Wes Montgomery

John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. He is most known for his unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and for his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a distinctive sound. Montgomery often worked with his brothers Buddy (Charles F.) and Monk (William H.), as well as organist Melvin Rhyne. His recordings up to 1965 were oriented toward hard bop, soul jazz, and post bop, but around 1965 he began recording more pop-oriented instrumental albums that found mainstream success. His later guitar style influenced jazz fusion and smooth jazz.

Early life and education Montgomery was born in the Haughville neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana, where a historical marker at the Northwest corner of 10th Street and Bellafontaine Street commemorates his birth. He was the third son of Thomas and Francis Blackman Montgomery. Both of his parents are known to have migrated from Floyd County, Georgia during the Great Migration and, after marrying in Indiana, they established their household through Thomas' work at the National Malleable & Steel Castings Company. According to NPR, the nickname "Wes" was a child's mispronunciation of his middle name, Leslie. Documents from the newspaper Indianapolis Recorder make note of his parents hosting practice sessions for a folk and vocal group "The Blackburn Quartette" in 1926. However, their family was large, and his parents split up early during his childhood in 1932, possibly due to the Great Depression, according to statements by descendant Robert Montgomery in a PBS documentary. Wes and his brothers moved to Columbus, Ohio with their father, and attended Champion High School. His mother and his sisters remained in Indianapolis.

Career

He and his brothers returned to Indianapolis. By 1943, Montgomery was working as a welder and had gotten married. While at a dance with his wife, he heard a Charlie Christian record for the first time. This experience inspired him to pick up the guitar at the age of 19, and he spent the next year teaching himself to play by imitating Christian's recordings. Although he had not planned on becoming a professional musician, he felt obligated to learn after purchasing the guitar. It is often stated that Montgomery did not receive any formal instruction and could not read music. However, in an early interview, he acknowledged that this designation as "self-taught" was not entirely accurate, because he had learned a few chords from an Indianapolis guitarist named Alex Stevens. By the age of twenty, he was performing in clubs in Indianapolis at night, copying Christian's solos, while working during the day at a milk company. In 1948, when Lionel Hampton was on tour in Indianapolis, he was looking for a guitarist, and after hearing Montgomery play like Christian he hired him. Obituaries were published in both The New York Times and Time Magazine, which noted that Montgomery had been "long acclaimed as one of the country’s best jazz guitarists." His funeral was held at Puritan Missionary Baptist Church of Indianapolis on June 18, 1968, with nearly 2,400 people in attendance.

He was married to Serene Montgomery (née Miles) in February 1943; the two remained together until his death in 1968, raising their seven children in Indianapolis. Serene was interviewed by journalist Kevin Finch in 2019 for the PBS documentary film Wes Bound: The Genius of Wes Montgomery (released in 2024), where she recalled that “We were first, and then the guitar was next.” Wes named one of his compositions, “Serene,” after his wife.

His grandson is American actor Anthony Montgomery, known for his roles as Travis Mayweather on Star Trek: Enterprise and Andre Maddox on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital.

Artistry According to jazz guitar educator Wolf Marshall, Montgomery often approached solos in a three-tiered manner: he would begin the 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. He used mostly superimposed triads and arpeggios as the main source for his soloing ideas and sounds. Building initially on the single-line tradition of Charlie Christian, his style would significantly advance the guitar solo into bebop after he heard John Coltrane and began adding his notably graceful, warm, and intricate embellishments. His technique has been studied by many jazz guitarists and is available for students in transcription.

Montgomery was also known for his use of octaves in his playing. In an interview with music critic Ralph J. Gleason, Montgomery was quoted saying: "Playing octaves was just a coincidence. And it's still such a challenge. I used to have headaches every time I played octaves, because it was extra strain, but the minute I'd quit I'd be alright. I don't know why, but it was my way, and my way just backfired on me. But now I don't have headaches when I play octaves. I'm just showing you how a strain can capture a cat and almost choke him, but after a while it starts to ease up because you get used to it."

Awards and honors Second Place, Readers' Poll, Metronome, 1960 Grammy Award nominations, (two), Bumpin', 1965 Grammy Award nomination, "Eleanor Rigby" and "Down Here on the Ground", 1968 Grammy Award nomination, Willow Weep for Me, 1969 Broom modeled his guitar-organ trio after Montgomery's.

Tributes Stevie Wonder wrote two tributes to Montgomery: "Bye Bye World", which appeared on his 1968 album Eivets Rednow, and "We All Remember Wes", which George Benson recorded for his 1978 live album Weekend in L.A. In 1982, Bob James and Earl Klugh collaborated on a duet album and recorded the song "Wes" as a tribute to Montgomery on the album Two of a Kind. Guitarist Emily Remler released a tribute album to Montgomery in 1988, titled East to Wes. Pat Martino released Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery in 2006. Eric Johnson paid tribute to Montgomery on his 1990 album Ah Via Musicom in a song titled "East Wes". Guitarist David Becker paid tribute to Montgomery on the 1991 album In Motion with the song "Westward Ho". Lee Ritenour recorded a tribute album in 1993, Wes Bound, that contained Montgomery covers and some originals by Ritenour. While the production and arrangements are typical for the time, he performed the entire album in Montgomery's style on a Gibson L-5 model. Guitarist Joe Diorio released a tribute album in 1998, I Remember You: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery.

Discography

As leader Lifetime

1959 The Wes Montgomery Trio (Riverside, 1959) 1960 The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (Riverside, 1960) 1960 Movin' Along (Riverside, 1960) 1961 So Much Guitar (Riverside, 1961) 1961 Bags Meets Wes! with Milt Jackson (Riverside, 1962) 1962 Full House (Riverside, 1962) 1959-63 Guitar on the Go (Riverside, 1963) 1963 Boss Guitar (Riverside, 1963) 1963 Fusion! Wes Montgomery with Strings (Riverside, 1963) 1963 Portrait of Wes (Riverside, 1966) 1964 Movin' Wes (Verve, 1964) 1965 Bumpin' (Verve, 1965) 1965 Willow Weep for Me (Verve, 1969) 1965 Smokin' at the Half Note with Wynton Kelly (Verve, 1965) 1966 Goin' Out of My Head (Verve, 1965) 1966 California Dreaming (Verve, 1966) 1966 Tequila (Verve, 1966) 1966 Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo with Jimmy Smith (Verve, 1966) 1966 Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes with Jimmy Smith (Verve, 1969) 1967 A Day in the Life (A&M, 1967) 1967-68 Down Here on the Ground (A&M, 1968) 1968 Road Song (A&M, 1968)

With Buddy Montgomery and Monk Montgomery 1958 The Montgomery Brothers and Five Others (Pacific Jazz) 1958 The Mastersounds, Kismet (World Pacific) 1960 Montgomeryland (Pacific Jazz) 1960 The Montgomery Brothers (Fantasy) 1961 George Shearing and the Montgomery Brothers (Jazzland) 1961 The Montgomery Brothers in Canada (Fantasy) 1961 Groove Yard (Riverside)

Posthumous The Alternative Wes Montgomery (Milestone, 1982) Far Wes (Capitol, 1990) – compilation Fingerpickin' (Capitol, 1996) – compilation Echoes of Indiana Avenue (Resonance, 2012) Live at the Turf Club 1956 with the Montgomery–Johnson Quintet (Resonance, 2014) [RSD 10" LP, Limited Edition] In the Beginning (Resonance, 2015) One Night in Indy (Resonance, 2016) Smokin' in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (Resonance, 2017) In Paris: The Definitive ORTF Recording (Resonance, 2018) Back on Indiana Avenue (The Carroll DeCamp Recordings) (Resonance, 2019) Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings (Resonance, 2023)

As sideman Jon Hendricks, A Good Git-Together (Pacific Jazz, 1959) Cannonball Adderley, Cannonball Adderley and the Poll-Winners (Riverside, 1960) Nat Adderley, Work Song (Riverside, 1960) Harold Land, West Coast Blues! (Jazzland, 1960)