An extensive two-year road trip with Lionel Hampton (1948-1950) ultimately lead a young Wes Montgomery back to his home town of Indianapolis and a decade as a semi-pro musician where it seems that every time he appeared at a local venue tapes were rolling. In contrast to similar archival recordings that often feature Wes in the company of his brothers Buddy and Monk, plus Alonzo ‘Pookie’ Johnson, here he’s captured fronting the trio of that much underrated pianist from Chicago, Eddie Higgins. As to be expected with any private amateur recording there can be noticeable deficiencies, in this instance not with the actual performance, but the audio quality which occasionally afflicts the piano: but don’t let that deter you. That aside, once again it is apparent that before he signed to Riverside on Cannonball Adderley’s insistence Wes Montgomery’s unique signature style was intact – he usually constructed his solos by opening with single note progressions, which segued quite effortlessly into his penchant for double-stop octaves and finally block chords. All this and much more is laid out on the half-dozen well-chosen tracks. ‘Give Me The Simple Life’ is a rousing opener, but ‘Li’l Darlin’ and ‘Ruby, My Dear’ (which is intertwined with ‘Laura’) are two particular stand-outs. To their credit Resonance has taken it upon itself to act as guardians of this early part of the Wes Montgomery legacy and I believe there’s more to come.