Four on Six
Wes Montgomery
Montgomery's octave technique is on full display here — that unmistakable sound of a melody played simultaneously an octave apart, achieved not with a plectrum but with the fleshy pad of his thumb, which gave the tone a warmth that no pick could replicate. The original composition has a coiled, urgent energy, and Montgomery plays it with a loose-limbed swagger that makes technical virtuosity feel like the most natural thing in the world. Wynton Kelly's piano and the rhythm section lay down a groove that is simultaneously relaxed and propulsive — the kind of swing that makes you feel the floor has become slightly more generous beneath your feet. This is quintessential hard bop: urban, optimistic, grounded in the blues tradition while reaching toward something more harmonically complex. It belongs to smoky rooms, to the mid-evening energy of a week that has finally gotten interesting. For the uninitiated, it is perhaps the single best introduction to what made Montgomery extraordinary — not just speed or range but an organic musicality that made every phrase feel inevitable.
fast
1960s
warm, swinging, dense
American jazz, hard bop urban tradition
Jazz. Hard Bop. euphoric, confident. Starts with coiled, urgent energy and builds through increasingly virtuosic improvisation into an exuberant celebration of musical possibility.. energy 8. fast. danceability 7. valence 8. vocals: instrumental. production: jazz guitar octaves, upright bass, drums, piano comping, tight swinging rhythm section. texture: warm, swinging, dense. acousticness 7. era: 1960s. American jazz, hard bop urban tradition. Mid-evening when the week has finally gotten interesting and the room needs music that makes the floor feel more generous beneath your feet.