JAZZ ICONS: WES MONTGOMERY LIVE IN '65

Series 2; Featuring Harold Mabern

Wes Montgomery

Jazz Icons: Wes Montgomery shines a light on one of the most unique and influential guitarists in music history. These beautifully filmed programs from the spring of 1965 feature Wes, in intimate studio settings, leading three different lineups through some of his best-known tunes, including Four On Six, Jingles and West Coast Blues. This rare footage, complete with rehearsals, between-song banter and closeup camera angles, illuminates Wess extraordinary musical vocabulary and unconventional picking technique. An in-depth, song-by-song analysis by legendary jazz guitarist Pat Metheny makes this DVD a guitar lovers dream.

From Liner Notes by Pat Metheny: "There are many pleasures with this particular footage, including the lush and beautifully recorded sound. Yet the highlight for me is the opportunity to watch Wes in action in between the tunes as a bandleader.....As far as I know, this footage of Wes setting up the tunes and his detailed explanation of The End Of A Love Affair to the guys, is some of the most extensive footage of him talking and just hanging out that there is. What a treat it is to see this side of Wes in action. To a person, every account of Wes's personality that I have ever heard describes him as being a genuinely warm, funny and energetic man despite his otherworldly skills and talent. (I can personally pay testament to his generosity and goodness from my own brief encounter with him as an awestruck 13-year-old who asked him for his autograph in April 1968 at the Kansas City Jazz Festival-he spent some time talking to me and was kind beyond description)..... The highlights in fact are the intro and outro to the show where Wes plays a beautiful unaccompanied version of his West Coast Blues. On the outro, we are given the same fantastic, over the shoulder, almost players point-of-view shot of Wess thumb that occurs occasionally throughout this program. Every detail of his thumb technique is revealed, including the several backstrokes on the fast triplet phrase in the melody mixed in with the more prominent downstrokes that he was famous for. For these moments alone, this footage is priceless."

The 7 volume Jazz Icons Series 2 features classic performances from some of the greatest legends of the past 50 years, captured in their prime in various locations from the 1950s through the 1970s. The DVDs are transferred from the original masters, and each DVD features a 24-page booklet with an essay written by an authoritative jazz historian as well as rare and unseen photos. The series is produced with the full support and cooperation of the artists or their estates, many of whom are contributing rare personal photographs, memorabilia, and forewords. These concerts have never been officially released on home video, and in many cases, the material was never broadcast. We are very proud to present all of these DVDs.

"This is like the discovery of a bonanza of previously unknown manuscripts of plays by William Shakespeare." Nat Hentoff, Wall Street Journal.

"These historic DVDs are among the most important visual/aural documents to be mined from the ever-yielding, seemingly hidden jazz treasury. Now, most importantly, they are available to the entire world." Ira Gitler, co-author, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz (Oxford)

"Considering the almost alarming proliferation of jazz DVDs on the market today, and their extremely variable quality, it is good to know that Reelin In The Years can be trusted to bring viewers nothing but the best in content and presentation." Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University; author, Living With Jazz (Pantheon Books)

Contents:

Holland 1965:
1. I Love Blues
2. Nica's Dream
3. "Love Affair" Rehearsal
4. The End Of A Love Affair

Belgium 1965:
1. Impressions
2. Twisted Blues
3. Here's That Rainy Day
4. Jingles
5. Boy Next Door

England 1965:
1. Four On Six
2. Full House
3. Here's That Rainy Day
4. Twisted Blues
5. West Coast Blues

Features:

20-page booklet
Liner notes by Pat Metheny
Foreword by the Montgomery family
Afterword by Carlos Santana
Cover photo by Lee Tanner
Booklet photos by Duncan Scheidt, Chuck Stewart
Memorabilia collage

Musicians