Historically, there’ve been two camps of jazz guitar: acoustic Gypsy Django Reinhardt and electric pioneer Charlie Christian. But the swing and hard bop of Wes Montgomery required a third path, and 55 years after his death, nobody has stepped in to make it a quartet. Though he lived only 45 years, the Indianapolis native left a wealth of recordings guitarists have devoured ever since. Living up to its name, 1965’s partially live Smokin’ At The Half Note with pianist Wynton Kelly is one of the most iconic.

Now, the just-released Maximum Swinging consists of 17 songs recorded at the same Manhattan club later that year. The main selling point is that Wes is heard freely taking chorus after chorus of inventive solos. But with audience noise, widely varying audio, and an obtrusive host/deejay, a legitimate question is, would Montgomery want this released? Most artists would prefer less-than-perfect-fidelity material not surface. On the other hand, did Wes gobble up the tapes of Christian jamming at Minton’s Playhouse or alternate takes of Charlie Parker? No doubt.

The playing here mostly overcomes such issues. As just one example, the original “Cariba,” incorporating slurs, speedy double-picking, and his trademark octaves, illustrates Montgomery’s true mastery.

This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.