Wes Montgomery - In The Beginning (2014)

In the Beginning features recordings of Wes Montgomery spanning the years 1949 to 1958, the formative years when the six-string virtuoso was honing his craft in Southern Indiana. Since Wes Montgomery’s passing in 1968, only two other albums of predominantly unreleased material have been released: Willow Weep for Me (Verve, 1968) and Echoes of Indiana Avenue (Resonance, 2012). Resonance Records is pleased to introduce the third such archival offering with In the Beginning.

Tracklist:

CD1:

01. After You've Gone (Creamer-Layton) - 5:01
02. Fascinating Rhythm (Gershwin-Gershwin) - 4:23
03. Brazil (Barroso) - 4:14
04. What Is There to Say? (Duke-Harburg) - 5:47
05. Four (Davis) - 5:30
06. Wes' Tune (Montgomery) - 6:07
07. My Heart Stood Still (Hart-Rodgers) - 5:58
08. How High the Moon (Lewis) - 5:13
09. Django (Lewis) - 5:53
10. Going Down to Big Mary's (Turner) - 3:26
11. I Should Care (Cahn-Stordahl-Weston) - 3:24
12. Caravan (Tizol-Ellington) - 4:51
13. Six Bridges to Cross (Chandler-Mancini) - 2:52
14. Ralph's New Blues (Jackson) - 6:58

CD2:

01. Soft Winds (Goodman) - 12:00
02. Robbins' Nest (Jacquet-Thompson) - 12:30
03. A Night in Tunisia (Gillespie-Paparelli) - 5:18
04. Love for Sale (Porter) - 3:55
05. Leila (Montgomery) - 2:59
06. Blues (Montgomery) - 3:20
07. Undecided (Robin-Shavers) - 3:10
08. Far Wes (Montgomery) - 3:24
09. All the Things You Are (Kern) - 12:05
10. King Trotter (Morris) - 2:37
11. Carlena's Blues (Parker) - 2:50
12. Smooth Evening (Johnson) - 2:54

Personnel:

CD1#1-13:
Wes Montgomery - guitar
Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson - tenor saxophone (#1-9,13)
Buddy Montgomery - piano
Debbie Andrews - vocals (#10,11)
Monk Montgomery, John Dale (#8,10,11) - bass
Sonny Johnson - drums
Recorded live at the Turf Club, Indianapolis on August 22 (#1,3), August 25 (#2,4-7,9,12,13), November 8 (#10,11), November 20 (#8), 1956.

CD1#14:
Wes Montgomery - guitar
Jack Coker - piano
Buddy Montgomery - vibes
Sonny Johnson - drums
Recorded live at the home of Ervena Montgomery, Indianapolis on September 8, 1956.

CD2#1-3:
Wes Montgomery - guitar
Melvin Rhyne (#1), Richie Crabtee (#2,3) - piano
Flip Stewart - bass
Paul Parker - drums
Recorded live at the Missile Lounge, Indianapolis on November 22, 1958.

CD2#4-8:
Wes Montgomery - guitar
Buddy Montgomery - piano
Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson - tenor saxophone
Monk Montgomery - bass
Robert "Sonny" Johnson - drums
Recorded at Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York on June 15, 1955.

CD2#9:
Wes Montgomery - guitar
Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson - tenor saxophone
unknown band
Recorded live at C&C Music Lounge, Chicago, IL in 1957.

CD2#10-12:
Wes Montgomery - guitar
Roy Johnson - bass
Douglas Duke - piano
Gene Morris - tenor saxophone
Earl "Fox" Walker - drums
Recorded at Spire, Fresno, CA in 1949.