Title: Portraits in Jazz ( A Tribute to Wes Montgomery)
Label: 7 Arts / Radioland
Genre: Jazz
Jazz Review by Scott Yanow
Ever since his emergence in 1959, Wes Montgomery has been a major influence on other jazz guitarists. Wes was greatly touched by Charlie Christian's singlenote bop lines, although by mastering octaves and developing a slightly different sound, he was able to stand out a bit from the influence. On this consistently swinging set, six different Canadian guitarists pay homage to Montgomery by performing two songs apiece with a trio; there are eight standards plus four originals in Montgomery's style. All of the guitarists (Peter Leitch, Reg Schwager, Ed Bickert, Rob Piltch, Ted Quinlan and Sonny Greenwich) were influenced by Wes's sound, although Greenwich has long had his own slightly different style. The trios, except in the case of Piltch (who utilizes organist Doug Riley in addition to drummer Bob McLaren) , feature the lead soloist accompanied by bass and drums. Of the dozen selections, Leitch's rendition of "If I Should Lose You," Quinlan's "Wes Blues" and Bickert's swinging version of "Whisper Not" are highlights. This wellconceived tribute set is worth searching for.
Track listing
● 1 Reg Schwager Trio Siblings of Groove 5:47
● 2 Ed Bickert Trio September Song 5:32
● 3 Rob Piltch Trio 'Round Midnight 8:10
● 4 Ted Quinlan Trio Wes Blues 5:20a
● 5 Sonny Greenwich Trio The Best Thing for You (Would Be Me) 4:59
● 6 Peter Leitch Trio J.L.M. 5:52
● 7 Ed Bickert Trio Twisted Blues 3:55
● 8 Ted Quinlan Trio Whisper Not 5:14
● 9 Rob Piltch Trio Descendants 6:32
● 10 Reg Schwager Trio Far Wes 5:20
● 11 Sonny Greenwich Trio Summertime
ABOUT THE RELEASE
Ed Bickert was 63 years old when he participated in Portraits in Jazz (A Tribute to Wes Montgomery) with five other outstanding players all connected in one way or another to Montgomery, including Peter Leitch, Red Schwager; who spent time with George Shearing, the always inventive Sonny Greenwich, Rob Piltch, and Ted Quinlan.
The Bickert session was particularly eventful. Each guitarist was allotted three hours with rhythm section to record two songs, - sessions stretching over two days.
Bickert blew reams of smoke, circled his chair, would look down at his hard body Telecaster then stare out into the unknown. Time being a factor neither co-producer Greg Sutherland or I knew how to approach. We let things ride. About a half hour in the engineer says, “Ed are you ready now.” Ed looks up half startled and says, “Oh!” Then sits down messes a bit with amp sound, rocks back and forth a bit, puts away his cigarette then looks back at control room. We knew time had come to start recording. It was “September Song.”
It’s been twenty years since those sessions and every time I hear Ed’s take on this
I realize we captured one of the finest moments ever in a studio.
Not long after, Ed suffered a debilitating fall on rock hard ice. The injury left him on the sidelines until his retirement in 2000.
At 83, Ed is still regarded alongside Lennie Breau two of the greatest Canadian exports the jazz world has ever encountered!
Bill King
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