- A Day in The Life (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
- Watch What Happens (Michel Legrand/Norman Gimbel/Jacques Demy)
- When A Man Loves A Woman (Calvin Lewis/Andrew Wright)
- California Nights (Marvin Hamlisch/Howard Liebling)
- Angel Wes Montgomery)
- Eleanor Rigby (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
- Willow Weep for Me (Ann Ronell)
- Windy (Ruthann Friedman)
- Trust in Me (Ned Weaver/Milton Ager/Jean Schwartz)
- The Joker (Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley)
Bonus
11. Switchin’ (aka Up and At It) (Wes Montgomery)
12. Hello, Young Lovers (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II)
Wes Montgomery – guitar
Herbie Hancock – piano
Ron Carter – bass
Grady Tate – drums
Ray Barretto, Jack Jennings, Joe Wohletz – percussion
Ray Alonge – French horn
George Marge, Romeo Penque, Joe Soldo – bass flute
Phil Bodner – woodwinds
Stan Webb – bass flute, woodwinds
Julius Brand, Peter Buonconsiglio, Mac Ceppos, Lewis Eley, Harry Glickman, Harry Katzman, Leo Kruczek,
Gene Orloff, Tosha Samaroff, Sylvan Shulman, Harry Urbont, Jack Zayde – violin
Harold Coletta, Emanuel Vardi – viola
Charles McCracken, Alan Shulman – cello
Margaret Ross – harp
Produced by Creed Taylor
Arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky
Tracks 01-10: Originally issued as A&M LP 2001 (mono) and A&M SP 3001 (stereo)
also issued as UN DIA DE TANTOS (A&M/Hispavox HDA 371-11 [Spain]) and
UN DIA EN LA VIDA (A&M/Tizoc TAAMM-22001 [Mexico], A&M X-5034/X-6034 [Argentina])
Tracks 11-12: Originally issued on CLASSICS VOLUME 22 (A&M CD-2520) and GREATEST HITS (A&M 31454 0519 2)
Recorded on June 6 (01, 04), June 7 (02, 03, 05, 06, 08, 10, 11, 12), and June 26 (07, 09), 1967, at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
01 and 06 published by Northern Songs Ltd. (BMI)
02 published by New Thunder Music Co./Universal Songs of Polygram International Inc. (BMI)
03 published by Mijac Music/Quinvy Music Publishing Co., LLC (BMI)
04 published by EMI Full Keel Music (ASCAP)
05 and 11 published by Taggie Music Co. (BMI)
07 published by Ann Ronell Music (ASCAP)
08 published by Irving Music (BMI)
09 published by Warner Bros., Inc. (ASCAP)
10 published by Musical Comedy Productions (BMI)
12 published by Williamson Music Co. (ASCAP)
(P) 1967, 1987, 1996
John Leslie Montgomery (1925-68) didn’t pick up a guitar until he was 19 years old. After rigorously teaching himself to “play quiet” – using his thumb instead of a plectrum – he joined Lionel Hampton’s band and developed one of the most original sounds on guitar since his hero, Charlie Christian. “His emotional range is enormous,” enthused Gene Lees of Wes Montgomery.1 And his melodic sensibility is boundless, too, whether riffing on the blues or sensitively tackling a ballad. Montgomery jetted to jazz acclaim once Cannonball Adderley recommended the guitarist to Riverside Records, where Orrin Keepnews captured him in several memorable and critically well-received settings. By 1964, Creed Taylor had nabbed Montgomery, placing the guitarist in front of large orchestras, playing much more popular fare. Wes Montgomery became a star, scoring hit after hit, and gaining a wealth many of his peers could only envy. Of course, jazz purists were appalled that Montgomery should enjoy such success at the expense of his artistry. But the guitarist felt his success was due to his artistry. His music was reaching more listeners; he didn’t care what the critics thought. Montgomery recorded six hugely successful and popular albums for Verve (plus two albums with Jimmy Smith) before joining Creed Taylor at A&M/CTI for the last three albums of his career.
The first of these, A Day in the Life, was released at the same time as Wave in the autumn of 1967. It reunited the guitarist with arranger Don Sebesky, who arranged two of Montgomery’s Verve albums. It’s a genuinely pleasing affair, whether you listen to it for the fun of the pop or the joy of the jazz. While Wes is the only soloist throughout, he is backed by a first-class dream team of supporters including Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Grady Tate on drums.
The title song, the intriguing, trippy and eloquent Beatles tune, receives a positively dazzling reading here. Montgomery is exceptional on guitar and Sebesky provides one of the most transfixing arrangements in his oeuvre to this point, beautifully balancing flutes and vibes with perfectly punctuating strings. It’s amazing to consider that Montgomery didn’t even know the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band song when he recorded it here; he plays it as though he knows and understands it from deep within. Together, Hancock and Carter lay down a blues foundation that roots the guitarist to some of his most impassioned playing. And Grady Tate mesmerizes. Sebesky closes the piece with a seemingly more optimistic rejoinder to George Martin’s nightmarish “end of the world” orchestral flourish.
Additional highlights here include Wes’ lightly Latin “Angel,” the only original on the set; the perfectly bluesy take on Ann Ronell’s 1932 jazz standard “Willow Weep for Me” (Montgomery recorded the tune live in 1965 but that version wasn’t issued until 1968, after the guitarist’s death); and the lovely “Trust in Me,” not The Jungle Book song covered on the later Soul Flutes album, but rather the 1932 classic made popular by Mildred Bailey (and covered by Beyoncé in 2008). Wes makes hay with several notable show tunes here including the breezy bossa of “Watch What Happens,” from Michel Legrand’s score to the 1964 film musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (and a hit – with English lyrics by Norman Gimbel – for Andy Williams in 1965) and Anthony Newley’s “The Joker,” from The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (also 1964). The hit parade is represented by such well-selected radio fare as the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” (1966), Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” (1966), Lesley Gore’s “California Nights” (1967) and the Association’s “Windy” (1967). Praises due, too, to Sebesky for his simpatico achievements on the title track and especially tasteful string work on “When A Man Loves A Woman,” “Angel,” “Eleanor Rigby” and “The Joker.”
The album’s release prompted Montgomery to be voted #1 Guitarist in the 32nd Annual DownBeat Reader’s Poll. In an ad promoting the album, Wes thanked his fans for the award with some particularly arch Beatlesque gratitude: “It’s wonderful to be here. It’s certainly a thrill. You’ve been a lovely audience. I’d love to take you home with me – thank you for seeing me home…You are too much!”2 A Day in The Life wound up reaching number one on Billboard’s jazz chart, number two on the Soul chart and an astonishing number 13 on the Top 200. The album’s single, “Windy,” became the guitarist’s biggest hit when it peaked at number 44 in the Hot 100. Montgomery’s cover of “Eleanor Rigby” was additionally nominated for a Grammy Award – losing to Mason Williams’s “Classical Gas” – while A Day in the Life was the only A&M/CTI album to be certified RIAA Gold for sales of $1 million (awarded to Herb Alpert in 1969). Paul McCartney himself is said to have been so impressed with “A Day in the Life,” that he sent an advance copy of “Let it Be” to Creed Taylor in appreciation. Taylor tapped the song for Hubert Laws’ first CTI single (unfortunately without Sebesky), managing to get it issued the week before The Beatles’ own version of the song was released.3
About the cover: “Cigarette Butts” (1963). Turner had just broken up with a girlfriend and this photo captured that long night’s journey into day: “You could say it was ‘a day in my life.’”4 There is real despair coming out of those ashes, with the lipstick-stained filters, butted-out Lucky Strikes and lone burnt match. Here, perhaps, it represents the anxiety of the age. But if it’s not resignation and regret depicted – no one worried about cancer back then – one could read the image as either (positively) conveying the guitarist’s “smokin” delivery or (negatively) suggesting the production’s butting out of the soloist’s artistic flame.
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