About

Released in 1966 on Verve Records, Jimmy & Wes (The Dynamic Duo), captures the only full-length studio collaboration between Hammond B3 organist Jimmy Smith and guitarist Wes Montgomery. Produced by Creed Taylor and arranged by Oliver Nelson, Jimmy & Wes brought together two of jazz’s most distinctive voices in an expansive big band setting. Recorded over three days in September 1966 at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs studio, the sessions featured a brass-and reed-heavy ensemble and a top-tier rhythm section with drummer Grady Tate and bassist Richard Davis. Montgomery’s melodic guitar lines and Smith’s fiery organ grooves find a vibrant setting in Nelson’s tight, punchy arrangements — rich in harmonic color and rhythmic drive. The program blends originals and standards, including Smith’s bluesy “James and Wes” and a reimagined “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” transformed into a simmering, minor-key vamp. Nelson’s orchestrations give the album cinematic sweep without sacrificing the interplay between its stars. The result is a rare meeting of two jazz giants, captured during a period of broad popular success, with the added presence of one of the era’s most accomplished arrangers.

The Verve Vault series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. — (via Label)

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Creed Taylor matched two of his most famous artists, Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith, on this session (Montgomery's last for Verve), and the results are incendiary — a near-ideal meeting of yin and yang. Smith comes at your throat with his big attacks and blues runs while Montgomery responds with rounder, smoother octaves and single notes that still convey much heat.

They are an amazing pair, complementing each other, driving each other, using their bop and blues taproots to fuse together a sound. The romping, aggressive big band charts — Oliver Nelson at his best — on "Down by the Riverside" and "Night Train," and the pungently haunting chart for Gary McFarland's "13" (Death March)" still leave plenty of room for the soloists to stretch out. "James and Wes" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside" include drummer Grady Tate and conguero Ray Barretto, with Smith's own feet working the organ pedals.

The Verve Master Edition reissue also includes an alternate take of "O.G.D." with Tate and Barretto, a track previously surfacing on a long-gone Encyclopedia of Jazz anthology LP from the '60s — a neat bonus that makes this the preferred version. — (via All Music)

Vinyl Tracklist
A1 Down By The Riverside 
A2 Night Train 
B1 James & Wes 
B2 13 (Death March)
B3 Baby, It’s Cold Outside

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Label: Verve Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo, Gatefold, 180 gram
Reissued: 2025 / Originally Released: 1966
Genre: Jazz
Style: Post Bop

File under: Audiophile Jazz
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