WES MONTGOMERY — Bumpin' (review)

WES MONTGOMERY — Bumpin' album cover Album · 1965 · Pop/Art Song/Folk Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
js
“Bumpin” is a fairly typical 60s Verve/Creed Taylor album, sporting a beautiful gatefold album cover that houses well produced, but fairly commercial music that mixes jazz and pop elements. Some of these Verve albums are better than others, "Bumpin" has its moments, but its not one of the best, nor is it the worse either. The talented Wes Montgomery is the star and its no big surprise to see that Don Sebesky is the arranger. Sebesky is often the make or break on these songs as his orchestrations range from clever and modern, to over-done and syrupy sentimental.

The album opens with two of the best cuts, “Bumpin” is cool noire swing blues and Sebesky’s strings add perfect dark touches, and “Tear it Down” is one of the few ‘real jazz’ cuts on here with Montogomery taking a nice hard bop solo. Although “Tear it Down” isn’t a pop number, you still get the idea that Wes is being coached to take it easy. The following two cuts are classic 60s easy listening with “Con Aolma” being a pleasant listen with its Latin groove, harp glissandos and pizzacato string accents, but “A Quiet Thing” is unbearable in its massive sentimental schmaltz.

Side two continues with more cuts in the Latin flavored easy listening vibe with “Here’s that Rainy Day” featuring another well done, but relaxed guitar solo. The album closes out with “Musty”, another swing based blues that allows Wes to play some nice blues/jazz licks, but the song keeps getting swamped with Sebesky’s heavy handed strings. There are probably a few cuts on here that are of interest to Wes Montgomery fans, and a few more that might interest fans of 60s artsy easy listening and exotica, but there are a few cuts on here that are pure fluff, or worse. The title cut is the best, and makes for quite a find for the collector of interesting instrumentals. If you find this record for as cheap as I did, its worth it for that one track alone, plus there are a few other cuts that aren't too bad either.
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