hen Wes Montgomery came out of Indianapolis in 1959 to seewhat the rest ofthe world looked like, he upset

a lot ofpeople. Like critics. They vied to seewho could heap the highest praise on ihe head of the quiet, uniretentious man 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 than I expected!" a third shouted, swooning. Montgomery fever soon spread through the jazz community at large, and the fans outdid the crirics. Thousands declared that Wes was the greatest of all guitarists, to the implied detriment of such worthies as Kennv Burrell. Iim Hall. limmv Ranev. Thl Farlow. Barnev Kesseland, one supposes, Andres Slgovia anl Hank GirlanA.Buti'azz fans-and criticlare like that, always looking for kings, the "best," whatever that means. Musicians know better, and if there is anything they detest it's a comparison of one man's work to another's. Music is not a contesi. The-reare many flowers. oT hues and shapes,in the garden, and who can say a rose is more beiutiful thin a-any lilyi There's no need to choose. Enjoy them all. And it was musicians, not fans, not critics, who spread the word about Wes Montgomery long before he got up the gumption to leave his home to$'n. (Oh, he went out for awhile with Lionel Hampton's screamin'meanies in the early'50s, but that doesn't count.) Wes had reason to stay in Indianapolis, not the most attractive or sdmulating place one could name. He was getting on-34 is a bit late in life for a iazz musician to try to make it on the national 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 can supporr his fa;ily in plicei lilie'ln'dianapolis. (lt's a tough, grinding life, one in which sleep takes on paramount imponance-four hours here, two hours ther, catnap on intermissions, wake up not sure where you are or which gig is up. It takes its toll. Wes Montgomery might not have died at 43, of a hean anack, if he hadn't had to work night and day all those years.) Another reasonto stay home: it was comfonable musically.Like most iazz musicians,hrs close friends were the men he played with, some going all the way back to 1943 when Wes first ventured onto a bandstand to Dlay the Charlie Christian solos he'd memorized from records. It's hard to break the ties rhaibind like-minded and seemingly equally capable musicians.

But Wes had reason to try his luck, too. Besidesa large talent, he had two brothers-Monk and Buddy-who had giined a nadond reputation iith their group, the Mastersounds, created in'the likenesso-fthe popul ar ModimJazzQuartet. l,t"onl iira Suddy didn't forget their brother. They raved to critics and record producers about him. They intended to form another group called the Montgomery Brotheis and wanted Wes with them. Bookings were assured.,Recordcompanies were interested. Things looked awfully good, and Wes made up hts mlnd to glve lt a whrrl. The first recordings under his own name turned thousands of guitar players all the way 'round, Octaves, octaves, octaves. Never before had a jazz guitarist used octavesas much, or so well, as lfes. In his early work, much of it heard'in th'is album, he employed octaves iudiciously thickening his lines withthem,.alternating themwith chorded ind single-note passages,never stepping outside the bounds of good musical taste. The excesses came later, when the big-money boys turned Wes into a highly marketable commodity. In an interview with Raloh Gleason done a couole vears after \(/es had left Indianaoolis. he recalled that "playing ociaves was just a coincidi:ttc6. And it's still such a challenge....l used to have headacheseverytime I played octaves, becauseit was extra strain, but the minute I'd quit 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. I'm iust showing you ho$' a strain can capture a cat and almost choke him, bui after a while it sians to ease-Jpbecauseyou get used to it." Weswas self-taught (as is every jazz musician, no matter how much he studies formally) 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 of speedyou should use a pick,'l think. A lot of cats say you don't h"ave to play fast, but berng able to plav fast can male you phrase better. But I iusf didnt like the sound. I tried it for about tivohonths. Didnt use ihe thumb at all. Btit after two months I still couldn't use the pick, so I said I d go ahead and use the thumb. But then I couldn't use the thumb either, so I isked myself whiih are you going to use?I liked the tone better with the thumb, but the technique better with the pick, but I couldn't have them both." That he chose tone is obvious, for his dark, mellow sound is one of the most fetching aspectsof his work. But tone, technique and musical devicesare mere means. It is the end, the music-its shape, the ideas underlying it, the responseit evokes-that matters. Wes Montgomery was a.master oj his an. His improvisations, especially in the early days, were compositions in miniarure. Each note sounds as if Wes tore it from the insm.rment,

nrusi crtl l i ne. buf fedi t a bit a n d h u n g it ce r e fu llvin lu st th e r ig h t spot on hi s ever - nr r t vi ng WesMontgomery wils ;r nr:rn w,ho knerv lvhat he lvas about. i n A pr i l , l 95l t. Thc s T he per f or m a n ce w,ith te n o r sa r o p h o n istHa r o ld Land u'er er ecor ded the t enor - gui t a vo r icr n gis str ikin g lysim ila rto th a t o f the S t anG et z Q ui nt et of 1951-52, group with Jimmy Raney,whorn Wcs once listed among his favoriteguitarists. (Onc can hear occasionirlsnrtchesof Raney and hl Farlow, another Montgomery favorite, in some of Wes'pl.ryingon this date.) FlvenWes'originals havesomethingof the flrtvor of comnositionsthe Cctz fivt frvorr.l. T he s i m i l ar itye n d sth e r e ,th o u g h . [- a n da n d th e M ont gom er ysw er et hei r , r u n mcn .l r]rl hel d no r r uck with im ir :r tio n .I.;r n .l,;r p r ,r o f th e fi r 't w ar erw ho neverh. t r got thc:re.l rti rtt ttt he deserves, is in fine form, nevcr;rt rt lors for rde,ts,neverhesitantor obscure,;rlrv;r-vs i ndul ges i n Ti t t unrcsquc o n p ia n o . He s om et i m es t he poi nt a n d co g e n t.B u d d y sh in cs flights, but mostly hc snirrlsin thc bcst Bud Powellmanner. Though Wesu'rrsmore or lessa sidemanon the date, as he rvason the other sessiotts sol oi st ."O l d Fol ks"i s rtstoni shi ng. r epr es ent ein d th is a lb u m , h e cle a r lyis th e o u tsta ndi ng gr eatrespcct for a i um m at i o n o f h is r r p p r o a ch to h is in str u m e n ta nd t o m usr c.H e di spl ays Carson Robinson'smelody, stilting it fairly straight in the opening chorus and errrbuingit with that deep, dark tone. Then after l.and and Buggy havehad their *'avs, Wesbuiltls a like a mrrn pieetling, florving, sculpturedimprovisation that is almost conversationirl, his finest recordedwork. crying for love. It is rrnr<;ng w i t h al t oi stR >nr P oi ndcrtcr, o f th e Ce tz- R.r n e so v u n dca r r ie s o ve rto t he sessi on Som ethi n g werenot quite up to thc extremelr made a yeir end .r h.rlf l,rtcr.Though the performirnces Fttr high levelof the l-and tracks, Wesseemst() havebeen in a rvarm, mellou' nr<xrcl. example, in his utterly relaxed"Falling in krve with Love" solo he evokesa feeling-yust .. whisper, really-of one of his early favorites,Django Reinhardt,the romantic Belgirn gypsy.It is one of the few times on record that Wesused a Reinhardt-likevibreto ( " Lei l a"i s an o th e r ) . it shows the recordedbeginningsof an This collection is valuablenot only bec;ruse Montgorncry had important musician but also bec:ruse the music is of high order. If \Wes the critics'prrrirc, recordednothing more than theseperformances,he would havedeserved if not their hyperbole.After all, how doesone proceedafter being cirlledthe greetestthing s i nc eC harlieCh r istia n ?We s' r e a ctio n t( ) th r t is n o t r ecor ded- or i s i t ? *D O N D cMI(.1 l A Il t97 5

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