Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery, 1965
Background information
Birth name John Leslie Montgomery
Born March 6, 1923(1923-03-06)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died June 15, 1968 (aged 45)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Genre(s) Soul jazz, contemporary jazz, crossover jazz, mainstream
jazz, jazz pop, hard bop
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s) Guitar
Label(s) Riverside, Verve, CTI
Notable instrument(s)
Gibson L-5 CES
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (6 March 1923 - 15 June 1968)[1] was an
American jazz guitarist. He is generally considered one of the major
jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django
Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others,
including Pat Martino, George Benson, and Pat Metheny.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Technique
3 Recording career
4 Discography
4.1 Riverside ( 1959-1963 )
4.2 Verve ( 1964-1966 )
4.3 A&M ( 1967-1968 )
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Biography
Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He came from a musical
family; his brothers, Monk (string bass and electric bass) and Buddy
(vibraphone and piano), were jazz performers. The brothers released a
number of albums together as the Montgomery Brothers. Although he was
not skilled at reading music, he could learn complex melodies and
riffs by ear. Montgomery started learning guitar relatively late, at
the age of 19, by listening to and learning the recordings of his
idol, guitarist Charlie Christian. He was known for his ability to
play Christian solos note for note and was hired by Lionel Hampton for
this ability.[1]
Many fellow jazz guitarists consider Montgomery the greatest influence
among modern jazz guitarists. Pat Metheny has praised him greatly,
saying "I learned to play listening to Wes Montgomery's Smokin' At The
Half Note." In addition, Metheny stated to the New York Times in 2005
that the solo on "If You Could See Me Now," from this album is his
favorite of all time. Joe Pass indicated that, "To me, there have been
only three real innovators on the guitar--Wes Montgomery, Charlie
Christian, and Django Reinhardt," as cited in James Sallis's The
Guitar Players and in his Hot Licks instructional video. In addition,
George Benson attests, "Wes had a corn on his thumb, which gave his
sound that point. He would get one sound for the soft parts, and then
that point by using the corn. That's why no one will ever match Wes.
And his thumb was double-jointed. He could bend it all the way back to
touch his wrist, which he would do to shock people." Kenny Burrell
states, "It was an honor that he called me as his second guitarist for
a session." In addition, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, Joe
Satriani, Jimi Hendrix, David Becker, Joe Diorio and Pat Martino have
pointed to him numerous times as a great influence.
Following the early work of swing/pre-bop guitarist Charlie Christian
and gypsy-jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, Wes joined Tal Farlow,
Johnny Smith, Jimmy Raney, and Barney Kessell to put guitar on the map
as a bebop / post-bop instrument. While these men generally curtailed
their own output in the 1960s, Montgomery recorded prolifically during
this period, lending guitar to the same tunes contemporaries like John
Coltrane and Miles Davis were recording. While many Jazz players are
regarded as virtuosos, Montgomery had a very wide influence on other
virtuosos who followed him, and in the respect he earned from his
contemporaries. To many, Montgomery's playing defines jazz guitar and
the sound that learners try to emulate.
Dave Miele and Dan Bielowsky claim, "Wes Montgomery was certainly one
of the most influential and most musical guitarists to ever pick up
the instrument....He took the use of octaves and chord melodies to a
greater level than any other guitarist, before or since....Montgomery
is undoubtedly one of the most important voices in Jazz guitar that
has ever lived-or most likely ever will live. A discussion of Jazz
guitar is simply not thorough if it does not touch upon Wes
Montgomery." (Jazz Improv Magazine, vol 7 # 4 p. 26).
"Listening to [Wes Montgomery's] solos is like teetering at the edge
of a brink," composer-conductor Gunther Schuller asserted, as quoted
by Jazz & Pop critic Will Smith. "His playing at its peak becomes
unbearably exciting, to the point where one feels unable to muster
sufficient physical endurance to outlast it." Wes received many awards
and accolades: Nominated for two Grammy Awards for Bumpin', 1965;
received Grammy Award for Goin' Out of My Head as Best Instrumental
Jazz Performance by Large Group or Soloist with Large Group, 1966;
nominated for Grammy Awards for "Eleanor Rigby" and Down Here on the
Ground, 1968; nominated for Grammy Award for Willow, Weep for Me,
1969. Wes' second album, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery,
earned him Down Beat magazine's "New Star" award in 1960. In addition,
he won the Down Beat Critic's Poll award for best Jazz guitarist in
1960, '61, '62,'63, '66, and 1967. (NPR.org, September 26, 2007).
Montgomery toured with Lionel Hampton early in his career, however the
combined stress of touring and being away from family brought him back
home to Indianapolis. To support his family of eight, Montgomery
worked in a factory from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, then performed in local
clubs from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am. Cannonball Adderley heard Montgomery in
an Indianapolis club and was floored. The next morning, he called
record producer Orrin Keepnews, who signed Montgomery to a recording
contract with Riverside Records. Adderly later recorded with
Montgomery on his Pollwinners album. Montgomery recorded with his
brothers and various other group members, including the Wynton Kelly
Trio which previously backed up Miles Davis.
John Coltrane asked Montgomery to join his band after a jam session,
but Montgomery continued to lead his own band. Boss Guitar seems to
refer to his status as a guitar-playing bandleader. He also made
contributions to recordings by Jimmy Smith. Jazz purists relish
Montgomery's recordings up through 1965, and sometimes complain that
he abandoned hard-bop for pop jazz towards the end of his career,
although it is arguable that he gained a wider audience for his
earlier work with his soft jazz from 1965-1968. During this late
period he would occasionally turn out original material alongside
jazzy orchestral arrangements of pop songs. In sum, this late period
earned him considerable wealth and created a platform for a new
audience to hear his earlier recordings.
Wes Montgomery died of a heart attack on June 15, 1968 in
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.[2]
[edit] Technique
According to Jazz guitar educator Wolf Marshall, Montgomery often
approached solos in a three-tiered manner: He would begin a repeating
progression with single note lines, derived from scales or modes;
after a fitting number of sequences, he would play octaves for a few
more sequences, finally culminating with block chords.[1]
The use of octaves (playing the same note on two strings one octave
apart) for which he is widely known, became known as "the Naptown
Sound". Montgomery was also an excellent "single-line" or
"single-note" player, and was very influential in the use of block
chords in his solos. His playing on the jazz standard Lover Man is an
example of his single-note, octave- and block-chord soloing. ("Lover
Man" appears on the Fantasy album The Montgomery Brothers.)
Instead of using a guitar pick, Montgomery plucked the strings with
the fleshy part of his thumb, using downstrokes for single notes and a
combination of upstrokes and downstrokes for chords and octaves.
Montgomery developed this technique not for technical reasons but for
his wife. He worked long hours as a machinist before his career began
and practiced late at night while his wife was sleeping. He played
with his thumb so that his playing would be softer and not wake her.
This technique enabled him to get a mellow, expressive tone from his
guitar. George Benson, in the liner notes of the Ultimate Wes
Montgomery album, wrote, "Wes had a corn on his thumb, which gave his
sound that point. He would get one sound for the soft parts, and then
that point by using the corn. That's why no one will ever match Wes.
And his thumb was double-jointed. He could bend it all the way back to
touch his wrist, which he would do to shock people."
He generally played a Gibson L-5CES guitar. In his later years he
played one of two guitars that Gibson custom made for him. In his
early years, Montgomery had a tube amp, often a Fender. In his later
years, he played a solid state Standel amp with a 15-inch (380 mm)
speaker.
[edit] Recording career
Montgomery toured with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton's orchestra from
July 1948 to January 1950, and can be heard on recordings from this
period. Montgomery then returned to Indianapolis and did not record
again until December 1957 (save for one session in 1955), when he took
part in a session that included his brothers Monk and Buddy, as well
as trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, who made his recording debut with
Montgomery. Most of the recordings made by Montgomery and his brothers
from 1957-1959 were released on the Pacific Jazz label.[1]
>From 1959 Montgomery was signed to the Riverside Records label, and
remained there until late 1963, just before the company went bankrupt.
The recordings made during this period are widely considered by fans
and jazz historians to be Montgomery's best and most influential. Two
sessions in January 1960 yielded The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes
Montgomery, which was recorded as a quartet with pianist Tommy
Flanagan, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. The
album featured two of Montgomery's most well-known compositions, "Four
on Six" and "West Coast Blues."
Almost all of Montgomery's output on Riverside featured the guitarist
in a small group setting, usually a trio (and always with his organist
from his Indianapolis days, Melvin Rhyne), a quartet, or a quintet,
playing a mixture of hard-swinging uptempo jazz numbers and quiet
ballads. The lone exception, Fusion, telegraphed his post-Riverside
career: it was his first recording with a string ensemble. One of the
more memorable sets involved a co-leadership collaboration with
vibraphone virtuoso and Modern Jazz Quartet mainstay Milt Jackson,
whom producer Orrin Keepnews has said insisted on a collaboration with
Montgomery as a condition for signing a solo recording deal with
Riverside.
In 1964 Montgomery moved to Verve Records for two years. His stay at
Verve yielded a number of albums where he was featured with an
orchestra---brass-dominated (Movin' Wes), string-oriented (Bumpin',
Tequila), or a mix of both (Goin' Out of My Head, California
Dreamin').[1]
But he never abandoned jazz entirely in the Verve years, whether with
a few selections on most of the Verve albums, or by such sets as 1965s
Smokin' at the Half Note (showcasing two memorable appearances at the
famous New York City club with the Wynton Kelly Trio) or a pair of
albums he made with jazz organ titan Jimmy Smith, The Dynamic Duo and
The Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes). He continued to play
outstanding live jazz guitar, as evidenced by surviving audio and
video recordings from his 1965 tour of Europe.
As a considered founder of the Smooth Jazz school the album "Bumpin'"
(1965) represents a model from which many modern recording are
derived: as the liner notes to the CD remaster issue note, after being
unable to produce the desired results by the guitarist and orchestra
playing together, arranger Don Sebesky suggested Montgomery record the
chosen music with his chosen small group, after which Sebesky would
write the orchestral charts based on what Montgomery's group had
produced. Longer clips from all of the tracks on "Bumpin'" and other
Wes Montgomery albums are found on Verve Records website.
By the time Montgomery released his first album for A&M Records, he
had seemingly abandoned jazz entirely for the more lucrative pop
market, though as in his Verve period he played his customary jazz in
small group settings in live appearances. The three albums released
during his A&M period (1967-68) feature orchestral renditions of
famous pop songs ("Scarborough Fair," "I Say a Little Prayer for You,"
"Eleanor Rigby," etc.) with Montgomery reciting the melody with his
guitar. These records were the most commercially successful of his
career, but featured the least jazz improvisation.[citation needed]
He didn't have very long to live to enjoy his commercial success,
however; in 1968, he woke one morning, remarked to his wife that he
"Didn't feel very well," and minutes later collapsed, dying of a heart
attack within minutes. Montgomery's home town of Indianapolis has
named a park in his honor. He is the grandfather of actor Anthony
Montgomery.[1]
Wes and Buddy, along with Richard Crabtree and Benny Barth, formed
"The Mastersounds", and recorded "Jazz Showcase Introducing The
Mastersounds" and a jazz version of "The King and I", both released by
World Pacific Records. They first played together at Seattle,
particularly working up the set for "The King and I", at a club called
Dave's Fifth Avenue. The composers were so impressed by the jazz
version of "The King & I" that they pre-released the score of "Flower
Drum Song" to the quartet to allow simultaneous release with the sound
track album.
[edit] Discography
Wes Montgomery "Tear It Down" (1965)
Sample from Wes Montgomery's "Tear It Down," from the album Bumpin'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
[edit] Riverside ( 1959-1963 )
Wes' recordings for Riverside/Milestone Records, including those made
with The Montgomery Brothers are on the 12CD Box The Complete
Riverside Recordings.[3]
1958: Fingerpickin'
1958: Far Wes
1959: The Wes Montgomery Trio
1959: Yesterdays
1959: Pretty Blue
1960: The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
1960: Cannonball Adderley and the Poll-Winners
1960: Movin' Along
1961: So Much Guitar!
1961: Wes and Friends
1961: Bags Meets Wes! (with Milt Jackson)
1962: Full House
1963: Fusion!: Wes Montgomery with Strings (strings arranged by Jimmy Jones)
1963: Boss Guitar
1963: Guitar On The Go
1963: Portrait of Wes
1963: The Alternative Wes Montgomery (alternate takes for previously
issued albums)
[edit] Verve ( 1964-1966 )
1964: Movin' Wes
1965: Bumpin' (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky)
1965: Smokin' at the Half Note
1965: Goin' Out of My Head (arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson)
1965: Willow Weep for Me (unused takes from the Smokin' at the Half
Note session; overdubbed woodwinds and brass arranged and conducted by
Claus Ogerman)
1966: California Dreaming (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky)
1966: Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes (with Jimmy Smith)
1966: Tequila (arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman)
1966: Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo (with Jimmy Smith)
1970: Eulogy
[edit] A&M ( 1967-1968 )
1967: A Day in the Life (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky) (A&M
Records/CTI Records)
1968: Down Here on the Ground (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky) (A&M/CTI)
1968: Road Song (arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky) (A&M/CTI)
[edit] References
^ a b c d e f Allmusic Biography
^ Wes Montgomery Biography
^ Allmusic overview
[edit] External links
Wes Montgomery Unedited
Wes Montgomery transcriptions
Wes Montgomery discography
Biography at Allmusic
Wes Montgomery guitar tabs
Wes Montgomery Park (Indianapolis)
Biography and tribute by grandson Anthony Montgomery
Wes Montgomery tribute
The Work of Claus Ogerman - extensive pictorial discography includes
album scans, liner notes and more regarding Claus Ogerman's
involvement in two Wes Montgomery albums.
Find-A-Grave profile for Wes Montgomery
Discography
Discography
[hide]v • d • eMontgomery Brothers
Wes Montgomery · Buddy Montgomery · Monk Montgomery
Albums Almost Forgotten (1955) · The Montgomery Brothers Plus Five
Others (1957) · Montgomeryland (1958) · Groove Yard · (1961)The
Montgomery Brothers (1961) · The Montgomery Brothers in Canada (1961)
· Love Walked In (1961) · Wes, Buddy and Monk Montgomery (1961) ·
Wes solo The Wes Montgomery Trio · The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes
Montgomery · Bags Meets Wes! · Full House · Bumpin' · Smokin' at the
Half Note ·
Monk solo It's Never Too Late (1969) · Bass Odyssey (1971) · Reality (1974)
Buddy solo Swinging with the Mastersounds · A Date with the
Mastersounds · The King And I · The Two-Sided Album · This Rather
Than That · Ties · Of Love · Ties of Love · So Why Not? · Live at
Maybeck Recital Hall · Here Again · Icebreaker (2001) · A Love
Affair in Paris (2001) · A Day in the Life (2006 ·
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Montgomery";
Categories: 1925 births | 1968 deaths | African American guitarists |
American jazz guitarists | Contemporary jazz guitarists | Mainstream
jazz guitarists | Jazz-pop guitarists | Crossover jazz guitarists |
Hard-bop guitarists | Musicians from Indiana | People from
Indianapolis, Indiana | Grammy Award winners | Soul-jazz guitarists |
Riverside Records artists
Hidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles
with unsourced statements from August 2007
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