Wes Montgomery

The record that made him famous, cut with Tommy Flanagan, Percy Heath, and Albert Heath. The octave technique and thumb-picked tone arrive fully formed on "Four on Six" and "West Coast Blues." Won the 1960 DownBeat critics poll and still the first record most people hear.

Hank Jones on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Ray Barretto's congas add a Latin lift to several tracks. A quartet-plus-percussion date that swings harder and looser than the more famous Riverside records around it.

The organ trio format with Mel Rhyne and Jimmy Cobb, closing out the Riverside years on a soul-jazz note. "Besame Mucho" and "Days of Wine and Roses" show how much ground he could cover without a horn in sight.

The first Verve album and the start of the Creed Taylor orchestral period. Johnny Pate's charts are more sympathetic than the format required, and "Caravan" shows Wes cutting through a full orchestra without losing an ounce of authority.

Many call this the definitive jazz guitar record. Verve sent a tape machine to the Half Note club, and the Wynton Kelly Trio with Wes Montgomery delivered a live document where Kelly's comping anticipates Wes's every move before he plays it.

A second tape from the same working band, recorded at Seattle's Penthouse club less than a year after the Half Note dates and left unheard for five decades until Resonance Records issued it in 2017. Ron McClure sits in for Paul Chambers; Kelly and Jimmy Cobb are still there.

Claus Ogerman's charts run the Verve formula at full efficiency, mixing pop titles with careful originals. "The Shadow of Your Smile" is the record's high point, Wes finding the bittersweet center of the song with his usual precision.

Don Sebesky's arrangements and a program of pop and Beatles covers made this one of the best-selling jazz albums of the decade and won Wes a Grammy. The record that pushed him furthest into the crossover Creed Taylor had been steering him toward for years.