Chapter 2
Apprenticeship and Influences
Preliminary Remarks
In this chapter we retrace and evaluate the specific forces that have contributed to
the development of Wes Montgomery’s improvisational style. Investigating the social
context in which he grew up, learned his craft, and first recorded, is an excellent starting
point.1 In the book, The Sociology of Music, DaSilva, Blasi and Dees contend that
“Sociology begins with the fact that people influence one another. What they do and how
they do it changes with place and time.”2 Accordingly, we will chronologically illustrate
the gradual succession of timely experiences, events, and multifarious influences that have
led to the development of Montgomery’s unique solo style. To clearly comprehend this
development, it is imperative that we first consider the social context in which he lived,
his interaction with others, and how he came to mature musically.3 Wes Montgomery’s
biographer, Adrian Ingram, remarks that “we must acknowledge that the environmental
and social circumstances of Wes’ formative years contributed something to the
development of this unique playing style.”4
The Early Years
Wes Montgomery was born on March 6 1923, in Indianapolis, Indiana. After his
parents’ early separation, Wes lived with his father and brothers in Columbus, Ohio where
1 Sociologists have been taking interest in the social situation of the jazz performers and there are
reasonably good observations and published insights to begin with.
2
Fabio Dasilva, Anthony Blasi, and David Dees, The Sociology of Music (Notre Dame,
Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), vii.
3 Ibid., 47. Accordingly, these researchers maintain that the study of improvisation must be viewed, to a
certain extent, sociologically: “There is another factor involved that makes jazz performance particularly
susceptible to sociology as well as to the people who happen to be sociologists. Jazz is a musical form which
highlights improvisation, and it is particularly ensemble improvisation which is eminently sociological. A
group evolves an expression, negotiates a social creation.”
4 Adrian Ingram, Wes Montgomery (Gateshead: Ashley Mark Publishing Co., 1985), 46.
2
he attended Champion High School.5 He had always been very interested in music but had
never received any formal training in his youth, nor any time after that. Wes’ older
brother, Monk (William Howard), had noticed his brother’s increasing enthusiasm for
music and decided to buy him a four-string tenor guitar with the money he had earned as a
“coal and ice boy.”6 In retrospect, Monk believes Wes was doing a good job on guitar by
the time he was twelve or thirteen, but Wes emphatically disagreed with his brother’s
assessment: “I used to play tenor guitar, but it wasn’t really playing. I’ve really gone into
the business since I got the six string, which was like starting all over.”7 Although Wes
did not acquire his six-string guitar until his nineteenth birthday, Ingram believes that it is
likely this early start on tenor guitar helped develop some fundamental technical skills
such as coordination and touch.8 Furthermore, it seems plausible that Wes’ early
encounter and habituation with the deeper sounding four-string tenor guitar, impelled him
to develop the fuller and warmer, velvety six-string-guitar sound that was to be one of the
keys to his recognizability and later success.9
When Wes was about seventeen, he moved back to Indianapolis with his brothers,
Buddy and Monk, who began performing quite regularly around their home area. Wes,
however, only began playing two years later. It was while attending a local dance that Wes
first heard a recording of Charlie Christian:
He was amazed with Christian’s new hornlike approach to electric guitar playing,
so much that the following morning he went downtown and spent $350, he could
ill afford, on a new six-string guitar and amplifier. Frustrated that he didn’t sound
5 Ibid., 16.
6 Ibid., 11.
7 Ralph J. Gleason, “A Rare Unpublished Interview with Ralph J. Gleason,” in Jazz Guitarists: Collected
interviews from Guitar Player Magazine (New York: Music Sales Corporation, 1975), 75.
8 Ingram, op. cit., 11.
9 This penchant for a lower register sound is evidenced on a 1960 recording for Riverside (Movin’ Along,
RLP-342). On the first three numbers Montgomery employs what is confusingly called on the album, a “bass
guitar.” What Wes actually uses here is a larger six-string guitar tuned down a full octave. Wes was in
search of a deeper sound to contrast with James Clay’s flute and subsequently borrowed the guitar from a
Los Angeles musician.
3
like Christian right away, Wes spent every spare moment of the next eight months
trying to master the instrument.10
The Charlie Christian solos made a powerful and lasting impression on the young
Montgomery. He later conceded being thoroughly absorbed by Christian’s music: “He
was it for me, and I didn’t look at nobody else, I didn’t hear nobody else for about a year
or so....”11 Wes had previously listened to guitarists like Django Reinhardt and Les Paul
but had not found there playing to be as original as Christian’s: “For the exciting, the new
thing they didn’t impress me like that. But Charlie Christian did. I mean he stood out
above all of it to me.”12 Undoubtedly, Charlie Christian was the initial impetus Wes
needed to start playing jazz guitar seriously, however, little more can be confirmed of his
formative years in the 1940’s. He had tried unsuccessfully, to get some lessons with a
guitarist, Alex Stevens, whom he qualified as the “toughest cat” he had heard around his
area. Unable to access formal tuition, Wes proceeded with determination to learn Charlie
Christian solos from records for the next eight months.
His Remarkable Ear
As a self-taught musician, Montgomery never learned to read or write music, nor
did he know the names of chord symbols. From the start he instinctively mastered the
indispensable aural aspect of jazz- an uncontested prerequisite for all those wishing to
acquire the fundamental tools of the art- through extensive and repetitive listenings of
Charlie Christian solos.13 In addition, he had been blessed with an incredibly keen
musical ear and memory that enabled him to progress, absorb, and create music more
10 Ingram, op. cit., 11. Wes’ wife, Serene, recalls those days well: “Wes and Monk (his brother) played
those instruments all the time, often times right through the night.”
11 Ralph J. Gleason, “Wes Montgomery,” Downbeat, Vol.28 no.15, (1961), 23.
12 Ibid., 24.
13 In his book, Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation, p.111, Berliner points out that “For
young players, a common method of memory training is the simple but rigorous repetitive act of checking
the accuracy of learned solos against their original models, constantly reinforcing proper interpretation. Over
time, learning and retaining solos in this fashion creates the strong and flexible aurality that the jazz world
expects of its accomplished artists.”
4
rapidly than any reading musician. Wes admitted that this was the outcome of his early
aural experience with trying to learn the instrument:
I think it’s how you start out. I can’t see how another guitar player could take the
guitar as I play it- the way I’ve got it strung up. They’ll take it, just like is, and turn
it upside down and play it. Now, all of this depends on how you first started out. I
happen to be completely dependent on my ear, which over a period of time, has
become trained to complete accuracy. Being dependent upon my ear, I always keep
the old ears open.14
His ear had indeed become “trained to complete accuracy” as is confirmed by Mel Rhyne,
the organ player on several Montgomery recordings: “Didn’t read music, could play
almost anything after hearing it once- twice at the most- and played for hours without
repeating himself.”15 Bill Shoemaker adds that Wes’ Riverside output is a testament to his
great ear, since many of the dates had practically “little or no rehearsal time and included
musicians with whom Wes had not previously worked.”16 Mel Rhyne recalled that on the
album Fusion “All the orchestra people thought it was amazing what Wes did, not having
any music in front of him, and how what he played fit in with arrangements he hadn’t
previously heard.”17 Wes’ acute aural sensitivity appears to have enabled him to access
greater harmonic sophistication within the improvised line. James Sallis recognized that
Wes consistently played “over the heads of other guitarists, turning out remarkably
sophisticated harmonies and unremittingly fresh lines.”18 It is conceivable then, that
Montgomery had developed perfect pitch even though he could not directly relate it to
actual notes or chord symbols. John Duarte agrees that Wes didn’t know their names or
symbols, but adds that “he could recognize and speak of them as fluently as most of us
14 Jim Gosa, Radio interview with Wes Montgomery in Los Angeles, May 29, 1966 at Radio Station KBIG-
FM. Issued on Wes Montgomery, Live at Jorgie’s and More, Vol.2. VGM-0008.
15 Bill Shoemaker, “Birth of The Modern Guitar,” Downbeat, Vol.60 no.5, (May 1993), 23.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 James Sallis, The Guitar Players: One Instrument and Its Masters in American Music (New York:
William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1982), 214.
5
can write or speak. Music was to him such a natural language that he bypassed all
questions of grammar and syntax.”19 This is corroborated by the fact that in a guitar
discussion published in Crescendo International Magazine, Wes mentioned going to the
movies and actually hearing the different chords on the sound track.20
First Performances
In 1943 at the age of 19, Montgomery began his first jazz engagements, playing
Charlie Christian solos regularly at the 440 club in Indianapolis. Wes acknowledges that
he had committed perhaps a dozen Christian solos to memory and could not play anything
else. He realized his limitations when on one occasion the audience clamored for an
encore. Wes recounts the awkward situation: “One day I got a hand [applause] so big that
they wouldn’t let me off the stage. But I couldn’t play nothing else!”21 Needless to say,
Montgomery felt extremely embarrassed and continued to practice assiduously. During
this period he was working days at ordinary jobs in Indianapolis, and continued
experimenting in the evenings with his guitar and amplifier, always determined to justify
the initial purchase. Moreover, during this apprenticeship Wes missed no opportunities to
observe any local or touring bands especially if the instrumentation included a guitar:
There were several guitar players situated in and around Indianapolis.... Wes knew
and respected these guitarists, catching their gigs when he could. David Baker
remembers that Wes enjoyed the guitar playing of Carol De Camp, John
Blanchard, Specs Maynard, Bill Jennings, Henry Gootch and Paul Wheaton.
Pookie Johnson remembers also that he and Wes would sometimes drive across to
Detroit to hear a young guitarist called Kenny Burrell.
....Les Spann, the guitarist/flautist who plays with techniques similar to those
employed by Wes (thumb and octaves), was stationed for a period at nearby Fort
Harrison and was active for a time on the local jazz scene.22
19 John W. Duarte, “Wes Montgomery: Natural Genius,” B.M.G., August (1968), 343.
20 “Guitar Discussion Featuring Wes Montgomery, Jack Duarte, Ike Isaacs and Cedric West,” Crescendo
International, May (1965), 28-30.
21 Valerie Wilmer, “Wes Montgomery talks to Valerie Wilmer,” Jazz Monthly, Vol.11 no.3, (May 1965),
23.
22 Ingram, op. cit., 16.
6
It is obvious that Montgomery listened to many excellent guitar players in and
around Indianapolis during his apprenticeship years. However, for one to ascertain to what
extent any of these guitarists have influenced his style, would be highly speculative. The
aforementioned Kenny Burrell, became one of the best-known hard bop guitarists of the
fifties and sixties and was recognized for his soulful playing on several bluesy albums.
His main attribute was his remarkable mastery of the blues idiom. Burrell and organist
Jimmy Smith (who brought the Hammond organ into modern jazz) set the aesthetic
standards for the countless organ-guitar-drum trios that appeared on the scene during this
period.23 Burrell recounts that friends of his in Detroit and elsewhere had mentioned that
he had been an influence and inspiration to Wes.24
Once while in London, I was pleasantly surprised when guitarist and teacher Ivor
Mairants pointed out to me in his book on guitarists that Wes had told him I was
one of his influences and that he used to make special trips from Indianapolis to
Detroit to hear me play. Wow! That made me feel real nice. A few years later I ran
into Pookie Johnson out in Naptown and he told me the same thing.25
Burrell recalls meeting Wes in the late 1940’s when he was working in Detroit and doing
a lot of sitting in with different groups.26 It is difficult to determine what kind of influence
Burrell might have exerted on Montgomery early on. What does appear to be certain is
that Wes was also deeply inclined towards the blues idiom and his first group
engagements, as well as his first and subsequent recordings for Riverside, often included
the organ-guitar-drum format which he was particularly fond of.
At the time, Wes also began playing regular night gigs at The Keys Supper Club,
The 19th Hole, The Ritz, The Cactus Club and the 500 Club to supplement his daytime
23 Norman Mongan, The History of The Guitar in Jazz (New York: Oak Publications, 1983), 158.
24 Orrin Keepnews, companion booklet, Wes Montgomery: The Complete Riverside Recordings, 13.
25 Ibid.,13.
26 Ibid.
7
income.27 Other musicians helped him learn some well-known repertory tunes, with their
various introductions and endings: “I went on the stand and played the solos. The guys in
the band helped me a lot about different tunes, intros, endings and things that they had.
They wired me up on all those, but after that, that was it.”28 Wes recalls improving
musically and acquiring his first brief experiences of life on the road with groups such as
the Brownskin Models and Snookum Russell:
Well, I got pretty good and went on the road with a group. We starved. At that
time I didn’t realize that you’d work one gig in Kansas City, the next in Florida,
and the next would be in Louisville. You know, a thousand miles a night. That was
really tough, man.29
The Hampton Gig (1948-50)
Montgomery’s first real opportunity came in 1948 after five years of
apprenticeship, when he was hired by the esteemed bandleader-musician, Lionel
Hampton. The local Indianapolis musicians had heard that Hampton was passing through
the mid-west and recruiting new musicians along the way. According to Wes’ wife,
Serene, Wes was insecure about auditioning but decided to go nonetheless, “figuring he
had nothing to lose.”30 Hampton was immediately impressed by Montgomery’s ability to
play Christian-type melodic lines and hired him instantly, regardless of the fact that “he
could neither read musical notation, nor chord symbols.”31 Wes went on the road for two
years with Hampton’s big band and recalled that at one point Hamp paid him the ultimate
compliment for his particular instrument: “He allowed me to keep my amp on during the
entire length of the numbers we played, not just during the solos.”32 According to Bill
27 Ingram, op. cit., 12.
28 Ralph Gleason, “Wes Montgomery: A Previously Unpublished Interview,” Jazz & Blues, Vol.3 no.7,
(Oct 1973), 8-9.
29 Ibid.
30 Ingram, op. cit., 12.
31 Ibid.
32 Bill Quinn, “The Thumb’s Up or what the view is like from the top,” Downbeat, Vol.35 no.13, (June
1968), 17.
8
Quinn, no other guitarist had accomplished this with “the hard-charging leader.”
Montgomery made several recordings with the band and gained valuable experience in
this early stage of his career, playing with seasoned jazz luminaries such as bassist Charles
Mingus, trumpeter Fats Navarro, pianist Milt Bruckner and Lionel Hampton himself.33
However, Wes did not get the exposure he needed with the Hampton band and found life
on the road away from his family quite unbearable. Furthermore, he had a mortal fear of
flying which meant that while the Hampton band often arrived at their destinations
quickly and comfortably, Wes chose to drive the grueling distances between gigs.
Consequently, he quit the band in 1950 and returned home in Indianapolis to his wife,
family, and a series of non-musical day jobs.34
Return to Indianapolis: The 1950’s
Upon his return to Indianapolis Wes pursued a nearly impossible schedule every
week for about six years to provide for his growing family.35 He had a job in an
Indianapolis radio parts factory from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., performed at a club called the Turf
Bar from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., and from 2:30 a.m. till 5 a.m. played in an after hours “joint”
called the Missile Room. Montgomery had ample opportunities to perform, experiment
and refine his improvisational skills during this fertile period. Bill Shoemaker also
recognized that “Wes perfected his style in hometown lounges such as the fabled Missile
Room.”36 Wes himself admitted that, “working three gigs all that time was not the worst
thing that could have happened to me. From all that scuffling I learned a lot about
discipline as an entertainer.”37
33 Montgomery’s recordings with the Hampton band have been re-issued on Lionel Hampton-Jay Bird-
Black Lion Star Power series-Intercord INT 27.032 (1977). Ingram remarks that these recordings confirm
how heavily Wes relied “on what he had learnt from listening to Charlie Christian records.”
34 Ingram, op. cit., 12.
35 Quinn, op. cit., 44.
36 Shoemaker, op. cit., 23.
37 Ibid.
9
During this time Montgomery also performed with different groups such as the
Eddie Higgins trio, Roger Jones Quintet, and the Montgomery-Johnson Quintet. The latter
group included Monk Montgomery (bass), Buddy Montgomery (piano, vibes), Alonzo
Pookie Johnson (reeds), and Sonny Johnson (drums).38 This band made several excellent
records under the direction of the esteemed Quincy Jones, however, these recordings are
now untraceable.39 David Baker, a distinguished jazz educator and long time friend of the
Montgomery family, remembers this period:
Those recordings were particularly good, the group modeled themselves on the
groups of George Shearing which were of course very popular at the time. Wes
and his brothers were perfectionists, particularly Wes. We had free use of Chuck
Bailey’s Indianapolis rehearsal studio during the 50’s, providing that Chuck was
allowed to keep the tapes rolling while we rehearsed. Wes was always in there
rehearsing some band or another. I remember some big band sessions he did for
me and I remember him rehearsing with Mel (Rhyne) for his solo record. No one
knows what happened to any of those recordings, but Wes was really playing.40
Baker’s statement that “Wes was always in there rehearsing some band or another” hints
to the fact that Montgomery had the chance, right there in Indianapolis, to gain valuable
performing experience with many different musicians and groups. Moreover, regular
access to a studio where the tapes were rolling during a rehearsal certainly enabled Wes to
subsequently hear his improvised solos, and regularly make the appropriate stylistic
adjustments based on what he liked and disliked on the tape. It is plausible that this
unique setting may have profoundly affected and accelerated the rate and speed of
amelioration of Wes’ playing during this particular period.
Between 1955 and 1957 the aforementioned Montgomery-Johnson quintet played
music mainly for dancers at the Tropics Club on tenth street. In 1957 Buddy and Monk
Montgomery along with pianist Richard Crabtree and drummer Benny Barth moved to the
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid., 12-13.
10
West Coast. They were called the Mastersounds and soon after their arrival, landed a
contract with Pacific Jazz Records.41 After his experience on the road with Lionel
Hampton, Wes was reluctant to leave Indianapolis and his family, nevertheless, he did
spend some time with his brothers’ group in San Francisco playing at the Jazz Workshop.
Wes was also asked to record with the Mastersounds and this inevitably strengthened his
growing reputation. He recorded several times with his brothers between 1957 and 1959
as a featured soloist, and occasionally traveled to the West Coast to play with them.
Despite this rise in playing and recording activity, he chose to remain in his hometown
“doing more or less what he had always done, unaffected by any critical acclaim or
otherwise, which came his way.”42
Wes’ Primary Influence: Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian grew up in Oklahoma City at a time when it was an important
Southwest music center.43 During the swing era Christian (1916-1942) had mastered what
was then the new world of the electric guitar. According to Mark Gridley, “His long,
swinging, single-note-at-time lines gave solo guitar the stature of a jazz horn.”44 In an
epoch when the horn players had clearly monopolized the arena of improvisation, guitar
was starting to be perceived as more than a timekeeping member of the rhythm section.45
Christian, then playing electric guitar with the Benny Goodman band, was unquestionably
the primary most significant influence on Montgomery. Wes corroborates this in the
introduction of his guitar method:
In every museum throughout the world you will find aspiring painters patiently
copying the masters. Similarly young musicians play records of their favorite
41 Ibid.
42 Ibid.
43 Collier, op. cit., 342.
44 Gridley, op. cit., 101-102.
45 Ibid., 101.
11
musicians in order to absorb techniques and personal expressions. For example,
when I first started to play, I wore out parts of Charlie Christian recordings.46
Determining to what extent Christian’s playing impacted on Wes Montgomery’s style
demands a rigorous investigative process. First, we must compare and contrast Christian’s
improvisations with Montgomery’s to discern if there are evident similarities in style.
Then, we must observe if specific elements of Montgomery’s vocabulary or idiosyncratic
traits may have possibly originated with Christian.
Christian and The Blues Riff
Christian came from the Southwest, the guitar and blues territory. Schuller remarks
that he was “a guitarist who brought the Southwestern blues into modern jazz-and
more.”47 He began recording with Lionel Hampton and the Benny Goodman Sextet in
1939, and died in February 1942 of tuberculosis. The Christian recordings with Goodman
display the essential elements of his style: “the clean uncluttered lines, often in arching
shapes- his favorite phrase contour; his flawless time; his consistently blues-inflected
melodic/harmonic language.”48 This blues inflected language which Schuller singles out
so emphatically is also a fundamental characteristic of Montgomery’s style. This has
clearly been evidenced in our previous thesis, where we have demonstrated that elements
of the early blues idiom are integral to Montgomery’s improvisational and compositional
style.49 We have shown that intrinsic blues elements such as the call-and-response
techniques, riff patterns,50
51
and blues-inflected melodic lines so integral to Christian’s
46 Ingram, op. cit., 49.
47 Gunther Schuller, The Swing Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 563.
48 Ibid., 567.
49 Reno De Stefano, “The Blues in Wes Montgomery’s Compositional and Improvisational Style” (M.A.
thesis, Université de Montréal, 1990).
50 Schuller, Early Jazz, 30. Schuller adds that “the great guitarist Charlie Christian was undoubtedly the best
riff-tune inventor.” (a riff being a short melodic ostinato, usually two or four bars long, which may either be
repeated intact or varied to accommodate an underlying harmonic pattern.)
51 Len Lyons, The 101 Best Jazz Albums: A History of Jazz On Records (New York: William Morrow and
Company, Inc., 1980), 125. Lyon substantiates Schuller’s position: “The sextet tracks depend on
12
style, are also deeply rooted in Montgomery’s syntax. It is conceivable then, that Wes may
have initially absorbed some of the blues vocabulary and techniques from Christian.
Christian’s improvisations on his Solo Flight album had a profound impact on
Wes Montgomery, especially his use of riff figures. The original numbers included on this
historic album were conceived at rehearsals from simple riffs, and basic chord
progressions such as the blues.52 It was Christian’s blues riff approach that stimulated and
defined the musical direction of the Benny Goodman sextet. The forms of these original
compositions demonstrate that Christian created riffs as the basis for melodic invention:
“The band would state a riff and the soloist would develop his melodic line in a pattern of
tension (riffs), relaxation of tension (melodic line), tension (reaffirmed riffs).”53 Fifty
percent of Montgomery’s compositions54 are constructed on the blues riff, and he also
often improvises employing the succession of riff, melodic line, riff -the pattern of
Christian’s improvised solos, which recurred in infinitely varied combinations.55
Wes & Christian: Arpeggiated Structures
The subsequent chapter on “Harmonic Analysis” will demonstrate one of
Montgomery’s principal idiosyncratic trait- his distinctive and highly individual usage of
arpeggios within the improvised line. We will demonstrate that there are specific
syntactical and grammatical consistencies in Montgomery’s employment of these
structures. Because he applies these in such an individualized and invariable manner, they
can be utilized as important comparative materials. Christian was also known to
arpeggiate chords in his eighth-note phrases, extending the chords to include other
intervals such as the ninth, flatted ninth, eleventh, augmented eleventh, thirteenth and
spontaneous “head” arrangements of exciting, speech-like riffs, many of which derive from Christian’s
improvisational style.”
52 Al Avakian and Bob Prince, jacket notes to ‘Solo Flight’-The Genius of Charlie Christian, Columbia
CG30779.
53 Ibid.
54 Compositions based on a single riff figure include Something Like Bags, Blue Roz, Naptown Blues
(1965), Missile Blues , etc. Refer to De Stefano, op. cit.
55 Ibid. Listen to Naptown Blues (m.25-33) on the album Goin’ Out of My Head (Verve 8642).
13
flatted thirteenth.56 Therefore, analyzing and comparing both Montgomery’s and
Christian’s use of extended arpeggios within a solo, might provide some sort of indication
as to the extent of Christian’s impact on Wes’ style. This requires that we take a more
penetrating look into the improvisational inclinations of both performers.
Charlie Christian’s monumental guitar solo from the 1941 Benny Goodman band
recording of Solo Flight, had a very profound effect and impact on the young
Montgomery, and could be a starting point for comparison. When asked what originally
attracted him to jazz, Montgomery responded:
Charlie Christian, like all other guitar players. There was no way out. That cat tore
everybody’s head up. I never saw him in my life, but he said so much on records...
“Solo Flight,” boy that was too much, I still hear it. He was IT for me.57
Montgomery also made similar declarations to the jazz critic Max Jones in a 1960
interview:
I never planned to be a musician, had no thought of doing that, Charlie Christian
was my inspiration. I heard his “Solo Flight” (with Benny Goodman in 1943) and
something about it made an impression. I should explain that I wasn’t buying
records at the time and wasn’t exposed to jazz. I went to dances like any young
man, but that was all. But when you hear something that sounds good you want to
hear it over, and that happened to me with “Solo Flight.” And when you hear it
over and it still sounds good, you want to make something like it. So I thought
‘Why not?’....I had nothing but time, so I bought a guitar and started teaching
myself.58
Gunther Schuller also explicitly attests to the profound influence this particular recording
had on Wes Montgomery: “...the piece had a considerable public success and was highly
touted by younger guitarists (especially Wes Montgomery),.....”59 Consequently, it would
be worthwhile and most illuminating to probe into Christian’s improvisation on this
56 Avakian and Prince, op.cit.
57 Ingram, op. cit., 49.
58 Ibid. , 49
59 Schuller, op. cit., 576.
14
recording, especially since in it we perceive “the culminating sophistication of Christian’s
art.”60 This was Christian’s most extensive solo with the Goodman band, featuring the
guitar all the way through.
Christian’s improvisation on Solo Flight is predominantly linear in structure, nevertheless,
there are some instances where arpeggiated forms are employed. During this ninety-two
measure guitar solo including mostly swing eighth-notes, Christian uses thirty-five
arpeggios. Most of these arpeggiated structures emphasize chord tones (i.e., root, third,
fifth, and seventh in the case of dominant chords). A total of twelve arpeggios punctuate
the ninth of the chord and seven move up to the thirteenth. We can immediately perceive a
marked inconsistency between Montgomery’s and Christian’s usage of arpeggios outlining
the thirteenth of a chord. As exemplified in the harmonic analyses of chapter five,
Montgomery moves up to, or descends from the thirteenth by way of the natural eleventh.
We have clearly demonstrated this to be characteristic of his style. Christian, on the other
hand, never inserts the eleventh when outlining the thirteenth of the chords. In all seven
cases of this arpeggio illustrated in example 1, Christian consistently superimposes it in
ascending motion solely on dominant-type chords. The characteristic leap up a fifth (from
the ninth to the thirteenth) was used by Christian “in endless variants....in hundreds of
other solos.”61 Similarly, the great majority of Montgomery’s arpeggios moving to the
thirteenth of the chord are also used in a predominantly ascending motion. Other
transcriptions from the same album (Solo Flight) prove that Christian’s omission of the
eleventh degree in these arpeggiated structures is typical of his unique grammar and
syntax.
Ex.1 Solo Flight(m.24)
60 Avakian and Prince, op.cit. “With no strain, the voice of the jazz electric guitar fits into a showpiece
provided by the big swing band. Christian does not compete with the volume and power of Benny’s big
band, but easily rides the crests of its waves. With a minimum of effort, he tells his quiet and complex
story.”
61 Schuller, op. cit., 569.
15
On Rose Room (ex.2) from the same album, Christian uses the arpeggio in identical
fashion.
Ex.2 Rose Room(m.12)
This type of analysis discloses that there are inherent differences in syntax between
Montgomery’s and Christian’s use of arpeggiated structures. Although both improvisers
make use of the same technique, arpeggiated forms are more widespread in Montgomery’s
melodic lines. The contrast in syntax further establishes Montgomery’s uniqueness and
individuality from his mentor. His grammar and syntax are not synonymous to Christian’s
but are a more complex extension of his style. Adrian Ingram endorses this hypothesis and
states that:
Charlie Christian obviously had a tremendous impact but, nevertheless, Wes did
not remain impervious to his surroundings. Although Christian provided early
inspiration to play jazz guitar, Wes obviously had his own ideas about
improvising, hearing complex melodic lines and harmonies in his mind, many of
which were logical extensions of the Christian solos he had mastered.62
62 Ingram, op. cit., 50.
16
The Solo Flight analyses have exhibited innate syntactical features that are significantly
dissimilar from what we may find in a Montgomerian improvisation. Nevertheless, from a
general view point, Charlie Christian’s employment of long, clean eighth-note phrases
consisting of harmonic extensions and alterations63 is characteristically, the underlying
essence of Montgomery’s style.
Howard Spring’s thesis, The Use of Formulas in The Improvisations of Charlie
Christian,64 clearly displays the formulaic use of group of notes that are stereo-typical of
Christian’s style. In his introduction Spring describes Christian’s style with four general
characteristics: 1) the sound including texture and time feel 2) the drive 3) the fluid
phrasing and flexible use of arpeggios 4) the extensive use of formulas. It is evident from
Spring’s analyses that Christian’s melodic linear-type formulas monopolize his
improvisations. In fact, his analyses indirectly support Schuller’s position about
Christian’s linear conception.65 However, Spring explicitly recognizes the systematic
usage of arpeggios by Christian as exemplified by the third general characteristic above.
He asserts that the “arpeggios occurring in Christian’s solos exhibit a relative
independence from the underlying harmonic structure.”66 This is also true of many of
Montgomery’s chordal superimpositions outlining the higher extensions of a harmonic
background.67
Ex.3
Christian’s Non-Tonic Formula68
63 Avakian and Prince, jacket notes to ‘Solo Flight,’ op. cit.
64 Howard Spring, “The Use of Formulas in The Improvisations of Charlie Christian,” Jazzforschung/Jazz
Research, Vol. 22 (1990), 11-51.
65 Schuller, op. cit., 566. Schuller states that Christian adopted a more linear conception of jazz from tenor
saxophonist, Lester Young.
66 Ibid., 11.
67 See chapter five for relevant examples of chord superimpositions.
68 Ibid., 27.
17
In his analysis of the non-tonic formula employed by Christian, Spring has effectively
demonstrated that this formula consists of a core of notes usually performed in swing
eighth-notes.69 Example 3 exhibits three varying types of this core and the first three notes
of each core are identical. They are formed by an arpeggiation of a dominant chord
starting from the third and ascending in thirds. Type a corresponds to the ascending fournote diminished (5/3) arpeggio which according to our data, is not as pervasive in
Montgomery’s improvisations. Type b, which outlines a minor7b5 (or half-diminished)
arpeggio, can be found sporadically in Montgomery’s solos. Type c, previously discussed
in example 1 and 2, is the most common arpeggiated structure. It is a minor7b5 arpeggio
moving up to the thirteenth of the chord (G7) and omitting the eleventh scale degree.
Montgomery’s usage of this structure is very limited and, unlike Christian, he customarily
inserts the eleventh before the thirteenth. In addition, Christian’s partiality for the
69 Ibid., 27.
18
diminished chord and its superimposition over basic harmonic progressions, can be heard
in any number of his solos.70 Wes on the other hand, employs it only once in a while.
This comparison and analysis of select ascending arpeggiated structures discloses
the dissimilarities in the specifics of the grammar and syntax between Montgomery and
Christian. Their respective utilization of arpeggios is essentially unrelated. Their
individual syntax, that is, the manner in which these arpeggiated structures are used, are
intrinsically diverse. We can immediately recognize from the detailed analyses presented
in subsequent chapters, Montgomery’s more complex, distinctive, and extensive use of
arpeggios. Although Christian’s early influence is indisputable, Montgomery elaborated
an intricate and original arpeggiated style on his foundation. He brought jazz guitar and
improvisation a step beyond what had already been established by his mentor. Ivor
Mairants recognized this and commented that, “Wes Montgomery has advanced the
conception of jazz on the guitar more than any other player since the instrument has been
used for playing jazz.”71 Kenny Burrell, briefly summed up the influence Christian had on
Wes Montgomery:
Christian laid the foundation for us [guitarists], like Charlie Parker did for
saxophonists. I think the influence of Christian you hear in Wes later on is more of
a natural influence, like the influence of your parents or family, not the superficial
type where you copy someone else.72
Guitarist Jim Hall adds that Wes’ ability “to make each note sound as if it was
downstroked” was also a Christian-derived aspect of his mature style.73 This is quite
accurate since guitarist, Barney Kessel who met and jammed with Christian in Oklahoma,
corroborated that he played mostly downstrokes while holding a very big and stiff
triangular pick tightly between his thumb and first finger.74
70 Avakian and Prince, op. cit., 186.
71 Ingram, op. cit., 60.
72 Shoemaker, op. cit., 22.
73 Ibid.
74 Jas Obrecht, “On Charlie Christian- Barney Kessel,” Guitar Player, March (1982), 74.
19
Horn Players: John Coltrane
Adrian Ingram observed that Montgomery enjoyed the guitar playing of several
other guitarists situated in and around Indianapolis, “catching their gigs when he could.”75
However, by the early sixties his “musical preferences had gravitated from guitarists to
horn players and he was more likely to be found listening to Wayne shorter (tenor
saxophone), John Coltrane (tenor and soprano saxophone) or Miles Davis (trumpet).”76 It
is befitting that we examine the individual influences of horn players to determine what
kind of impact they may have had on Montgomery’s improvisational style.
In the linear notes to the album Movin’ Along, Orrin Keepnews quotes a New York
Times review by critic John S. Wilson:
(Wes) uses only his thumb as a plectrum, mixing chords and remarkably rapid
single-note lines,...so his playing does not have the looping flow that has been
common since Christian. Instead it has a fierce jabbing intensity that has much in
common with the attack of such present-day saxophonists as John Coltrane and
Sonny Rollins.....77
In the linear notes to the album The Wes Montgomery Trio, Keepnews reiterates this view:
“Wes notes that “for ideas” he listens, not to other guitarists, but to horn men: above all to
Charlie Parker and more recently to John Coltrane.”78 We can easily perceive that by the
late fifties and early sixties Montgomery was more interested in studying improvisations
of horn players than guitarists:
Wes’ single-line work had long been overshadowed by the use of octaves, but he
was nevertheless one of the few guitarists to keep pace with the horn players. He
had followed and absorbed the modal experiments of trumpeter Miles Davis and
had learnt the art of side-slipping, momentarily playing outside the chord changes,
from saxophonist John Coltrane. He felt that Coltrane was the only coloured
75 Ibid., 16.
76 Ibid., 16.
77 Orrin Keepnews, jacket notes to Movin’ Along: Wes Montgomery, Riverside OJC-089, 1960.
78 Orrin Keepnews, jacket notes to The Wes Montgomery Trio, Riverside OJC-034, 1959.
20
player with the technical facility of the great white classical musicians and greatly
admired his work.79
The music of saxophonist, John Coltrane, appears to have had a particularly profound
effect on Wes Montgomery. At one time, he candidly stated that John Coltrane had been a
sort of a God to him:
You know, John Coltrane has been sort of a god to me. Seems like, in a way, he
didn’t get the inspiration out of other musicians. He had it. When you hear a cat do
a thing like that, you got to go along with him. I think I heard Coltrane before I
really got close to Miles [Davis]. Miles had a tricky way of playing his horn that I
didn’t understand as much as I did Coltrane. I really didn’t understand what
Coltrane was doing, but it was so exciting the thing that he was doing. Then after I
really began to understand Miles, then Miles came on top.80
To thoroughly assess the implications of Coltrane’s influence, we must determine which
Coltrane recordings Montgomery had listened to.
In 1959 Coltrane recorded Giant-Steps, the first of his important records in the
hard-bop style and an acclaimed recording in the history of jazz. He was a member of the
second generation of beboppers and had absorbed the new harmonic language the
founders had developed. During this period Coltrane brought the harmonic complexities
of bop to the highest level:
His interest in chords had been fed further by his studies with Dennis Sandole and
others, and by mid-1950’s he had become obsessed with them. He had learned that
it was possible to substitute two or even three or even more chords for any given
one in a sequence, something that solo pianists often do as a matter of course to
enrich a thin harmonic line. Coltrane began in the late fifties to employ a system in
which he regularly used four chords in place of each one in the standard
progression.81
79 Ingram, op. cit., 53.
80 Gleason, Downbeat (1961), 24.
81 Collier, op. cit., 483.
21
What is most noteworthy is not only the process by which he added chords to an existing
progression, but the remarkably unique manner in which he improvised solos over the
new chords. According to Dr. Mark Gridley, “Coltrane devoured the chord changes,
trying to acknowledge every chord and every scale that might be compatible with it.”82
Coltrane was attaining the end of an extended evaluation of harmony, which ruptured on
the dates that made up his album Giant Steps (May 4-5, 1959). Coltrane originally
composed Giant Steps, the title track on his album, as a practice drill to acquire expertise
over improvising through chord progressions in which few notes are held in common
from one chord to another.83 Moreover, Coltrane had made an exhaustive study of the
bebop style which was a crystallization of harmonic or vertical patterns.84 This acquired
harmonic mastery led many of his critics to label him a vertical player.85 Consequently, it
is not at all surprising to come across a large scale utilization of arpeggios in his
improvisations of this period:
Trane, perhaps more than any other musician at this time, was the hallmark of
proficiency for the style called hard-bop. He was the master teacher on the tenor
saxophone and his improvisations provided a thesis of examples on moving
through arpeggios.86
In his article on Coltrane, Professor David Baker emphatically reaffirms this point of view
by stating that, “Whatever scales he employed, Trane made extensive use of arpeggiated
figures...”87 Scott D. Reeves from the University of Southern Maine concurs: “At that
time (mid-1950’s) his playing was rooted in the bebop tradition, but with a greater
emphasis on running chord arpeggios...”88 The aforementioned synopsis of Coltrane’s
82 Gridley, op. cit., 254.
83 Ibid., 254.
84 William Shadrack Cole, “The Style of John Coltrane, 1955-1967” (Ph.D. dissertation, Wesleyan
University, 1975), 13.
85 Ibid., 7.
86 Ibid., 59.
87 David Baker, “Analysis of the Music of John Coltrane,” Downbeat, Vol. 46 (1979), 70-72.
88 Scott D. Reeves, Creative Jazz Improvisation (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989), 152.
22
style undoubtedly evidences his compelling use of arpeggiated structures based on the
culmination of harmonic complexity.
It is conceivable that Montgomery may have been attracted and influenced by
Coltrane’s melodically arpeggiated style and harmonic sophistication. He admitted that he
painstakingly listened to every note on the historically acclaimed Giant Steps album:
There is only one coloured musician with that facility and that’s Coltrane. I have
listened to him a lot and I’m sure of it. I even took his album “Giant Steps” and
played it at 16 rpm to study what he was doing and every note he hit was correct.
89
Coltrane’s improvised tenor saxophone solo on his composition Giant Steps,
transcribed from his album of the same name, evinces that he plainly outlines the
individual chords with principally three or four-note groupings.90 Montgomery routinely
employs similar groupings, however, so do countless other outstanding jazz performers.
Coltrane’s improvisations on Giant Steps and Countdown91 (on the same album)
unquestionably manifest the extensive usage of arpeggiated structures because these
compositions are based on an extremely sophisticated system of chord substitutions. The
Coltrane substitutions exhibited in parentheses (ex.4) replace the standard progression
above. Because most of these chords are unrelated tonally (i.e. Dm7-Eb7, Abma7-B7),
Coltrane is necessarily constrained to employ arpeggiated figures to effectively outline the
chords during his solos. Coltrane is so immersed in delineating chords throughout these
elaborate improvisations, that he does not have the time to sustain musical material long
enough (except for the three and four-note groupings already mentioned) to enable us to
89 Ingram, op. cit., 53.
90 Reeves, op. cit., 153. Some of the downwards patterns include 5-3-1, 8-5-3, 5-3-1-b7, 5-3-2-1, 8-5-3-1, 9-
b7-6-5, and 7-5-3-1. Upward patterns include 1-3-5-7, 1-2-3-5, 3-5-8-10, 3-5-7-9, and 5-8-10. Some of the
patterns move in both directions: 8-1-3-5, 10-5-8-10, 5-6-7-5, and 3-1-2-3.
91 David N. Baker, The Jazz Style of John Coltrane (Miami: Studio 224, 1980), 36-42. Baker provides a full
transcription and short analysis of Countdown from the album Giant Steps.
23
formulate and compare relevant syntactical traits. Moreover, it is exceedingly
Ex.4 Coltrane Substitutions
difficult to adequately assess and compare his musical syntax with Montgomery’s in this
improvisational context. Although these Coltrane improvisations certainly seem to have
impressed Montgomery, they cannot be employed to compare syntactical traits because of
the complex nature of the harmonic progressions used. Considering this, it would be
preferable to investigate other Coltrane improvisations from his hard-bop period.
Coltrane’s solo on Straight, No Chaser
92
(1958) establishes more evidently the
startling similarities between his and Montgomery’s syntax as pertaining to the melodic
line, and more specifically to arpeggiated structures. This is probably because the
harmonic rhythm in this composition is much slower, allowing Coltrane to develop
arpeggiated figures and their intrinsic syntactical features more fully. There is a strong
possibility that Montgomery was personally acquainted with this recording since he was
an avid Coltrane admirer and had intensively listened to Miles Davis’ (the leader on this
recording) modal experiments as well: “He had followed and absorbed the modal
experiments of trumpeter Miles Davis and had learnt the art of side-slipping.....from
saxophonist John Coltrane.”93 An analysis of arpeggiated figures employed by Coltrane in
his improvisation of Straight, No Chaser
94
reveals not only the prevailing use of
arpeggios, but also of a remarkably distinctive syntax very similar to Montgomery’s. First,
we detect that Coltrane uses a total of eight arpeggiated figures in which he employs the
92 This composition by bop pianist Thelonious Monk was recorded by Miles Davis on the album Milestone
(Columbia LP 1193, CS 9428). Coltrane was a sideman on this recording.
93 Ingram, op. cit., 53.
94 Baker, op. cit., 45-48. Baker provides a full transcription of this solo.
24
natural eleventh on dominant chords just as Montgomery does (see example 5). Like
Montgomery, Coltrane also repeatedly begins a phrase, an arpeggio, or a measure, with
the ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth of the chord.95 In Straight, No Chaser Coltrane begins a
bar or a new harmony with the ninth a total of fifteen times and with the thirteenth, eight
times. As mentioned earlier, Fred Sokolow observed an analogous use of these particular
intervals in Montgomery’s improvised line: “His single-note solos often emphasized or
highlighted extended intervals of underlying chords- especially the ninths.”96 Sokolow’s
astute observation of Montgomery’s syntax, attesting that “the highlighted interval......was
the top note of an ascending arpeggio, or was a quarter or eighth note among sixteenth
notes,”97 is also applicable to Coltrane’s style. This is tenable in view of example 5,
measure 8. This example not only evidences the basic syntactical attributes shared by both
Coltrane and Montgomery, but demonstrates that there are also discernible similarities.
The thirteenth in this sample (dotted quarter note) is emphasized by its intrinsic longer
duration as compared to the subsequent descending sixteenth notes. This type of
accentuation, generated by the rhythmic prolongation of the higher extension, occurs very
frequently in Montgomery’s improvised line as illustrated in example 6. In measure 47 to
95 Sokolow op. cit., 34. Sokolow attests to Montgomery’s explicit use of the ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth at
the beginning of measures: “Notice, once again, Montgomery’s tendency to highlight the ninths and other
extended chord intervals in his soloing..., they either begin a bar, occur at the top of an arpeggio, or get
rhythmic emphasis (a pause in a flurry of notes).”
96 Ibid., 5.
97 Ibid.
25
Ex.6 Freddie The Freeloader
26
48 Montgomery improvises using his habitual swing-eighth-note feel until measure 49 to
51. Thereafter, he emphasizes the higher extensions of the Bb7 chord by systematically
employing longer note values. He resumes normal rhythmic activity at measures 52 to 54
after having highlighted the extensions 13, 11, 9 three times.
Several characteristic similarities between Coltrane and Montgomery’s syntax
arise from the given analyses. This is not to say, however, that Montgomery’s arpeggiated
style was single-handedly influenced by Coltrane. It was only one of the many musical
and social factors that may have instigated the development of Montgomery’s language
during this period. Adrian Ingram clearly endorses this position:
It would be extremely difficult if not impossible to pin down Wes’ influences
more specifically, for he was a very open-minded person both about music and life
in general. His two years with the Lionel Hampton band (1948-1950), rubbing
shoulders with seasoned performers like Fats Navarro, Charlie Mingus, and Milt
27
Bruckner, had to have a maturing effect on his playing, as did his sojourn on the
road with the Brownskins Models and Snookum Russell. 98
There were other instances where Wes may have been more directly influenced by the
intricacies of Coltrane’s musical style. This is evidenced by the fact that in 1961 he was
asked to join John Coltrane’s group at San Francisco’s ‘Jazz Workshop’- the last two
weeks of September (through October 1)- and at least one more time in 1962.99
The group, which had also been booked for the 1961 Monterey Jazz Festival
invited Wes to join them, an offer which he being an ardent Coltrane fan, lost no
time in accepting. He played with the group at the Workshop and the Festival but
declined an offer to join them on a permanent basis.100
Coltrane was indubitably one of the most venerated figures in the history of jazz.
The aforementioned Coltrane analyses come from the first period (1955-1960) of his
illustrious career when his style was still considered “mainstream.” Although this period
was marked by an intense urgency as did most of his work, it essentially remained much
more restrained and controlled than his later experiments in the realm of modal and free
jazz. This was indeed, a time of harmonic experimentation, but he worked within the
bounds of established tradition. We must remember that hard-bop, as this style was called,
reaffirmed the musical “blackness” and the roots of jazz. It was not an epoch
characterized by a decisive attempt to forge new grounds. Montgomery admired and
studied enthusiastically Coltrane’s seminal work from this traditional hard-bop period,
however, there is no evidence demonstrating that Montgomery came under the influence
of Coltrane’s subsequent free jazz recordings, or that he ever listened to these with any
serious interest. It was the John Coltrane from the Giant Steps’ epoch that primarily
intrigued Montgomery. He never embarked onto the modal and free jazz movements as
98 Ibid., 50.
99 D. Wild, “Wes and Trane: an Unrecorded Sextet,” Disc’ribe, no.1 (1980), 3-6.
100 Ingram, op. cit., 26.
28
did Coltrane, even though he was a contemporary of these styles. We can understand why
Coltrane’s primary influence on Montgomery was essentially one deriving from his more
restrained and controlled hard-bop period.
Sonny Rollins’ Thematic Improvising
Wes had also been inspired by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, whose
“instinctive grasp of thematic improvising made him the most influential soloist during
the late 1950’s.”101 The beboppers and hard-boppers approach to improvisation, until this
time, consisted of the extemporaneous creation of a melodic line within the framework of
a given harmonic structure. According to Lyons, this “often produced works of great
beauty; but at its worst, it amounted to a pointless exercise known as “running chords,” or
playing a banal sequence of the chords’ scale tones.”102 Schuller also assertively shares
this point of view: “To a very great extent, improvised solos- even those that are in all
other respects very imaginative- have suffered from a general lack of over-all
cohesiveness and direction- the lack of a unifying force.”103 Sonny Rollins clearly
demonstrated the inherent potential for thematic development in improvisation with his
historic recording of Blue Seven.104
105
With Rollins we attain, during the late 1950’s,
another level in the constantly developing evolution of jazz improvisation:
101 Lyons, op. cit., 202.
102 Ibid., 202.
103 Gunther Schuller, “Sonny Rollins and the Challenge of Thematic Improvisation,” The Jazz Review, Vol.
1, no.1 (1958), 6.
104 In his Saxophone Colossus, Fantasy/OJC-291 (Prestige 7079), CD/LP, 1956. Blues Seven is a twelvebar blues based on a single four-bar motive. This motive uses the interval of the tritone and often
emphasizes the b5th or #11th of the chord.
105 Reeves, op. cit., 222-231. According to Scott Reeves’ analysis of Blue Seven, “The principal motives
from the melody are used in various forms throughout the solo (bars 0-7, 12-13, 19, 20-23, 26-27, 38-39,
and 48-55). The endless variations he spontaneously creates on this simple motive are astounding. When not
working with the opening motive, Sonny connects the ideas with double-time bebop lines (as in bars 9-11,
24-26, 33-38, and 41-47). Virtually every note is a development of the opening motive or a connecting
bebop line.”
29
With Rollins thematic and structural unity have at last achieved the importance in
pure improvisation that elements such as swing, melodic conception and
originality of expression have already enjoyed for many years.106
In his discussion of extended improvisation and form, noted jazz scholar, Martin
Williams, contends that in the work of performers like Sonny Rollins, “we hear men
attempting unique solutions to it (the problem of form in extended solos), with an
awareness of continuity and inner structure.”107 It is not at all surprising that players like
Wes Montgomery, who were also avid jazz listeners, became extremely vulnerable to this
type of improvisation. Adrian Ingram supports this premise: “He also listened to tenor
saxophonist Sonny Rollins, whose concept of thematic development he liked and used in
some of his solos.”108
The analyses (in chapter 6) exhibit Montgomery’s regular employment of the
concept of thematic development which evidently enhanced the solos with structural unity
and spontaneous musical logic. Structural unity, thematic unity, and cohesiveness are all
inherent trademarks of Montgomery’s style. Enthusiatic admirers and fellow guitarists
like Emily Remler were particularly attracted to this aspect of Montgomery’s
improvisations:
During my years at Berklee College, I decided I wanted to play exactly like Wes
Montgomery, and was so loyal I rejected all other approaches. Not only were the
legendary octave techniques incredible, but I found in his playing a thematic,
motivic, logical form in his solos.109
Elsewhere, Emily Remler commented that:
You can copy Wes Montgomery- just one little thing that he uttered, just one bar
or a four-bar phrase- and it’s such a well-developed melody, such a well106 Schuller, op. cit., 6.
107 Martin Williams, “Extended Improvisation and Form,” The Jazz Review, Vol. 1, no. 2 (1958), 13.
108 Ingram, op. cit., 53.
109 Ibid., 65.
30
developed composition, that you could base ten million of your own licks, or a
whole solo, on that one thing. By using thematic development, you could write
forty tunes from that one bar.”110
Jerry Coker further comments on this facet of Montgomery’s improvisations and
compellingly maintains that, “Montgomery’s sense for form also extended itself into the
weaving of his melodies, each melodic fragment getting repeated, developed, and played
in variations.”111
Concluding Remarks:
Throughout the chapter we have delineated Montgomery’s apprenticeship, primary
and secondary influences, and their conceivable impact on his improvisational style. It is
difficult to pinpoint with exactitude how these diverse influences fused and shaped his
style. We can only attempt to infer and put forth possible hypotheses from the available
data and interviews, as to the actual effect of the various factors discussed.
His early start on tenor guitar could have provided some of the basic technical
skills, while transcription and memorization of Charlie Christian solos enabled him to
rapidly develop the aurality that “the jazz world expects of its accomplished artists.”
Performing regularly in Indianapolis clubs and lounges, and interacting with different
musicians and groups who helped him with new tunes, also served as basic
apprenticeship. It is undeniable that Wes absorbed important ideas and concepts from the
numerous musicians he observed in and around his hometown, and during his brief
experiences on the road. In his two-year tenure with the Hampton band Wes had the
opportunity to rub shoulders with important jazz figures, from whom he undoubtedly
learned a great deal. From Christian, Montgomery inherited the blues- its tradition and
techniques, and a linear stream-lined, horn-like conception of guitar playing. Later, he
110 Berliner, op. cit., 142.
111 Jerry Coker, Listening to Jazz (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1978), 32.
31
gravitated towards horn players such as Parker, Davis, Shorter and Coltrane. Coltrane’s
influence was most discernible in Montgomery’s use of arpeggiated structures possibly
deriving from Trane’s more controlled vertical period with the Miles Davis groups.
Montgomery may have adopted some of Coltrane’s harmonic devices, but remained
indifferent to his more pioneering experiments with modal and free jazz. The concept of
thematic development, which Montgomery appears to have adopted from Sonny Rollins,
imbued his improvisation with the necessary structural unity, formal logic, and melodic
cohesiveness so characteristic of his style.