wes montgomery

The recordings on Echoes of Indiana Avenue show an artist still developing a musical voice while on the verge of taking the jazz world by storm. Billed as the first full album of unreleased music by Montgomery in 25 years, it marks an era of his career that has yet to be represented. The story behind these recordings explains why some of the details surrounding the sources are vague. Through a listing on eBay, these tracks caught the attention of producer Michael Cuscuna. He then made arrangements to acquire the tapes and contacted the Montgomery estate. It was in 2010 that Cuscuna began working with George Klabin and Zev Feldman to begin piecing details together to determine the origin of these recordings.

After their research, they concluded that this music was recorded in three different sessions—one in the studio and two at live dates—that occurred before Montgomery’s 1959 debut album on the Riverside label. Joining Montgomery were his brothers, bassist Monk and pianist Buddy, pianist/organist Mel Rhyne, drummer Sonny Johnson, and other Indiana locals. As Cuscuna points out in the liner notes, because these recordings had no corresponding information, we can never be 100 percent sure of the true story.