Wes Montgomery Guitarist VV-016

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In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour some early vinyl records that showcase JAZZ GUITARIST GREAT WES MONTGOMERY. The recording presented in this podcast are a compilation from my LP collection from the golden age of vinyl. From my father’s LP record collection, I heard these LPs during my childhood. These LPs were a frequent play on the house Hi-Fi — it had a stackable record player. Wes Montgomery was a regular in that record stack..Jazz renditions by Wes Montgomery have had a big influence on my musical development and my music interest since that time – – some 55 years ago !

Wes Montgomery Part 1 (1959-1961)

PART 1

  1. ‘Round Midnight (music by Thelonious Monk 1944) Recorded Oct 5-6, 1959, Wes Montgomery guitar, Melvin Rhyne organ, Paul Parker drums. 4:49 Remaster 1968 Riverside Records. …bebop. Original LP: “THE WES MONTGOMERY TRIO, A Dynamic New Sound for Guitar/Organ/Drums”
  2. Yesterdays (music by Jerome Kern 1933-from Roberta) Recorded Oct 5-6, 1959 Wes Montgomery guitar, Melvin Rhyne organ, Paul Parker drums. 3:13 Remaster 1968 Riverside Records …‘brightswing 200’ much faster pace than the Roberts play song. Original LP: “THE WES MONTGOMERY TRIO, A Dynamic New Sound for Guitar/Organ/Drums”
  3. Love Walked In (music by George Gershwin 1930) recorded October 9, 1961 Wes Montgomery guitar, George Shearing Piano, Buddy Montgomery Vibes, Monk Montgomery Bass, Walter Perkins Drums. Riverside Records remaster, 1968. What a dynamite jazz rendition of this George Gershwin music classic, by Wes Montgomery and George Shearing. What do we know about the musical family “Montgomery”. 2:10
  4. Airegin (Sonny Rollins) Wes Montgomery guitar, Tommy Flanagn piano, Percy Heath bass, Albert Heath druma. Recorded January 1960. Riverside Records 4:26 Note the tight synch between drummer and wes , wes is weaved into the rhythm section.
  5. Four on Six (Wes Montgomery) Wes Montgomery guitar, Tommy Flanagn piano, Percy Heath bass, Albert Heath druma. Recorded January 1960. Riverside Records 6:10 long one there is plenty of time to develop the theme and have a more ideas play out
  6. Tune Up-Take 9 (Miles Davis) Recorded Oct 12, 1960 Wes Montgomery guitar, James Clay, Flute, Victor Feldman, Piano, Sam Jones Bass, Bobby Thomas drums, Produced by Orrin Keepnews, released in 1963, consists of alternate unissued takes (1960-1963) from previously issued albums on the Riverside label   4:39
  7. Bock to Bock-take 1 (Buddy Montgomery) Recorded Jan 3, 1961 for “The Montgomery Brothers-Groove Yard” in 1961 , Wes Montgomery guitar, Buddy Montgomery piano, Monk Montgomery bass, Bobby Thomas drums. Orinially produced by Orrin Keepnews, released in 1963, consists of alternate unissued takes (1960-1963) from previously issued albums on the Riverside label 5:35

Today in Part 1, I will pick some of Wes Montgomery best recordings, made between 1959 and 1961, – – – he was between the young ages of 36 and 38. Wes Montgomery had just signed with Riverside Records. There would be several LP and LP Sets released with Riverside over the next seven years…a prolific period for Wes!

What do we know about Wes Montgomery ?

John Leslie Montgomery was born March 6, 1923 in Indianapolis. He was called Wes, the baby pronunciation of his name, Leslie.

 Amazing Technique fact 1

Wes Montgomery is a SELF TAUGHT musician, learning by ear, starting at age12 on a tenor guitar, then at age 20, he began playing a 6-string guitar. He had listened and learned from the recordings of his guitar idol,

CHARLIE CHRISTIAN. Wes Montgomery learned these melodies and riffs … by ear. That is an amazing fact.

Wes grew up with two musician brothers – – Monk Montgomery plays bass, and Buddy Montgomery plays piano and vibes. Montgomery did most of his early performance work in the 1950’s in Indanapolis, with his brothers, and together with with Indianapolis organist Melvin Rhyne – – they recorded from 1957-1959 for the PACIFIC JAZZ label.

The story goes that Wes learned how to play Charlie Christian songs by memory, note-for-note, and that Lionel Hampton hired Wes for this reason. His early professional history began by briefly TOURING with Lionell Hampton’s orchestra, from 1948-1950. This would have been when Wes was from the ages of 25 to 27.

Then, in 1959, at the age of 36, Wes got his big break, and signed with RIVERSIDE RECORDS.

First album was “THE WES MONTGOMERY TRIO, A Dynamic New Sound for Guitar/Organ/Drums”, recorded October 1959. There were several wonderful recordings released, featuring small-group jazz bee-bop format of jazz guitar. You will hear FIVE of those Riverside RECORDS LP recordings today – – On VINYL VIBRATIONS !!

M1 Round Midnight.  This first song from the 1959 recording is ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT, a Thelonious Monk composition.This features Wes Montgomery on guitar, Melvin Rhyne on organ, and Paul Parker on drums and now….’ROUND MIDNIGHT. An interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s 1944 song, recorded in 1959, and released on Riverside Records, distributed by ABC Records.

M2 Yesterdays Music by Jerome Kern 1933-from the play “Roberta”. Recorded Oct 5-6, 1959 ….with Wes Montgomery guitar, Melvin Rhyne organ, Paul Parker drums. The sheet music calls for a tempo named ‘brightswing 200’ a much faster pace than the song in Roberts. The Original LP was titled : “THE WES MONTGOMERY TRIO, A Dynamic New Sound for Guitar/Organ/Drums”

 

Another amazing fact about guitar technique

WES developed an unusual playing technique, using his right THUMB to pluck the strings, instead of a guitar pick. That may not sound significant, but when you consider the speed of some of his guitar lines, as a guitarist, it is mind-boggling to hear his performance – rapid succession of a line of notes, with just the thumb.

Like for example this line from Jingles:.

Today some great guitarists use this thumb style –Jeff Beck, George Benson, John Abercrombie, and the late    Emily Remner…

M3 Love Walked In Our next jazz tune is titled Love Walked In (music by George Gershwin 1930) and was recorded in 1961 in LA the track was included in a release titled George Shearing and the Montgomery Brothers

This is a jazz quintet — Wes Montgomery guitar, George Shearing Piano, Buddy Montgomery Vibes, Monk Montgomery Bass, Walter Perkins Drums. What a dynamite jazz rendition of this Gershwin classic, performed by Wes Montgomery and George Shearing. A very short piece at 2 minutes 10 seconds. Found on a Riverside Records 1968 remaster . THE BEST OF WES MONTGOMERY and featuring george shearing, Wes, Buddy and Monk Montgomery and Walter Perkins Drums.

M4 Airegin (a Sonny Rollins composition) from the 1960 album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery a QUARTET with Wes Montgomery on guitar, Tommy Flanagan piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Albert Heath drums. Riverside Records

The title of the song AIREGIN …is NIGERIA spelled backwards. Note the tight synch between drummer, and guitarist Wes is weaved into the rhythm section.

 

M5 Four on Six Our next song is a Wes Montgomery composition – – with Wes on guitar, Tommy Flanagan piano, Percy Heath bass, Albert Heath drums. Recorded January 1960. Riverside Records. At 6:10 this is a longer piece — plenty of time to fully develop the theme and have the ideas played out . The sheet music shows the song is in 4/4 … so where does that title FOUR ON SIX come from? One interpretation is 4th track sixth album. Another is four fingers six strings…or is it the four theme notes G-D-C-G ,repeated six times…  Maybe you know the truth.

And now, Four on Six

M6 Tune Up-Take 9 (Miles Davis) Recorded Oct 12, 1960 …Wes Montgomery guitar, James Clay, Flute, Victor Feldman, Piano, Sam Jones Bass, Bobby Thomas drums, produced by Orrin Keepnews, released in 1963. This album consists of alternate unissued takes from previously issued albums on the Riverside label   This track has a different sound, instead of the full-bodied guitar sound, this track sound as if the only bridge pickup is used, a hollow sound without the bottom-end we hear on other Montgomery tracks. A Miles Davis compositrion played by Wes Montgomery guitar, James Clay, Flute, Victor Feldman, Piano, Sam Jones Bass, Bobby Thomas drums, recorded in 1960.

A bit about Wes Montgomery’s signature solo technigue. It’s three tiered !!

  1. He begins with a single notes solo.
  2. Next he solos in OCTAVE notes
  3. And third he moves to chord melodies or so-called “block chords” .

And that is the tree tiered solo technique of Wes Montgomery.

M7 Bock to Bock-take 1 (Buddy Montgomery) Recorded in1961 for “The Montgomery Brothers-Groove Yard”. It features a quartet including the brothers !

  • Wes Montgomery guitar,
  • Buddy Montgomery piano,
  • Monk Montgomery bass,
  • With Bobby Thomas drums.

This track was found on an LP released in 1963, containing unissued takes from previously issued albums of the Riverside label. The song title BOCK to BOCK is a reference to PACIFIC JAZZ RECORDS producer and founder Richard Bock, whom the Montgomery Brothers recorded with from 1957 to 1959. When the track starts, it sounds a bit like Peggy Lee and her hit song “FEVER”, which came out in 1958. Recorded in 1961 with the Montgomery Brothers WES BUDDY and MONK and Bobby Thomas on drums.

  1. ‘Round Midnight (T. Monk 1944) Recorded 1959, Riverside 4:49
  2. Yesterdays (J. Kern 1933) Recorded 1959 3:13
  3. Love Walked In (G. Gershwin 1930) Recorded 1961 Riverside 2:10
  4. Airegin (S. Rollins) Recorded January 1960. Riverside 4:26
  5. Four on Six (W. Montgomery) Recorded January 1960. Riverside 6:10
  6. Tune Up-Take 9 (M. Davis) Recorded Oct 12, 1960, Producer Orrin Keepnews 4:39
  7. Bock to Bock-Take 1 (B. Montgomery) Recorded Jan 3, 1961 Producer Orrin Keepnews, 5:35