Smokin' At The Half Note - Wes Montgomery & Wynton Kelly Trio (1965)

a selection of live albums I love

Jazz music is based on invention and interaction, so there are probably as many live albums in the classic jazz canon as there are studio sessions. So it’s a definite choice to only include one jazz album on my run of live albums. I could (and probably will) do a different run of just jazz live albums at some point

To make it more confounding, this record originally featured more studio tracks than actual live cuts from the titular Half Note club because the label was unhappy with the quality of the live recording.

But this is a favorite of mine, and the more modern versions on streaming contain most of the Half Note set. The live tracks feature a radio presenter in places, so I’m assuming it had been set up for live broadcast, but I can’t find a lot of detail.

Montgomery (-_-) was one of the great jazz guitarists in the era before it was a common lead instrument in jazz. His quick, lyrical playing could dominate a track but could also leave room for his collaborators.

Here those collaborators are the top-notch trio of pianist Wynton Kelly, basist Paul Chambers (-_-), and drummer Jimmy Cobb. The four do a great job balancing each other out, and Wes carves the space he needs to make this much more than just a piano trio date with a guitar.