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hen Wes Montgomery came out of Indianapolis in 1959 to seewhat
the restofthe world looked like, he upset a lot ofpeople. Like
critics. They vied toseewho could heap the highest praiseon ihe
head of the quiet, uniretentiousman who happened to play the living
beiabbers out of a guitar.'A giant " one declared."Like being hit
by a thunderboltj'another exclaimed."Even greater han I expected "
a third shouted, swooning.Montgomery feversoon spread hrough the
jazz community at large, and the fans outdidthe crirics. Thousands
declared hat We s was the greatestof all guitarists, to the
implieddetriment of suchworthies as Kennv Burrell. Iim Hall. limmv
Ranev. Thl Farlow. BarnevKesseland, one supposes, Andres Slgovia
anl Hank GirlanA.But i'azz fans-and criticl-are ike that, always
ooking for kings, the "best," whatever that means.Musicians know
better, and if there s anything they detest t's a comparison of one
man'swork to another's. Music is not a contesi. The-reare many
flowers. oT-any hues andshapes, n the garden, and who can say a
rose s more beiutiful thin a lilyi There's no needto choose. Enjoy
them all.And it was musicians, not fans, not critics, who spread he
word about Wes Montgomerylong before he got up the gumption to
leavehis home to$'n. (Oh, he went out for awhilewith Lionel
Hampton's screamin'mea nies in the early'50s, but that doesn't
count.)Wes had reason o stay n India napolis, not the most
attractive or sdmulating place onecould name.He was getting on-34
is a bit late in life for a iazz musician to try to make it on
thenational scene.Besides,he was good and married, with a flock of
kids to feed and clothe.He had a day eie and a plavins eis. which
is about the onlv securewav a musician cansupporr his fa;ily in
plicei lilie'ln'dianapolis. (lt's a tough, grinding life, one in
whichsleep ak es on paramount imponance-four hours here, two hours
ther, catnap onintermissions,wake up not sure where you are or
which gig is up. It takes ts toll. WesMontgomery might not have
died at 43, of a hean anack, if he hadn't had to work nightand day
all thoseyears.)Another reason o stayhome: it was comfonable
musically.Like most iazzmusicians,hrsclose riends were the men he
played with, some going all the way back to 1943 when Wesfirst
ventured onto a bandstand to Dlay he Charlie Christian solos he'd
memorized fromrecords. It's hard to break the ties rhaibind
like-minded and seemingly equally capablemusicians.
But Wes had reason o try his luck, too. Besidesa large talent,
he had two brothers-Monkand Buddy-who had giined a nadond
reputation iith their group, the Mastersounds,created n'the
likenesso-f he popul ar ModimJazzQuartet. l,t"onl iira Suddy didn't
forgettheir brother. They raved o critics and record producers
about him. They intended to formanother group called the Montgomery
Brotheis and wanted Wes with them. Bookings wereassured.,Record
ompanies were interested. Things looke d awfully good, and Wes made
uphts mlnd to glve t a whrrl.The first recordings under his own
name turned thousands of guitar playersall the way'round,
Octaves,octaves, octaves.Never before had a jazz guitarist used
octavesas much,or so well, as fes. In his early work, much of it
heard'in th'is album, he employed octavesiudiciously thickening his
lines withthem,.alternating themwith chorded ind
single-notepassages, everstepping outside the bounds of good
musical taste. The excesses ame later,when the big-money boys
turned Wes nto a highly marketable commodity.In an interview with
Raloh Gleason done a couole vears after \(/es had left
Indianaoolis. herecalled hat "playing ociaveswas just a
coincidi:ttc6. And it's still such a challenge....l usedto have
headacheseverytime I played octaves, because t was extra strain,
but the minute I'dquit I'd be all right. I don't know why, but it
was my way, and my way iust backfired on me.But now I don't have
headacheswhen I play octaves. 'm iust showing you ho$' a strain
cancapture a cat and almost choke him, bui after a while it sians
to ease-Jpbecauseyou getused o it."Weswas self-taught (as s every
azz musician, no matter how much he studies ormally)and never felt
comfonable using a guitar pick. He preferred his right thumb
instead."That's one of my downfalls, too;' he told Gleason. "ln
order to get a ceftain amount ofspeedyou should use a pick,'l
think. A lot of cats sayyou don't h"aveo play fast, but berngable
to plav fast can male you phrasebetter. But I iusf didnt like the
sound. I tried it forabout tivohonths. Didnt use he thumb at all.
Btit after two months I still couldn't use hepick, so I said I d go
ahead and use h e thumb. But then I couldn't use he thumb either,
so Iisked myself whiih areyou going to use? liked the tone better
with the thumb, but thetechnique better with the pick, but I
couldn't have hem both."That he chose one is obvious, for his dark,
mellow sound is one of the most fetchingaspectsof his work.But
tone, technique and musical devicesare mere means. It is the end,
the music-itsshape, the ideasunderlying it, the response t
evokes-that matters.Wes Montgomery was a.master oj his an. His
improvisations, especially n the early days,were compositions in
miniarure. Each note sounds as f Wes ore it from the
insm.rment,
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buffed t a bi t and hung t cereful lv n lust he r ight spoton
hisever-nrr tv ingrusicr t line.WesMontgomery wils ;rnr:rnw,hoknerv
vhat he lvasabout.The performances , i th enorsarophonistHarold
Land u'ere ecordedn Apri l , l95l t . Thctenor-gui tar oicrng s str
ik inglysimi lar o t hat of the StanGetzQuintetof 1951-52, hegroup
with Jimmy Raney,whorn Wcsonce istedamong his favoriteguitarists.
Onc canhear occasionirl nrtchesof Raneyand hl Farlow,
anotherMontgomery favorite, nsomeof Wes'pl.ryingon this date.
FlvenWes'originalshavesomethingof the flrtvorofcomnositions he Cctz
fivt frvorr.l.The simi lar i tyends here, hough. -andand the
Montgomeryswere heir run mcn . l r ] r lheld no rruckwith imir :r t
ion. . ; rn. l , rpr,rof the f i r ' t warerwho never . t rgot
thc:re. l r t i r t the deserves,s n fine form, nevcr;rt rt ors for
rde,ts, everhesitantor obscure,;rlrv;r-vsttthe point and
cogent.Buddyshincs n piano. He sometimesndulgesn Ti t
tunrcsqucflights, but mostly hc snirrls n thc bcst Bud
Powellmanner.Though Wesu'rrsmore or lessa sidemanon the date, as he
rvason the other sessiottsrepresentedn this album,he clear ly s he
outstanding oloist . Old Folks" s r tstonishing.a iummation of h is
rrpproacho his nstrument nd to musrc.He displays reat espcct
orCarson Robinson'smelody,stilting t fairly straight n the
openingchorus and errrbuing twith that deep,dark tone. Then after
.and and Buggy havehad their *'avs, Wesbuiltls aflorving,sculptured
mprovisation hat is almost conversationirl,ike a mrrn
pieetling,crying for love. t is rrnrnrPoindcrtcr ,made a yeir end
.r h.rlf ,rtcr.Though the performirnceswerenot quite up to thc
extremelrhigh levelof the l-and tracks,Wesseems ()havebeen n a
rvarm, mellou'nr
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TUNE 4:03 (w.r Mo,.sorer))J. HYMN FOR CARL 4,tl f8. &,ll6.
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