Milt Jackson and Wes Montgomery - Bags Meets Wes ! - Keepnews Collection

One of the classic hard-bop collaborations, BAGS MEETS WES! presents guitarist Wes Montgomery and vibraphonist Milt "Bags" Jackson in an excellent 1961 session.

Montgomery's warm, rootsy tone and blues-derived style provided a perfect complement to Jackson's intellectual, traditional bop approach, and the two achieve natural, sometimes scintillating dialogues on this date. Backed by a hard-to-beat band--pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Philly Joe Jones--Bags and Wes play largely in a blues mode here, with plenty of stretching out over the 12-bar progressions. Jackson's "S.K.J." kicks off the set, and proves one of the highlights, as does Montgomery's "Jingles," an up-tempo, minor-key groove-laden song on which the co-leaders unfurl vibrantly melodic lines during their sol