I remember listening to “Four on Six” for the very first time…
I was 14 and my teacher gave me a tape with some of Wes’ most famous tunes. I started to listen and I remember saying to myself: “uhm…this tune shouldn’t be too hard too play, I think I’m going to learn it and transcribe the solo…”. So, I sat down and, note after note, I learned the head (melody) and the solo. Very soon I realized how beautifully built the melodies were and how modern they sounded! I learnt so much from breaking down each line and trying to internalize it.
It was when I decided to play my own solo over those changes that it became clear to me it would take me a long time to emulate Montgomery’s sound. Anyway, many years later (around 2004?), I decided I was ready to give it a shot and record my own version.
So I called some of the musicians I was working with at the time (Pawel Wysota on bass, Dominic Mullan on drums and Denis Wyers on tenor sax) and asked them to to join me in the studio. At first, we struggled a bit to get the sound right so we played several takes until we were happy. Result? Not too bad at all I must say…the recording is quite short but overall we managed to hit the tune with the right energy…
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