jazz music history timeline

jazz music history timeline

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Wes Montgomery - The Most Incredible Jazz Music Guitarist Ever - Part 5

Jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery was drawn to the sound and response of an archtop electrical acoustic jazz guitar. He was closely identified all through his career after 1960 with the Gibson L5 CES (Cutaway Electric Spanish) model, in varying configurations. L5s are single cutaway (both Florentine or Venetian), deep bodied acoustic guitars with F-holes and two built in electrical pick ups. Judging by record album jacket photographs and publicity shots, Wes owned a minimum of six distinct L5s from 1960 to 1968, two of which were custom built single pickup models. When playing the stock two pick up model style, Wes used the front or the neck pick up almost exclusively for its' more lush tone. This is customary for the jazz guitar music sound of the bebop era and fortunately for aspiring guitarists there are numerous bebop collection books of jazz guitar tabs and jazz guitar tablature still available.

Prior to 1960, Wes Montgomery used a variety of other Gibson guitars. These included an L4 with a Charlie Christian electric bar pickup, an ES-125D and an ES-175. Kenny Burrell once stated that Wes borrowed his L7 and a Fender Deluxe amplifier for the 1959 album session of "The Wes Montgomery Trio". He was pictured on the cover of "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery" with an ES-175. Wes strung his guitars with heavier gauge Gibson Hi Fi flat wound strings.

Wes amplified his guitars throughout the Riverside Records years with either a late 1950s or early 1960s Fender tube amp. Reportedly, Rudy Van Gelder always kept an old Fender Deluxe amp permanently on hand in his New Jersey recording studio where Wes recorded with Creed Taylor for Verve Record Company soon after 1963. Wes later on switched to Standell Custom solid state combo amps and alternated between these and the Fender tube amps throughout the the rest of his record making career.

Wes Montgomery left us all too soon on June 15th, 1968, the victim of a coronary heart attack at the top of his popularity. In spite of that premature death, his legacy stays undiminished. He carved the way for new generations of jazz guitar players, which is evidenced in the work of George Benson, Pat Martino, Pat Metheny, Emily Remler and almost every single other guitar player after 1959. Wes was the archetypal fusion musician, experimenting with a variety of ensemble settings from modest bop combos to large orchestral groups with grandiose arrangements! His approach embraced just about every kind of straight ahead jazz and bebop and Afro-Cuban, latin rock, semi-classical, proto-funk and pop music styles. Wes Montgomery introduced a freshness and vitality to jazz guitar songs that has in no way been surpassed or equaled. He is sorely missed by all who enjoy jazz music and outstanding jazz guitar playing!