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Wes Montgomery
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Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States (where he also died of a heart attack in 1968), Montgomery came from a musical family, in which his brothers, Monk (string bass and electric bass) and Buddy (vibraphone, and piano), were jazz performers. Although Wes was not skilled at reading music, he could learn complex melodies and riffs by ear. Montgomery started learning guitar in his late teens, listening to and learning recordings of his idol, the guitarist Charlie Christian.
Along with the use of octaves (playing the same note on two strings one octave apart) for which he is widely known, 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. 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 that "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."
Remembering Albert 'Tootie' heath
by Ian Patterson
Drumming great Albert 'Tootie' Heath played with a who's who of jazz greats, from John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins to Wes Montgomery and Nina Simone. He recorded all too infrequently as a leader, probably because he was so in demand for other people's projects. This clip from the 2014 Chicago Jazz Festival finds Heath in the ...
Tony Miceli Quintet at Chris’ Jazz Café
by Victor L. Schermer
Tony Miceli Quintet Chris' Jazz Café Philadelphia, PA April 5, 2024 Vibraphonist Tony Miceli has a way of drawing talent around him like a magnet. Of course, it's because of his exceptional musicianship, but he also has a knack for creating interesting situations for playing. This time, he ...
John Basile: Heatin' Up
by Bill Milkowski
John Basile's warm tone and impeccable articulation on Heatin' Up at first may trigger memories of the late, great Pat Martino, an iconic guitarist whom Basile obviously admires. But listen closer to the elegant phrasing, the confident use of space and “less is more" approach he applies to tunes like Cy Coleman's “See Saw," the oft-covered ...
The Jazz Detective Strikes Again
by Mark Corroto
Producer Zev Feldman, like Joe DiMaggio, has done it again. In May of 1941, DiMaggio began a major league baseball hitting streak. People followed his exploits game after game and hit after hit. DiMaggio's amazing record of 56 consecutive games still stands to this day. Same can be said of Feldman. His detective work, finding rare ...
Tucker Brothers: Live at Chatterbox
by Jack Bowers
Chatterbox is a nightspot in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Tucker brothers (Joel, guitar; Nick, bass) homegrown siblings whose weekly gig at Chatterbox serves essentially as their home base. The brothers lead a quartet on this concert date, with tenor saxophonist Sean Imboden and drummer Carrington Clinton rounding out the group. Joel Tucker is the ...
Wendell Harrison, Rudy Royston, Grant Green & Vin Venezia
by Joe Dimino
From guitarist Vin Venezia, we begin the 844th Episode of Neon Jazz with music from his 2024 album The Venetian. We then get into his primary influence with Wes Montgomery. From there, we explore an impressive array of new jazz from the likes of Molly Miller, Cliff Beach and Lori Bell. We also hear new music ...
Lee Meehan: Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars
by Ian Patterson
Guitarist Lee Meehan has been a key player in Dublin blues and soul bands since the early 2000s. The blues proved to be a handy apprenticeship for the jazz degree Meehan would later pursue, graduating from Dublin City University in 2019. And it is to jazz that Meehan turns on his debut album as leader, a ...
Wes Montgomery: Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings
by Mario Calvitti
La Resonance Records, etichetta californiana legata a un'organizzazione non-profit dedita a preservare l'arte e l'eredità della musica jazz, prosegue instancabile la sua attività di archeologia musicale pubblicando questo doppio CD di Wes Montgomery col trio del pianista Wynton Kelly al famoso club di New York Half Note nel 1965, all'incirca nello stesso periodo delle esibizioni raccolte ...
Is the Jazz Detective Sherlock or Watson?
by Patrick Burnette
Few players have made the splash in the archival jazz game as Zev Feldman, who has discovered many lost jazz gems (and a little Fool's Gold) and shown how these issues can be events when packaged properly with good artwork and notes. This fortnight's show looks at two of his recent productions and two historical albums ...
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