Wes Reimagined (Ubuntu Music)
Nigel Price Organ Trio
Released June 2021
Jazzwise Top 10 Releases of 2021
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kBZINE-l8p_yNo2GXDrIMGVgfs_OTc51A
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7FPDnDQOgSGfTqzjxVJWrK?si=rkBL2_mCQkiYf50LK2xmfQ
About:
I
make no secret of the fact that I’m a big Wes Montgomery fan. Who isn’t?? I’ve
found his compositions to be great vehicles for jazz improvisation, especially
used in the organ trio format.
I couldn’t wish to have a better or more exciting team than Ross Stanley and
Joel Barford to help me convey this material. We have some fantastic guests
too: longtime collaborator Vasilis Xenopoulos on tenor saxophone, the wonderful
Tony Kofi on alto and the legend that is Snowboy on percussion on five of the
tracks.
This album is a collection of the great man’s tunes, played in the same spirit
but with a little look at what might have been.
Some decisions as to what ‘feel’ a piece will be in are made very quickly,
sometimes on the day of a recording session. I got to thinking there was every
chance that many of these tunes could have easily come out sounding very
different if Wes had just been in an alternative frame of mind on the day. Hey,
I haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel in any way – it’s just a kind of ‘what
if?’
So, ‘Leila’ moves from a cool ‘west coast’ vibe to an out and out burner, ‘Far
Wes’ to a waltz and ‘’Road Song’ from a groovy bossa to a raucous shuffle.
That’s the concept here – the same but different!
I also think that Wes’s honest, direct and melodic style directly influenced a
lot of the funk, soul, boogaloo and earthy groove music that was to come
shortly after his passing. I have no doubt that he would have been at the
forefront of that movement. I’ve therefore intertwined some of these later
styles with Wes’s music. ‘Cariba!’, originally a groovy bossa becomes a kind of
JB’s ‘Doin’ it to death’ feel with perhaps a bit of the Hendrix track ‘Rainy
day, dream away’ in there too. ‘Twisted Blues’ becomes a no nonsense boogaloo
with a nod to George Benson’s grooving track ‘Benson’s Rider’ and ‘Movin’
Along’ a straight funk.
Wes was clearly a fan of the bossa nova movement in the early sixties and the
marriage of his bluesy and simplistic writing with the fresh ‘straight eighths’
feels made for some really memorable records. I know there was much more
mileage in this style and I’m sure there would have been a samba or two in the
repertoire before long had he not left us at so prematurely. One of Wes’s most
well known themes ‘Jingles’ gets the proper treatment, featuring the talents of
Snowboy on congas and surdo. ‘Monk’s Shop’ (written by Wes’s brother Monk)
translates well into this style too.
I wanted too, to acknowledge the later period of Wes’s recordings so I
commissioned the utterly incredible trombonist/arranger Callum Au to write
three string quartet arrangements and transform some pieces into larger
productions. ‘So Do It!’, originally the swinging theme to Ed Beach’s 60s radio
show, now takes the form of a down tempo bolero with some achingly beautiful
string passages. Wes recorded the ballad ‘I’ve grown accustomed to her face’ on
the live album ‘Full House’ and I wondered what this would sound like with a
more epic treatment. I wasn’t quite prepared for the depth and beauty of
Callum’s incredible writing, not to mention the wonderful playing from the Phonograph
Effect strings. ‘Cariba’ is subtly transformed to a higher plane with the
quirky pads and jabs from the strings. This is really great and tasteful
writing.
We were incredibly lucky to have been able to tour this material at the end of
last year (a real achievement in 2020!) and it’s proved to be very popular with
audiences all across the UK.
What started out as a little daydream has become an exciting body of work of
which I am very proud. I must say it turned out even better than I imagined…
Massive thanks to Ross, Joel, Vasilis, Tony, Snowboy, Callum and The Phonograph
Effect strings for their incredible musicianship as well as their great vibe in
the studio. A big hand too for the professionalism of Ben Lamdin at the Fish
Factory, Stingray Davies at Big Noise, Chris Barker and Darren Rumney for their
great work on the cover, Peter Beckmann at TechnologyWorks, Graham Esson at
Fibonacci and Stewart Ward at Award/Session. A special thanks to Martin Hummel
at Ubuntu for his patience, understanding and belief in the music.
Thanks most of all must go to Wes Montgomery, without whom this record would
never have existed.
Track Listing:
1. Cariba! (Wes Montgomery) 06:40
2. Leila (Wes Montgomery) 06:01
3. Jingles (Wes Montgomery) 05:41
4. Far Wes (Wes Montgomery) 05:08
5. So Do It! (Wes Montgomery) 04:45
6. Movin’ Along (Wes Montgomery) 07:45
7. Monk’s Shop (Monk Montgomery) 04:28
8. Road Song (Wes Montgomery) 06:14
9. Twisted Blues (Wes Montgomery) 05:59
10. I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face (Alan Lerner / Frederick Lowe) 07:10
Personnel:
Nigel Price: guitar
Ross Stanley: B3 Hammond organ
Joel Barford: drums
Vasilis Xenopoulos: tenor saxophone
Tony Kofi: alto saxophone
Snowboy: congas, bongos, surdo, shekere, whistle
Callum Au: string arrangements and trombone
Phonograph Effect Strings
Violin 1: Kay Stephen
Violin 2: Anna Brigham
Viola: Elitsa Bogdanova
Cello: Chris Terepin
Recorded on September 7th – 8th 2020, at the Fish Factory, London, UK
Percussion overdubs September 30th 2020, at Big Noise, Southend, UK
String overdubs on October 20th 2020
Mixed by Ben Lamdin and Nigel Price
Mastered by Peter Beckmann
Produced by Nigel Price
Executive Producer: Martin Hummel
Review:
This is Price’s most impressive recording to date. He thinks so, too. He told Jazzwise (in our December 2020 issue): ‘I’m absolutely knocked out by it’.
And rightly so. As its title implies, this is Price looking afresh at compositions by his hero Wes Montgomery, and re-casting them in ways that he feels Wes might well have considered. Or welcomed. Add to that, Price’s decision to enlist Au to create discrete string arrangements for three of the 10 numbers and then to enlist Snowboy to splice in percussion effects, and you can see that this surpasses anything else that he has done up to now.
‘Cariba!’, once a bossa nova, gets pleasingly raucous treatment, Stanley’s organ riffs presaging a lively run-down, both horns blazing, the stomping tempo and Price’s zip giving this a Harlem club vibe, strings attached. ‘Leila’ has the quartet with tenor upfront, moving fast, this more like the regular Price output, all bubbling lines and collaborative action.
The much-loved ‘Jingles’ benefits from Snowboy’s expertise, its intricate theme prompting Price’s creativity as Stanley unfurls his neat lines and Vasilis weaves his way through. ‘Far Wes’ is a waltz now, and calmer while ‘So Do It’ is serene, Kofi sinuous, the strings and Snowboy’s percussion imparting their own soft cushioning, the theme sibilant and pleasing. ‘Movin’ Along’ does just that, the riff uppermost and ‘Monk’s Shop’ is another rouser, Kofi triumphant. Wes recorded but didn’t write, ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face’: it receives a subdued but perfectly poised reading by Price himself, Stanley and the strings his faithful followers.
Peter Vacher (Jazzwise)
