Bags Meets Wes!

Artist: Milt Jackson , and Wes Montgomery
Label: Ojc
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: LP Record

UPC: 025218623414
EAN: 0025218623414
ASIN: B000000YD4

Release Date: 1991-10-08

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Tracks:

S.K.J.
Stablemates
Stairway to the Stars [Take 3]
Stairway to the Stars [Take 2][*]
Blue Roz
Sam Sack
Jingles [Take 9]
Jingles [Take 8]
Delilah [Take 4]
Delilah [Take 3][*]

Similar Items:

Bags and Trane
The Big 3
Wizard of the Vibes
The Wes Montgomery Trio
Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo

Customer Reviews:

A Brilliant Pair.......2007-03-22

This has to be one of my all-time favorite jazz albums, hands down. As the very first notes and the soothing sounds of Philly Joe's brushes come alive, the listener quickly becomes aware that you are entering a realm of pure musical bliss. Wes Montgomery and Milt Jackson complemented each other so well, as they they both loved the blues and added a subtle poignancy to every note they played, especially on "Stairway to the Stars" and also "Delilah". One of the great forgotten records in jazz history that you will go back to again and again.

My "Desert Island" Album!!!.......2006-02-17

'Bags Meets Wes' was one of the first jazz LPs I acquired way back in the 60s, and it's still my all-time favorite. I never tire of listening to the masterful virtuosity and interplay of Wes, Milt, and Wynton Kelly with the able support of Sam Jones and Philly Joe Jones. The opening riff of the first track, S.K.J. (Mrs. Jackson's initials) always blows me away, and keeps me there throughout the rest of the tracks.

You can tell from the grins on Milt's ("Bags") and Wes' faces on the cover photo that something special was going on here when Riverside's brilliant producer, Orrin Keepnews, got these two pals together to record in New York in December 1961.

I have an extensive collection of Wes' recordings, and they're all great, especially his early small group albums for Riverside. Even the later Verve sessions with heavy-handed Oliver Nelson arrangements of sappy pop tunes still show what he could do with lesser material and the confines of a large orchestra chart. But this album is the one I always come back to.

Any fan of jazz guitar, small combos, or aspiring jazz guitarist needs to listen to this album.

Milt & Wes.......2005-11-17

Since this album first came out in 1962, I have seen it come under fire as being a failure of two great (jazz) minds not at their best, not coming together well, but I've never been able to agree with that assessment. I think it's a great album.

The opener, S.K.J., is a medium-slow blues and is not only the highlight of this session, but one of the best things either Milt or Wes ever recorded, in my book. It's a simple A-A-A blues based on a descending scale, and the solos by everyone are as relaxed and natural as could be. Drummer Philly Joe Jones's tasty brushwork is the icing on the cake. BLUE ROZ and SAM SACK are other blues pieces, the latter taken medium-up and featuring the rhythm section. Benny Golson's STABLEMATES gets a nice up-tempo reading, kicked off by a short Jones drum solo, follwed by excellent solos by Wes, Milt, and Barry Harris on piano. This is a solid date all around.

Classic.......2005-09-23

This is a classic work where two genuise collaborate to make magic. It is worthy of any serious jazz collectors' stash.

Great Minds Think and Play Alike.......2004-12-03

A warped vinyl copy finally prompted replacement. Though a purchase of necessity for me, the bonus tracks and judiciously remastered sound of the CD reissue make it an attractive pick-up even for an owner of a vintage LP copy.

To state that Bags makes a more satisfying complement to Wes' musical voice than to Coltrane's (which is not to say that the Jackson-Coltrane session is without its own merits) may be obvious, given their mutual love of that common ground of blues and basic, pretty melodies that, for lack of a better term, was synonymous with "soul jazz" in the late 50's/early 60's. Small wonder that even the normally unfailingly hip, often "in-a-hurry" Philly Joe can't resist providing a big back-beat to the no-holds-barred funk of the three lead soloists (once he settles in behind Wyn Kelly on "Blue Roz," you wish they'd keep it going for another couple of rounds). And listen to Wes comping behind Bags on "Sam Sack," supplying not just chords but infectious riffs.

It's fascinating to hear how this particular rhythm section meshes. Paul Chambers was the paragon of bass players, but listening to Sam Jones' gritty, more focused tone and more unforgiving pulse reminds me that he wasn't far behind the master. And whereas Paul could occasionally lose concentration, going along with the speed-up pulse of Philly Joe or the occasionally yielding one of Jimmy Cobb, Sam keeps Philly Joe in the pocket through all of the musical proceedings here.

Finally, Riverside did admirably by players like these (not to mention Bill Evans and the Adderley brothers). The drums and cymbals may not be as "forward" and the bass and piano as blatantly present as on a Blue Note-Van Gelder date. But the important sonorities have been captured, allowing for a "truer" sound from all of the principals, perhaps most notably Kelley's deft piano touch. The music stays in over-drive, not for an instant wearing out its welcome.

The fact that the bonus tracks are barely distinguishable from the masters hardly matters: more of the same is plenty good enough. (Either take is superior to all other versions--including Clifford's--of Victor Young's "Delilah.")

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