Fusion! Wes Montgomery with Strings

Fusion! Wes Montgomery with Strings
Studio album by
Released1963
RecordedApril 18–19, 1963
StudioPlaza Sound Studios, New York City
GenreJazz
Length42:39 (reissue)
LabelRiverside
ProducerOrrin Keepnews
Wes Montgomery chronology
Full House
(1962)
Fusion! Wes Montgomery with Strings
(1963)
Boss Guitar
(1963)

Fusion!: Wes Montgomery with Strings is an album by the American jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, released in 1963.

History

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Fusion was the first album Montgomery recorded with a string section. This would become more commonplace on his later releases on the Verve and A&M labels.[1][2]

It has been reissued in the Original Jazz Classics series with additional alternate takes and all the tracks are also available on the Wes Montgomery compilation CD-set The Complete Riverside Recordings.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]

In his AllMusic review, music critic Scott Yanow praised the album: "As with his later albums, Montgomery's guitar solos here are brief and melodic but the jazz content is fairly high even if the emphasis is (with the exception of 'Tune Up') on ballads... worth picking up; the music is quite pretty and pleasing."[1]

Track listing

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  1. "All the Way" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn) – 2:39
  2. "Pretty Blue" (Wes Montgomery) – 3:40
  3. "Pretty Blue" [Alternate take] (Montgomery) – 2:58
  4. "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" (Mann, Hilliard) – 2:51
  5. "Prelude to a Kiss" (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Irving Gordon) – 3:08
  6. "The Girl Next Door" (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 3:08
  7. "My Romance" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 2:31
  8. "God Bless the Child" (Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr.) – 3:19
  9. "Tune Up" (Miles Davis) – 3:14
  10. "Tune Up" [Alternate take] (Davis) – 5:09
  11. "Tune Up" [Alternate take] (Davis) – 4:44
  12. "Somewhere" (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim) – 3:30
  13. "Baubles, Bangles & Beads" (George Forrest, Robert Wright, Alexander Borodin) – 2:19

Personnel

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Production notes:

References

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  1. ^ a b c Yanow, Scott. "Fustion! Wes Montgomery with Strings > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
  2. ^ Woodard, Josef (July–August 2005). "Wes Montgomery: The Softer Side of Genius'". JazzTimes.
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 146. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1026. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
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