This alternate take of Miles Davis's "Tune Up" from Wes Montgomery's 1960 album Movin' Along on Riverside Records offers a fascinating comparison to the master take that appeared on the original release. Recorded at a slightly faster tempo of around 258 beats per minute, this ninth take captures the band in a different creative moment on the same material. Montgomery's six-chorus guitar solo follows a similar single-line-to-octaves-to-chords trajectory but with entirely different melodic content, demonstrating the spontaneous nature of his improvisation and the depth of his musical vocabulary. James Clay again contributes four choruses on flute, while pianist Victor Feldman expands to four choruses in this version, suggesting the musicians were feeling particularly inspired during this take. Alternate takes are invaluable for understanding the creative process of jazz musicians, revealing how they approached the same composition from different angles within a single recording session. Comparing this version with the master take illuminates Montgomery's improvisational method and shows that his celebrated building-block approach was not a formulaic trick but a genuine artistic instinct that manifested differently each time. Both takes stand as complete artistic statements in their own right.
