!Shoot-out! Herb Alpert/TjB vs. Wes Montgomery (1967 - 1968): "For Carlos" (aka "Wind Song")

Which version is your favourite?

  • Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass ("For Carlos")

    Votes: 7 63.6%
  • Wes Montgomery ("Wind Song")

    Votes: 4 36.4%

  • Total voters
    11

JOv2

Well-Known Member
  • Here is the third of three suggested by LPJim
  • Vote for your favourite version and tell us a bit about why you made your selection. (The selections are listed in release order.)

 
These two are both really good, but I have to go with Herb. Back in the day when I was trying to play the trumpet, "For Carlos" was probably the easiest song to play along with the record. It also let me use my mute for a change.
 
Wes's brisk version by a longshot--the TJB version is too gloomy and too heavy.
 
Wow...almost like two completely different songs! It's almost impossible for me to choose one over the other...it would have to depend on whatever mood I might be in as I was listening. I don't find the TJB version to be a dirge; it's kind of melancholy in places, but it's supposed to be a tribute or maybe a requiem. There's a drive to the TJB version, interrupted by contrasting soft passages...the whole thing reminds me a lot of "Bud" from Herb Alpert's Ninth even though this piece was written at least a year earlier and by different people.

Wes version is totally different to my ears. It seems that the tempo is a little faster and the overall mood is much more upbeat...I keep thinking of dandelion seeds blowing across a meadow in a gale just before a rainstorm, but it's all good...just Ma Nature doing her thing in a white peasant dress. Maybe the major/minor chord resolutions have a little more weight here.

I can certainly see why the song was renamed for Wes' record.

Well, I gotta pick a fave...so, I'll go with Herb and the guys...it's obvious that Herb thought very highly of Carlos Arruza, and the TJB version reflects that, so that makes just enough of a difference for me to vote for it.
 
Even though Wes's version was the First I heard thanks to the Music box Lp which I first heard in 1982 via as a checkout at the public library the reading credits told me there had to be a TJB version and a few years later I found the SRO lp and bought it and when For Carlos played I remembered it as Wind song normally the first version I hear I vote for but in this case I voted for Herb's Version because as he and A couple TJB members were credited as the composers on both versions i proffered Herb's Version slightly over Wes's and the retitled Version Wind song was also a good one this shoot out was another tough one but still fun nonetheless
 
I align with Dan on this one: They really are two different songs with two different musical goals. For Carlos is an emotively gorgeous tone poem to a passing bullfighter replete with sombre, solitary sections. Conversely, Wind Song is a breeze along PCH (i.e., CA-1) between Malibu and Pt. Mugu in a '67 Cougar ragtop.

Both are A++. I abstain.
 
I would have to go with Wes Montgomery on this one. I like that the vamp in the middle doesn’t go on for four minutes, like it does in many jazz recordings; and Herb’s is one of my less-favored songs on S.R.O.
 
Both versions are outstanding. I went with Herb's version as it was the original. I always thought SRO was the best TJB album, and "For Carlos" was the sleeper on the album. I like the moodiness and serenity of this version, and it's one of my top ten favorite TJB tunes. I do recall however, putting on the Montgomery lp and being really happy about his remake of the song. Wes recorded quite a few TJB tunes.
 
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