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Wes was a self-taught guitarist who came from a musical family.His elder brother Monk played bass while younger Buddy plays piano & vibes.Monk gave Wes a four-string tenor guitar when he was around 12 years old.He really started to take the instrument seriously about 7 years later when he acquired his first six-string guitar.Inspired by the recordings of the pioneering Charlie Christian,Wes copied all his solos and was playing them professionally in Indianapolis by the age of 20,aswell as doing various non-musical dayjobs.
Despite 2 years touring with the Lionel Hampton band between 1948-50,Wes was still relatively unknown outside of his home town.Fame came eventually in 1959 when Cannonball Adderley was playing in Indianapolis,heard Wes play and reported enthuisiastically to Orin Keepnews of Riverside Records.Wes was soon signed up and when "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery" album was released in 1960 it took the jazz world by storm.Nobody had heard guitar playing like this before.Wes's warm mellow sound,obtained by playing with his thumb and not the usual pick,his amazing use of "impossible" octaves and block chords and his never- ending flow of invention,catapulted him to his deserved place in guitar history.He was a natural genius; an innovator who changed forever the direction of jazz guitar.
Tragically,Wes was taken from us far too early when he died from a heart attack in 1968.His last records were not the jazz classics of the earlier years but nevertheless,everything Wes played was tasteful and reflected his jazz and blues roots.Luckily for us,he left behind some superb recordings which still stand as the pinnacles of jazz guitar playing.
