Wes Montgomery - Classics, Volume 22 (1987)

Guitarist Wes Montgomery recorded only three albums for the A&M label before his untimely death at age of 45 in 1968:

• A Day In The Life, 1967
• Down Here On The Ground, 1968
• Road Song, 1968

All three albums were recorded at the Van Gelder Studio and produced by Creed Taylor with arrangements by Don Sebesky or Eumir Deodato. This early CD compilation collects tracks from those three albums in addition to five previously unissued selections. Notable musicians on these tracks include Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Hubert Laws, among others.

Most cuts are brief covers of pop tunes with little room for improvisation, but they proved to reach more of an audience and even if Montgomery's old jazz purist fans didn't care much for it, his accountant certainly did. As mentioned in the CD's liner notes by Peter Keepnews of The New York Times, "he was happy to be making big money for the first time in his life." The entire compilation, like most Creed Taylor productions, is easy on the ears and I enjoy all 67 minutes of it.

Following this 1987 edition released as part of the A&M Records 25th Anniversary Series, the compilation was reissued two additional times featuring the same track selection and sequence, but with different album art. In 1991, it was reissued as part of the A&M Gold Series, and again in 1996 as part of the A&M Backlot Series.

Peak on the US Billboard 200 album chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

	Title	Album
1	California Nights	A Day In The Life
2	Windy	A Day In The Life
3	Switchin'	previously unreleased
4	I Say A Little Prayer For You	Down Here On The Ground
5	Yesterday	Road Song
6	Pata Pata	previously unreleased
7	Wind Song	Down Here On The Ground
8	Butterfly	previously unreleased
9	Georgia On My Mind	Down Here On The Ground
10	Hello Young Lovers	previously unreleased
11	Fly Me To The Moon	Road Song
12	Road Song	Road Song
13	A Day In The Life	A Day In The Life
14	Down Here On The Ground	Down Here On The Ground
15	When A Man Loves A Woman	A Day In The Life
16	Eleanor Rigby	A Day In The Life
17	Where Have All The Flowers Gone?	Road Song
18	Know It All (Quem Diz Que Sabe)	Down Here On The Ground
19	My Favorite Things	Previously unreleased
20	Scarborough Fair (Canticle)	Road Song

My top picks today are Windy, I Say A Little Prayer for You, Butterfly, and Know It All.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
A Day In The Life (1967)

Previously revisited in the A&M Records 25th Anniversary Series:

Volume 1, Herb Alpert
Volume 6, Chuck Mangione
Volume 18, Sergio Mendes