Results for "Wes Montgomery"

Wes Montgomery

Born: March 6, 1925

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

The NDR Hamburg Studio Recordings

Label: Jazzline Classics
Released: 2021
Track listing: West Coast Blues; Four On Six; Last Of The Wine; Here’s That Rainy Day; Opening 2; Blue Grass; Blue Monk; The Leopard Walks; Twisted Blues; West Coast Blues (Encore).

Dan Wilson: Vessels Of Wood And Earth

by Chris May
April 9, 2021

Dan Wilson's Vessels Of Wood And Earth starts well. Just over a minute into track one, the guitarist launches into a lightning-speed solo which sounds a little like Wes Montgomery channeling Charlie Parker on speed. On track two, Stevie Wonder's well named “Bird Of Beauty," he rings the changes, exchanging Montgomery and Parker for Pat Metheny ...

John, Gary and Eartha

March 14, 2021

In the Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed John Fogerty on Bad Moon Rising for my “Anatomy of a Song" column. John wrote the song for Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969 and was inspired by a 1941 movie, Elvis and San Francisco hippie astrology. I last interviewed John on the writing and recording of Proud ...

Take Five with Dennis Winge

by AAJ Staff
March 10, 2021

Meet Dennis WingeDennis is a professional guitarist living in Ithaca, NY and performs in a variety of musical settings throughout the Finger Lakes including his jazz ensemble, The Way (rock cover band), Matrix flute & guitar duo, Dupree (Steely Dan cover band), solo work and more. Having started to learn guitar at age seven, ...

Jazz Musician of the Day: Wes Montgomery

March 6, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Wes Montgomery's birthday today! 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 ...

Wes Montgomery: The NDR Hamburg Studio Recordings

by Chris May
March 5, 2021

Recorded in spring 1965, during Wes Montgomery's sole European tour, The NDR Hamburg Studio Recordings presents the guitarist as part of an all-star international octet assembled for a one-off appearance on German television station NDR. The programme was part of a series presenting musicians who did not regularly work together in informal “rehearsal" performances. Montgomery's tour, ...

Lionel Loueke: I Dare You

by Ian Patterson
March 1, 2021

Though 2020 proved to be challenging, to say the least, Lionel Loueke can look back on a year blighted by the COVID-19 pandemic with some personal satisfaction. To produce not one but two great albums was no small feat. First, there was Gilfema 3 (Sounderscore), a brilliant outing with Massimo Biolcati and Ferenc Nemeth--the trio's first ...

Take Five with Zvonimir Tot

by AAJ Staff
March 1, 2021

Musician Zvonimir Tot: Zvonimir Tot (z-VON-e-mere TOTE) is a jny: Chicago-based jazz guitarist, composer and arranger with a style deeply rooted in the jazz tradition but flavored by his European origin. Tot has performed in the United States, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, and Spain. He has performed ...

Guitar Gods & Goddesses: An Alternative Top Ten Albums

by Chris May
February 4, 2021

Although it has been present in jazz since the 1920s, when it was routinely used in rhythm sections, as a solo instrument the guitar struggled to make itself heard--literally--until the second half of the 1930s, when reliable pick-ups and portable amplifiers became available. Foremost among the pioneers of the electrified instrument was Charlie Christian, a member ...