Here is a unique and important album that honours the golden decade of Hard Bop and its greatest guitarist Wes Montgomery, a musician of extraordinary natural talent, whose influence on jazz has grown exponentially since his death in 1968.
The challenge for guitarists in taking on Montgomery is considerable, and few have dared. The format of organ, guitar and drums (OGD) is hugely demanding for interpreters, never mind that it’s so firmly encoded in the consciousness of the jazz aficionado.
Fernando Marco is a multifaceted musician with an extensive and successful career; he is a teacher and music producer and has a kaleidoscopic collection of recordings published under his Blau Records label. “Four on Six”, his latest album, rises brilliantly to the challenge of Montgomery. As an enthusiast of Wes Montgomery, Marco has carefully selected the themes and versions, reformulated arrangements and adapted the mechanisms – single notes, octaves and block chords – into a very coherent execution with well-chosen Wes-style references. Marco on the guitar, joins Gerard Nieto on the Hammond B3, Joe Strasser on the drums, and with Harry Allen, on the tenor sax, as a special guest on four of the seven tracks. Nieto is a prestigious player with a classical training and is a recognized multi-instrumentalist. From the console of the B3, Nieto paints a broad palette of sound textures; Joe Strasser is undoubtedly an extraordinary drummer, and Harry Allen is one of the mainstays of the international jazz scene, due to his fantastic sound and exquisite technique.Jingles; starts very fast, with solos of saxophone, guitar and organ that skirt to the “up tempo”, and a solo from Strasser that is perfectly anchored to the melody. The nearness of you; a formidable version of the ballad composed by Hoagy Carmichael, full of beauty and sensitivity that begins with Allen playing over Marco’s delicate harmonic base. Four on Six; the title of the album is executed perfectly with colourful and spectacular solos. Estate; this well-known Italian standard allows the beautiful guitar intro to give the melody to the saxophone with a rooted comping from the organ. Bock to Bock; by Buddy Montgomery, originally recorded in 1957 is of notable difficulty but little known. The B3 enters with an abrasive sound that soon turns to velvet, then a powerful solo guitar and a round of dynamic exchanges with the drums.Road Song; also known as OGD, is a key part of Marco’s repertoire and sees Allen provide the precise musical muscle to propel it towards a universal and unmistakeable jazz. Sundown; a stimulating shuffle, has the combo almost bordering on rhythm and blues with spectacular solos from Marco, Nieto and Strasser.
The intelligent reinterpretation on this album of five emblematic Montgomery themes, along with the addition of two great ballads strategically placed on the track list, takes this into the realm of the most genuine of hard bop. And as usual with Blau Records there is a powerful and specific sound, reminiscent of Van Gelder, the mythical engineer who defined the sound of jazz.
Toni Gallen, January 2020