Incredible Jazz Guitar.
This album contains one of the best performances on jazz guitar! Solos on No Blues and Impressions are simply unbelievable...His guitar must have been on fire after those performances.

Beyond Brilliant! This is just smokin hot!!!
Talk about a foursome! This is one of my top twenty favorite albums. Anyone who plays the guitar needs to purchase this album just to hear why many consider Wes to be the greatest guitar player in jazz history. I was actually turned on to this album by a buddy of mine who played guitar for a speed metal band. He was in awe, just as I was the first time I heard it and everytime I hear it to this day! However, it's not just Montgomery that shines. The rythm section of Cobb, Kelly and Chambers just might be the best you will ever hear. They are simply flawless and this is a 'live' album to boot. Chambers is my second favorite bass player right behind Mingus and he has never been better. I always thought that Jimmy Cobb was one of the most underated drummers of his time. This is also my favorite work of Wynton Kelly. His piano playing compliments Montgomery perfectly. All four of these artists brought their 'A' game to the table during this live session (augmented by a couple of studio tracks as well) and it really shows throughout. This one is truly special and everytime I hear it I enjoy it more than the last time (I always pick up something new!). I will not pretend to be a music and/or jazz scholar, nor am I a musician. I am however, someone who has listened to thousands of albums of all types of music (rock, jazz, soul, ska, punk, reggae, rap, country, bluegrass, folk, classical, etc...) and yet nothing puts a smile on my face and serenity in my soul like this does. All I have to say is thank you to the heavens for creating such wonderful artists who created such wonderful sounds. Beautiful music like this truly does help alleviate the pain and ennui of living in today's not so beautiful world.

Guitar god
with so many great guitar players referring to him as their favorite it was time to delve into jazz (a music I never really found myself loving - aside from bits of Django- )but after a couple of listens it's easy to overlook the grandiose over dramatic piano solos and buzzy bass noise.

This is a great album - Montgomery at first sounds choppy by comparison to Django who always struck me as just pure fluidity.
M. seems to want you to hear every note, clear and strong - his tone is very basic - a big jazzbox clearly amped - and you can hear him wide open - each formula piece of his lyrical leads is done with such casual ease you'd think it was something programmed. Players say he was "on" this night - and when you get your ear tuned to the musical style "be-bop" I guess - you can hear him fiddling with "salt-peanuts" and other brass instrument lines that come from his hands with ease.

a great album.
even for a die-hard punk enthusaist.

The very finest guitar album ever made
I'm a guitarist and composer, and while I am not a huge fan of jazz, this is one of my top ten records of all time. I can think of no other record that captures the feeling of being onstage, peforming with great musicians. Every single second is filled with brilliance. Montgomery is beyond comparison. When I was jsut 15, I met B.B. King and he played me a cut off of this record. I quickly bought my own copy, and have worn out several over the years. A must have. Quite a gift from the band to all of us who love music.

One of two Wes Classics
This cd and "Full House" are Wes Montgomery's two best cd's, and they are both live. If you like the one, get the other. If you have both, buy anything Wes did on Riverside. All those cd's are great!