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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."
Will Barnes Quartet: Outside the Light
by Neil Duggan
Once an area of contention, the border between England and Wales, known as the Welsh Marches, is now a lovely rural region of farms, valleys, hills and castles. The Will Barnes Quartet draw inspiration from this landscape, as well as that of Mid Wales, to drive their compositions and improvisations on Outside The Light. This major ...
Melvin Rhyne: Tomorrow Yesterday Today
by C. Andrew Hovan
A disciple of some of the earliest jazz organ practitioners, such as Jackie Davis, Milt Buckner, and Wild Bill Davis, jazz veteran Melvin Rhyne's major claim to fame has been the five years he spent with the renowned Wes Montgomery in the early '60s. Yet this is really only a fraction of the story for the ...
Teddy Pantelas Trio: Shadow Warrior
by Mark Corroto
There is no denying the importance of place when it comes to a jazz musician's sound. Louis Armstrong will forever be tied to New Orleans, and Sonny Rollins to New York. The same can be said of guitarist Teddy Pantelas, whose musical voice reflects a distinctly Midwestern sensibility--stretching from Missouri to Indiana, and grounded in his ...
Jimbo Ross: So Do It
by Jack Bowers
Jimbo Ross is a jazz musician who happens to play the violin, not a violinist who happens to play jazz. And yes, there is a difference. Actually, Ross plays a specially designed five-string electric viola/violin on So Do It, as he did on Jazz Passion and Latin Satin, his debut album for Bodacious Records in 2024, ...
European Jazz Conference 2025: Italian Showcases
by Ian Patterson
Italian Jazz Showcase Various venues European Jazz Conference Bari, Italy September 26-27, 2025 Jazz rang out in Bari for four days during the Europe Jazz Network's annual European Jazz Conference. It rang out in Bari's streets, piazzas and theatres, and in ancient church and castle too. It may have been ...
Nigel Price: It's On!
by Neil Duggan
This is the 10th release from the Nigel Price Organ Trio and like a mantra from a corporate business consultant, they have a commitment to continuous improvement, resulting in their sparkling album It's On. Acknowledged as one of the UK's leading jazz guitarists, Nigel Price has a career that has brought him multiple awards, contributions to ...
Chano Domínguez, Ethan Margolis: The Blues Around Us
by Neil Duggan
The outstanding Spanish pianist Chano Dominguez is renowned for his interpretive style and his ability to navigate the complexities of both flamenco and jazz, weaving both together to form a unique soundscape. Guitarist Ethan Margolis, from Cleveland, Ohio, is steeped in similar traditions, having a strong flamenco and Romany influence on his playing from spending 11 ...
Lost and Found, Part 1: historic jazz discoveries
by Larry Slater
Archaeology is the study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. The same might be said of distant and recent jazz recordings that have been discovered. Sometimes jazz archeologists find these rarities in the archives of defunct record labels, or buried unmarked at the vast Library of Congress. Several were in the hands ...
Final Recordings of Jazz Masters of the 1950s and '60s
by Larry Slater
The 1950s and early '60s were a high point for jazz. Jazz was popular. You could hear it on TV, on college campuses, and on US State Department tours. It was an era of mind-boggling creativity. Cool jazz, hard bop, bossa nova and free jazz were all born and nurtured during these years. Many jazz musicians ...
