Happy Birthday Wes Montgomery!

[Pete Martin]

Born March 6, 1923

[paul dirac]

Here, here! I recall the time in about '02 or '03 when Stan Jay opened the closet in the high-end room and showed us Wes' Gibson, one of two as I recall, with the little heart below the pickguard...

[Pete Martin]

This guitar?

[paul dirac]

Peter, I can tell you that Wes owned (at least) two of these models, each with the little heart plaque. Mando Bros. had one of them, which I saw. So might have been the one above, or not. Either way, the one I saw was well traveled, and it was a kick to get to see such a historic axe...

[Bruce Clausen]

I guess that's what he was playing when I saw him and his brothers at Tsubo in 1962. At that time a friend of mine was a student of his, and had the ES-175 he had played on his earlier recordings. I spent an evening sitting about six feet in front of Wes in a tiny club. It was sensational playing. I was already a decent player, but I had no idea until then how good jazz guitar could be. I mean, how well a guitarist could fit into a mainstream group. Guitar in jazz often had a kind of novelty appeal before Wes. (A little like mandolin now? ) Wes and Kenny Burrell and a few others created a whole new role for the instrument.

His amp that night was a single Showman, if I remember right.

[Hobo]

Bumpin' -- Wes was the man.

[Tom Cherubini]

Emily Remler was a really good jazz guitar player.(no longer alive) One time she said, "On the outside I'm a Jewish girl from Englewood, New Jersey, but inside I'm a middle-aged, overweight Black man with a callous on my thumb."

That little piece of plastic on Wes's L-5 was where he rested his right pinky.

Tom

[Al Bergstein]

Crossing Wes, and Bossa and Choro. Was just listening to Jacob's version of this the other night. I can distinctly remember the second floor apartment of a black jazz drummer I was visiting in North Chicago around 1968 when he put Wes on the turntable. I was 15, and I thought I knew a thing or two about drumming. That night I learned I knew nothing about drumming as I listened to Cuban and Brazilian rhythms. Beyond the drumming, it was a moment of clarity in music. I was just blown away that someone was playing the guitar that melodically, and yet effortlessly. His drummer just doing brush work. Both of them, no show. No feedback. No attitude. Just pure playing. Long live Wes.

[Bruce Clausen]

Great track, Al. Melodic and so rhythmic. I remember when he wasn't playing, Wes was often muting the strings and tapping the neck alternately with his fingertips and the heel of his right hand-- like a pandeiro player. What came over the speaker sounded like there was a good conga player in the band. (By contrast, when Thelonious Monk wasn't playing, he was probably standing next to the piano, dancing.)