Mini LP Jacket. Remastered

Personnel includes: Wes Montgomery (guitar); Claus Ogerman (arranger, conductor); Wynton Kelly (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Jimmy Cobb (drums).
Producer: Esmond Edwards.
Reissue producer: Bryan Koniarz.
Principally recorded live at the Half Note, New York, New York in June 1965. Includes liner notes by Richard Lamb.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Personnel: Wes Montgomery (guitar); Wynton Kelly (piano); Jimmy Cobb (drums).
Liner Note Author: Rich Lamb.
Recording information: Half Note, New York, NY (06/22/1965-10/08/1968); New York, NY (06/22/1965-10/08/1968).
Photographer: Charles Stewart.
Arranger: Claus Ogerman.
Shortly after Wes Montgomery's shockingly early death, Verve rummaged around in the vaults and came up with some additional tapes from the live Smokin' at the Half Note sessions with the Kind of Blue rhythm section, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. And then after-the-fact producer Esmond Edwards did a controversial thing -- he commissioned Claus Ogerman, the arranger on Tequila, to overdub wind and brass arrangements on four tracks: the title tune, "Portrait of Jennie," "Oh! You Crazy Moon," and "Misty." The critics promptly pounced on Verve, NARAS responded by giving the album a Grammy, and the whole issue became moot when subsequent reissues of the four tracks erased the new backing charts. Yet on the whole, Ogerman did a good job; his arrangements are subtle and, in the case of the title track, swinging, with the flutes adding effective responses within Montgomery's statements of the theme. "Impressions," oddly enough, was left alone -- perhaps due to its lightning tempo -- and this classic solo has since been reissued many times as the prime example of Montgomery in his Verve period. "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" and an alternate take of "Four on Six" (with a bad edit cutting off Kelly's solo in mid-flight) are also free of orchestrations. In any case, what you will hear, bathed in winds or not, is prime, mature Wes Montgomery stretching out in full, with unbelievable confidence in his ear and technique at all times, experimenting now and then with mild electronic effects devices. The sound is oddly dim and shallow on the LP, which is surprising since the Smokln' album sounded so good. ~ Richard S. Ginell
Wes Montgomery's live sessions at the Half Note in 1965 were widely acclaimed when they were finally released in 1969, the year after his death. With an outstanding rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, Montgomery's playing is clearly stimulated, though this straight reissue of the original LP unfortunately restores the unnecessary overdubbed brass and woodwinds arranged by Claus Ogermann on three of the tracks (which were removed from these songs on an earlier Verve compilation Smokin' at the Half Note). Highlights include cooking interpretations of "Impressions" and "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top," while the low point is the obvious after-the-fact addition of Ogermann's work in "Oh, You Crazy Moon." The improved sound of this 2002 reissue makes up for the shortcomings of the return of Ogermann's superficial additions. ~ Ken Dryden