West Coast Blues
Context
Composed by Wes Montgomery, "West Coast Blues" opens the album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, recorded in New York on January 26 and 28, 1960, for Riverside with Tommy Flanagan and the Heath brothers. In Down Beat, Ira Gitler sees it as an example of swing outside the four-beat measure and gives the album five stars, which leads him to place Montgomery first in the critics' poll.
In the genealogy of jazz
This track belongs to Hard bop. Among the origins and influences of Hard bop: Blues, spirituals, work songs, Bebop (Minton's, Monroe's).