Wes Montgomery

Did You Know?

• He feared flying and drove from city to city while touring with Lionel Hampton's band.
• His first album as a leader, A Dynamic New Sound, the Wes Montgomery Trio, came out after twenty years as a musician.
• Montgomery's version of 'Windy' was his biggest radio hit; it was originally recorded by The Association.

Early life and education

Wes Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana's Haughville district, where a marker now stands at 10th and Bellafontaine Streets. He was the third son of Thomas and Francis Blackman Montgomery, both of whom had moved from Floyd County, Georgia during the Great Migration. After marrying in Indiana, Thomas supported the family working at the National Malleable & Steel Castings Company. The nickname "Wes" came from a young child's difficulty pronouncing his middle name, Leslie.

In 1926, his parents hosted rehearsals for the folk and vocal group the Blackburn Quartette. The large family split in 1932, likely due to the Great Depression. Wes and his brothers went to Columbus, Ohio with their father, attending Champion High School, while his mother and sisters stayed in Indianapolis. His older brother Monk quit school to sell coal and ice, eventually saving enough to buy Wes a four-string tenor guitar from a pawn shop in 1935.

Though Montgomery played it for hours, he later dismissed it, claiming he had to start over when he got his first six-string guitar years later.

Career

Montgomery and his brothers returned to Indianapolis. By 1943 he was working as a welder and had married. After hearing a Charlie Christian record at a dance, he picked up the guitar at age 19 and spent the next year teaching himself by imitating Christian's recordings. He acknowledged learning a few chords from Indianapolis guitarist Alex Stevens.

By age twenty he performed in Indianapolis clubs at night while working at a milk company during the day. In 1948 Lionel Hampton hired him after hearing him play like Christian. Montgomery spent two years with the Hampton band, driving from city to city because he feared flying. He played with Charles Mingus, Milt Buckner, and Fats Navarro, then returned to Indianapolis tired and discouraged.

He resumed performing with the Eddie Higgins Trio and the Roger Jones Quintet, then joined his brothers and saxophonist Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson in the Johnson/Montgomery Quintet. The band auditioned for Arthur Godfrey and recorded with Quincy Jones. After a club residency from 1955 to 1957, Montgomery and his brothers went west. Buddy and Monk formed The Mastersounds and signed with Pacific Jazz.

Montgomery joined them for a 1957 recording session that included Freddie Hubbard; some songs were released on The Montgomery Brothers and Five Others and Fingerpickin'. The Mastersounds remained in California when Montgomery returned to Indianapolis to work in his trio with organist Melvin Rhyne.

Artistry

Jazz guitar educator Wolf Marshall described how Montgomery structured his solos in three stages: he started with single-note lines based on scales or modes, moved to octaves for a few sequences, and finished with block chords. His solo ideas mostly came from superimposed triads and arpeggios. Montgomery never used a pick; he plucked the strings with the fleshy part of his thumb, using down strokes for single notes and a mix of up and down strokes for chords and octaves.

He developed this quiet technique to avoid disturbing his neighbors and waking his children while practicing late at night after long days as a machinist. When he performed with an amplifier, his thumb-picking style became an asset. Building on Charlie Christian’s single-note approach, Montgomery pushed guitar solos into bebop after hearing John Coltrane, adding graceful, warm, and intricate embellishments. In an interview with Ralph J. Gleason, Montgomery said playing octaves was a coincidence and a strain that initially gave him headaches, but he eventually got used to it.

Tributes

Stevie Wonder wrote two tributes to Montgomery: "Bye Bye World" on his 1968 album Eivets Rednow, and "We All Remember Wes," which George Benson recorded for his 1978 live album Weekend in L.A. Bob James and Earl Klugh recorded the song "Wes" on their 1982 duet album Two of a Kind. Emily Remler released a tribute album titled East to Wes in 1988. Pat Martino released Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery in 2006. Eric Johnson paid tribute on his 1990 album Ah Via Musicom with the song "East Wes." David Becker included "Westward Ho" on his 1991 album In Motion. Lee Ritenour recorded the tribute album Wes Bound in 1993, performing entirely in Montgomery's style on a Gibson L-5 model. Joe Diorio released I Remember You: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery in 1998.