Wynton Kelly Trio & Wes Montgomery Smokin' At The Half Note SHM-SACD

Hybrid Stereo SACD!
Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound!
A Tremendously Important Historic Jazz Record That Pairs Guitar Virtuoso Wes Montgomery With Miles Davis' Rhythm Section - Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb!
Wes Montgomery's stage performances were considered the pinnacle of his brilliant, incredibly influential guitar playing. And none other than Pat Metheny called "Smokin' At The Half Note", recorded in 1965 at the New York club of the same name, the "absolute greatest jazz guitar album of all time". The fantastic guitar solo in Unit 7 alone confirms every letter of this statement.
Montgomery never played with more verve and confidence, supported by the Wynton Kelly Trio. His technique of hitting the strings with his thumb instead of a pick resulted in a round, extended sound. The opening with Miles Davis' No Blues is followed by Tadd Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now" – and Montgomery's ballad interpretations are in the same league as his blues, they are simply outstanding.
An American jazz critic once said that Wes Montgomery was the "best thing that could happen to a guitar." Grand words, one might say quickly racking one's brains to come up with other great names. But after only a few minutes of listening to this live recording made in 1965 at the Half Note in New York, you will forget your brain-storming and concentrate on the unfused performance of this brilliant guitarist and the superb Wynton Kelly Trio. The music which gets down to the nitty-gritty, is always cool and straight with no fuss or frills getting in the way; the message comes over clearly--and it makes the blood surge through one's veins!
This is timeless music that has inspired innumerable jazz guitarists and aficionados. In fact, jazz guitar great Pat Metheny has said, "I learned to play listening to Wes Montgomery's Smokin' At The Half Note." Metheny additionally said that the solo on "If You Could See Me Now" is his favorite of all time.
This legendary session was recorded at a New York nightclub. It captures Montgomery at the height of his improvisational powers. Many consider it the best performance on record by one of the most inventive guitarists in jazz history.
Highlights include the Miles Davis opener, "No Blues" and the following track, Tadd Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now." And the album's versions of "Unit 7" and "Four On Six" have helped to establish these songs as jazz standards.
Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound from the original master tapes to vinyl and PCM. The DSD was sourced from the PCM. George listened to all of the different A/D converters he had before he chose which to use, and he felt the George Massenburg GML 20 bit A/D produced the best and most synergistic sound for the project.
This title is an SHM-SACD. This format is the further development of the single-layer SACD and uses a particularly light-transparent plastic (S uper High Material). This results in significantly better readability of the pit-land structures on the surface than is possible with hybrid SACDs. Universal's SHM-SACDs are generally digitized from the master tapes of the albums to DSD without any changes. SHM-SACDs can be played on any SACD player. Please note: All titles are designed by Universal Music as limited edition collector's items for the Japanese market.

Features:

• Super Audio CD
• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• This Hybrid SACD contains a 'Red Book' Stereo CD Layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players!
• Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound from the Original Master Tapes to Vinyl & PCM. The DSD was Sourced from the PCM
• Original Verve Label Recording
• Made in Japan

Musicians:

• Wynton Kelly, piano
• Wes Montgomery, guitar
• Paul Chambers, bass
• Jimmy Cobb, drums

Selections:

1. No Blues
2. If You Could See Me Now
3. Unit 7
4. Four On Six
5. What's New