Willow Weep for Me

1969’s Willow Weep for Me is almost certainly not the album Wes Montgomery would have made had he lived to see its release, but in the wake of his death the album stands as a both a tribute to and consummation of the guitarist’s ‘60s output. The album consists of outtakes from 1965’s Smokin’ At the Half Note, which featured a top notch band (Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb), and is considered by many to be the pinnacle of Montgomery’s career. The higher-ups at Verve hired Claus Ogerman (who had worked with Montgomery in the past) to overdub orchestral arrangements on the songs, but mercifully, those additions were deleted on subsequent edition except for the title song. The rest of the songs — recorded in late June 1965 at the Half Note Club in New York City — are superlative, a bittersweet reminder of how much was lost when Montgomery succumbed to a heart attack at age 45. The shivering “Oh, You Crazy Moon” displays his impeccable feel for mood, but it is “Four on Six” that will forever testify to the naturalistic touch he used to master his instrument.