When it comes to jazz guitar, there are two players whose names are about as iconic as it gets: Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. Two new entries to Craft Recordings’ outstanding “Original Jazz Classics” (OJC) reissue series are out this week and I can’t recommend them highly enough. As with all OJC titles, the albums are pressed on 180-gram vinyl at the highly respected RTI manufacturing. They feature all-analog (AAA) mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and are presented in a Stoughton “tip-on” style jacket.
Wes Montgomery: The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
This jazz guitar essential has long been my favorite of the artist’s many releases. How important is this album? Well, for starters it is listed in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry (according to the Wiki: “a list of sound recordings that ‘are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States'”)!
Original pressings of this album are hard to find in any sort of good condition for reasonable prices so the $38.98 price point on Amazon is well worth it. The sound quality is outstanding, sounding richer and warmer than my beloved SACD copy of the album (I long ago gave up hope trying to find a clean stereo copy on vinyl).
I’m pretty sure they used the same tapes as there are small drop outs moments on “West Coast Blues” on both versions, but it is not a deal breaker for me. The RTI pressing is excellent — quiet and well centered. And they reproduce the original black stereo Riverside Records label design so it feels about as close to an original pressing as one might hope for.
The only curious detail I noted from a bit of online sleuthing via online music marketplace Discogs is that the aqua colored banner at the top of the album cover is a design issued in Japan in 1962. The US editions would have had a beige banner. Curious! But other than that this is great release.
So many great tunes here such as “Four On Six,” listening again with fresh ears I can hear why many of Mr. Montgomery’s later post Riverside albums have not really resonated with me. This may well be his peak moment…
Joe Pass: Virtuoso
I was a little perplexed when I first learned that Craft was reissuing a 1973 Joe Pass album on Pablo Records. While I’ve long appreciated Pass’ work with others, his own albums have generally left me a bit flat so I stopped exploring them.
My bad, as they say…
This one is apparently is considered to be one of his best. I have to say, it took me aback how wonderful this recording sounds! It is just Joe’s solo guitar playing in the studio and beautifully captured for the ages.
It almost sounds at times like he’s playing an acoustic guitar but given the cover photo I suspect its just a really well engineered recording of his electric guitar. I suspect it was made using multiple microphones, so they found a nice blend capturing the woody sound of his instrument as well as the richness of the amplifier tones.
That said, this one is a keeper. A gorgeous 12-song set of jazz standards such as “Night & Day,” “How High The Moon” and “‘Round Midnight.” As audiophile releases go, it doesn’t get more pure than a compelling album of solo guitar by one of the masters of the instrument.
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
