Craft Recordings is set to release an expanded edition of Wes Montgomery’s classic 1962 album Full House.
Recorded at Tsubo coffee house in Berkeley, Calif., the new edition celebrates his centennial and commemorates the legendary jazz guitarist’s only live session for Riverside Records. It features performances by Montgomery and his band that includes tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb.
The Complete Full House Recordings includes a variety of alternate takes and outtakes, including two previously unreleased performances: an alternate take of Montgomery’s “S.O.S.” and the complete unedited master take of “Full House,” with the restoration of Montgomery’s original, but previously replaced, guitar solo. Also included is a previously unreleased take of the title track, whereas the original LP version was a composite of two takes. Alternate takes of “Cariba,” “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Blue ’N’ Boogie,” all previously released on either Wes Montgomery: The Complete Riverside Recordings or The Alternative Wes Montgomery are included, alongside two versions of Mel Tormé’s ballad “Born to Be Blue.”
The session took place after Riverside’s founder and producer Orrin Keepnews booked the band at the short-lived Tsubo, which turned into the storied folk and blues club Jabberwock. The band’s set on June 25, 1962, became a hybrid of a recording session and a concert, in which the band played multiple takes of each tune. The set was remastered from the original analogue tapes by Joe Tarantino, with lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.
“Full House captures Wes at the top of his game,” journalist and author Bill Milkowski writes in the liner notes, “as he electrifies the audience of students, jazz fans and hipsters with his inventive and inherently melodic improvisations, propelled by the superbly swinging rhythm section.”
