Full house – two aces over three kings. Perfect.
On the night of June 25th 1962 Wes Montgomery played a gig at the Tsubo in Berkeley* backed by three members of Miles Davis’ sextet** and a passing Johnny ‘Little Giant’ Griffin.
Full House, played to an appreciative full house too.
Like 80.35% of all the jazz I have discovered in adulthood Full House was leant to me by my friend Martin a couple of years ago and Wes Montgomery was sold to me as the only man who could be considered a potential equal of Grant Green in the field of jazz guitaristics.
Like 80.96% of all LPs Martin lends me, I bought my own copy before I had finished playing it for the first time.
I have to confess that the guitar is not really in my top rank of jazz instruments, a prejudice I inherited from my mum. I don’t own any Grant Green^ and aside from Full House my jazz guitar collection is limited to a solitary Kenny Burrell LP along with an Alan Holdsworth mini-LP. Wes wins.
I have read and utterly failed to understand various learned screeds about why Montgomery’s playing is so unique, you know stuff along the lines of ‘he played octave fourths arpeggiated across a descending vista of backhanded string bending syncopated third nodules’. It’s the sort of thing that very occasionally puts me off writing about jazz. Unfairly in this case as Full House is gloriously welcoming and easy.
A quick word about the band, you didn’t get to survive playing for Miles unless you were an apex musician with a strong individual flavour. The three tetters here, Paul Chambers on bass, Wynton Kelly on piano and Jimmy Cobb on drums are simply sublime. They all routinely dazzle throughout Full House, by which I mean they drive and embellish every single moment on it, without ever being showy.
If you want showy Johnny ‘Little Giant’ Griffin is your man and I mean no slight at all by that. His tenor sax playing is fierce and yet contained on every cut here, he plays with real intent like a disciplined young gunslinger with something to prove, albeit always in the service of the tune.
Opening with the title track Full House is a great move, this LP fizzes into being, all slinky strutting and clever syncopation melded together in a great tune. Before you really register the fact Montgomery has swished past you with a wonderfully gentle, unshowy, smooth solo which cleaves so closely to the melody you don’t get that separation from the song’s main body that I dislike; that whole ‘Behold my virtuosity, mortal!’ thing.
I also rather enjoy the audience applause after some of the solos and passages. What a wonderful thing this would be transposed into everyone’s workplace. An approving round of applause everytime I finish an audit, or draft a particularly affecting report would really enliven my quotidian travails no end.
The solo reading of ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face’^^ is nothing shy of beautiful. Wes plays with such delicacy and lyricism on this cut that I defy the listener not to see sunshine and smell roses while it plays.
The weakest cut on Full House is ‘Blue ‘n’ Boogie’, which bops fast but ultimately in this company is lesser, despite being the beneficiary of Griffin’s fiercest blowing on this LP.
In contrast ‘Cariba’ is amazing, a fast Latin-gilded treat with a wonderful swinging quality, Jimmy Cobb is unobtrusively excellent on this one. Wes’ solos are lyrical and so expressive. Every time I listen I am mystically transported to a beach-front dancefloor, throwing out fancy footwork to an adoring crowd of admirers and paramours; an all too typical Monday night out for me.
The suitably optimistic ‘Come Rain Or Come Shine’ is illuminated by some great flowing sax by Griffin, that switches seamlessly into yet another understated Montgomery solo. The more I listen I think there is almost a self-deprecating manner about his playing which makes it even more appealing.
Full House signs off on a brisk note with ‘S.O.S’, Griffin playing fast sat astride a galloping rhythm section. There’s a note of real soul about this track and Montgomery plays his fastest solo here, to great affect.
My copy of Full House is an unnecessarily long 3LP version, featuring all manner of other takes than the ones used on the LP proper. Its never quite explained how this was done, how live was it? did they record several sets? or just multiple takes?
To my ears it is all a bit superfluous and a lovely bluesy track called ‘Born To Be Blue’ aside, it dilutes rather than adds any real value for me. Demos, alternate takes etc. usually do.
I commend Full House to any of you out there who like jazz, who like guitar, who like melody, who like yourselves. It really is a delicious treat, a great document of the confluence of 5 huge talents combining in the service of one man’s rather unassuming genius.
1288 Down.
*closed only 4 months after the gig it reopened as the Jabberwock and played a role in the folk and early psych scene. The site is now a garden, which is a far nicer fate than I had expected it to have.
**unsure if these three comprise the sex, or indeed the tet.
^fact true at time of writing, not necessarily so at time of reading.
^^from 1537-approved musical My Fair Lady.