Legends of Jazz Guitar - Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop

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didn’t understand and feel the things that Charlie Christian was doing, he was a pretty poor musician.” Employed as a welder, Montgomery diligently sat with his guitar and Charlie Christian records for hours. “The biggest problem,” he said of the guitar, “is getting started... It’s a very hard instrument to accept, because it takes years to start working with...” Montgomery was working well enough with it by 1948 to land a job with Lionel Hampton, a stint which let him polish techniques achieved partly by accident: a neighbor’s complaint prompted Montgomery to drop the pick and try “plucking the strings with the fat part of my thumb. This was much quieter,” he recalled. The unique attack he developed with his thumb, along with what Montgomery called “the trick of playing the melody line in two different registers at the same time — the octave thing,” became his trademarks. Guitarist Les Spann, who marveled at Montgomery’s “perfect knowledge of the instrument,” noted that Montgomery’s thumb “gives his playing a very percussive feeling and remarkable tone.” As seen in this video, Montgomery was as graceful and assured as he was dynamic. The apparent effortlessness of his playing was actually the result of years of hard work: “I used to have headaches every time I played those octaves,” Montgomery told Ralph Gleason, “because it was a strain, but the minute I’d quit, I’d be all right. I don’t why, but it was my way, and my way just backfired on me. But now I don’t have headaches when I play octaves. I’m showing you how a strain can capture a cat and almost choke him, but after awhile it starts to ease up because you get used to it.” Montgomery spent most of the 1950s giging locally in Indianapolis while keeping his day job at a radio parts factory to support his large family. His break came in 1959, when Cannonball Adderly recommended him to Riverside Records. His recordings were hailed as revelations, and Montgomery quickly gained a star status unprecedented in the history of jazz guitar. The jazz critics and aficionados who heralded Montgomery in the early 1960s were dismayed when, shortly after the performances in this video were made, he began playing jazz 10
versions of pop tunes (“Going Out of My Head” won Montgomery a 1966 Grammy). It could be argued that Montgomery’s jazz-pop hybrid brought jazz guitar a wider listenership, but the consensus on his music was bitterly divided at the time a heart attack claimed this giant in 1968. The accusations of ‘selling out’ had yet to be hurled at Montgomery when he delivered the brilliant performances captured on this video. Accompanied by pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Arthur Harper and drummer Jimmy Lovelace, Montgomery made a 1965 appearance on the BBC’s Jazz 625 program. The sheer joy of creating such joyous music is seen in Montgomery’s face while playing the saucy “Full House,” an original composition. Contrasting to its “Take Five”-ish off-kilter rhythms is the bluesy brilliance of Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight.” Montgomery’s Riverside recording of this on an album by the same name is regarded as one of the greatest interpretations of this standard. Here Montgomery balances power with understatement superbly supported by his ensemble’s subtle playing (note the brief shift to a Bolero rhythm towards the end). A genius who understood the art of sharing the spotlight, Montgomery once told fellow guitarist Jimmy Stewart: “In jazz music in recent years, most sidemen want to be the leader and most leaders want to be the whole show. Very few people reach the top in their field, and you should not be frustrated by not reaching the top. The process of achieving your goal is more rewarding than the goal itself.” 11
Page 1 and 2: Legends of Jazz Guitar Volume Two f
Page 3 and 4: BARNEY KESSEL “Above all, the hum
Page 5 and 6: personal mannerisms — the upward
Page 7 and 8: Photo by Tom Copi 7
Page 9: as session man on Blue Note recordi
Page 13 and 14: CHARLIE BYRD “Some guitarists imp
Page 15 and 16: Photo by Michael P. Smith JOE PASS
Page 17 and 18: 17 Photo by Tom Copi

Legends of Jazz Guitar - Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop

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