He smoked a lot

Yes WES smiles when he plays - a lot of guitar players do not - !

WES MONTGOMERY - - MARCH 6 1923 - - JUNE 15 1968 - - AND GONE UP TO HEAVEN 55 YEARS NOW !

Exactly.

For years his birth was reported as 1925. Recently I have seen 1923. Which appears to have been endorsed recently by his family in a documentary which has made rounds.

WES has been gone longer than he was here ! Twice as long and then some - I remember when HE went to Heaven on that 1968 day

His phrasing was incredible and butter smooth.

Amen2That ! *period* ❤

rock'n roll watches his own belly button too much :- 1

He honors the all-important spaces in composition.

@@viarnay Love this remark - so darned true - why must they? To keep chiropractors in business? And of course the absence of all the 'gear" which many insist is essential to produce a relevant sound - just a good instrument and the soul of the muso is all -

2LPAAMPMAMMMAAA

His smile is pure gold.

As far as I know, only Art Tatum, Thelonius Monk, Sonny Rollins and Wes Montgomery could play unique and fabulous music so EFFORTLESSLY (almost as easily as walking or even breathing).

Not to mention the rest of the band!

Yeah right

@@jimtakahashi4638 May I suggest that Oscar Peterson belongs in that group too?

@@davidmcw1026 : I love O.P. but I wouldn’t use “EFFORTLESSLY” to describe his play … he perspired too much. Instead, one musician I failed to mention is Sonny Rollins.

GODS GIFT TO ALL OF US!!!!

Amen2That ! *period* ❤

Antti Hyvärinen It was always thought that the guitar couldn't be played in octaves. Nobody told Wes! Mind you..Wes DID have two thumbs on his right hand!

WES is really a genius first as a MUSICIAN and incredible guitar virtuoso .

THE GREATEST

@@jean-lucbersou758 : Yes, Wes was a musician first guitarist, and a formidable improviser. That’s why he has been respected and admired not only by guitarists but also by musicians of other instruments.

Antti Hyvärinen : In my book, he is the very best as a jazz guitarist.

Great music and great performance 👍

ahahah just picture that

For real, surely the hardest-working thumb in history, music or otherwise!

@@00MetaHunter00 Good one

Don't forget that giant thumb of Hendrix!!

I totally agree with you. I've been trying for years to get a monument to the legendary 'actor' John Holmes, altho of another part of his anatomy

Yeah ! Man😉👍W.Montgomery Dont play ☝️GUITAR but Use it ❤

And just a kid.

Arthur Harper was his name. He and drummer Jimmy Lovelace made a wonderful combination. And Harold Mabern on piano was simply sublime.

@ John Faser Re: "Segovia said that the guitar is the easiest instrument to learn but the hardest to master..." And with respects to that great classical guitar maestro, there is no idiom in which it is tougher to attain mastery on guitar than in jazz. You darned near have to be a virtuoso to do it, I believe that jazz guitar Russell Malone said that once.... and he wasn't far wrong. Like all of the greats, Wes makes his artistry appear so effortless but that belies the difficulty of the guitar as a musical master. Wes even said it once in awhile, when people would ask him about his practice habits, he'd laugh a bit and say, "Every once in a while, I just open up the guitar case, and throw some meat in there!" But what a genius he was! No one has approached his mastery of the instrument or his fluency upon it for jazz, let alone surpassed him. George Benson and others have carved out their own legends in jazz, but no one has emulated what Wes did. On one had, we can mourn that his light burned brightly for so brief a time, but on the other hand, how fortunate we all are to have what he left behind, a priceless legacy of jazz for the ages. And not just Wes, but the amazing musicians and collaborators with which he worked.....

Piano layout is easier to play difficult material. Arpeggios on guitar are hard but on piano it's just pressing keys in time. And hard to keep in tune. Guitar is not easy.

If you have rhythm drums are probably the easiest. It's hitting things in time. No key, no scales, just pounding skins which you have to tune I know. Guitar is not the easiest. Melodica is easier.

Well said. I feel like he was built to play this kind of music at the highest level.

@@timbernard8783 Absolutely! You get the feeling some people (because of their talent) are doing exactly what they were meant to do. Hendrix, SRV and Vai come to mind too. Appreciate the compliment very much! The worse modern “music” gets, the more valuable the true artists of the past become to me.

@@BI-km6dl 10000% agree

His smile. For me it's his beautiful smile.

He never appears to be pushing, he's always smiling, he makes it look effortless, and sound too !

Harold Mabern - piano; Art Harper - bass; Jimmy Lovelace - drums > Talk about an amazing band!

Such beautiful humble unpretentious young men

Verissimo.mi piace la tua definizione

Wes is captivating!...these guys sound sooo amazing! I got to see Harold Maybern at the Village Vanguard...just a few weeks before he passed. Maybern is killing the keys here!! Also....how about Arthur Harper on Bass?!?!?...he killed it with his solo on "Twisted Blues"..!! He never looses the funk...!...(too many bassist today try to do too many tricks ...just over doing it....and lose the grove...!!...bass is suppose to make you bounce...!! The great Ron Carter is a master at that...!!)

I think that is part of his secret. It lends a softness to each note. There isn't any aggression to his notes, they each come out clear and soft, almost machine like, inhuman, beautiful.

My thumb would be bleeding in ten minutes. I can feel the pain just thinking about it. 🙂@@glennjames7107

I'm enjoying a nice warm beer on a cold afternoon, because I'm so bloody British.

There are very few jazz guitarists who play at all times only with their thumb, and for good reason: It is very difficult technically to do it at a high level, let alone anything like Wes Montgomery managed to do. George Benson can do it, albeit in a somewhat different manner than Wes did (Benson plays with the side of his RH thumb, not with his hand arched over the guitar as Wes did), maybe a few others.. but really, Wes is all alone in what he managed to accomplish with it. A lot of jazz guitarists palm their pick to play ballads or chordal passages at times, or to play some octaves like Wes did, but that's just the beginning of his style. He played everything he did on the instrument only with that amazing thumb, including extremely rapid tempos of 200 or beats per minute. Not only could he alternate-pick, he could also do upwards or backwards sweeps and rakes, too. Downwards sweeps/rakes are the easier to execute, and of course he did those expertly, too. What made his single note lines unique, in my view, is that so few jazz guitarists get that popping Clifford Brown-like articulation happening when they play single note lines - but Wes did, and to a greater extent than anyone who has ever played the instrument in jazz. He did the seemingly impossible because no one had ever told him that it could not be done, so he figured out a way to do it. How? With a dazzling array of hammer-ons, pull-offs and other slurs, slides, glisses, sweeps, ghost notes, rest and free strokes, and other methods, all wedded to his musical genius and amazing creativity. Plenty of guys have outstanding technique, but so few manage to combine it with the sheer level of musicality that he did. Perhaps one of the reasons that Wes sounded more like a horn player than a guitarist is that whereas he did listen to prominent jazz guitarists - such as Charlie Christian - he also spent a great deal of time listening to horn players, so it ought not to surprise us that influence is felt in his playing. Wes' famous solos in block chords may have originated from his experience listening to and playing in big bands, like that of Lionel Hampton, especially the horns playing the climatic or "shout" chorus of the tune - which is very much what his chord passages sound like. Wes also learned a lot from his brother Buddy, who played piano and vibes, and also from organ players, too. They influenced his thinking about harmony and other subjects, too. What a bloody genius that man was!

@@GeorgiaBoy1961 Thanks for the great read!

And.... Double-jointed thumb. Try getting your thumb to bend back at that first joint like his is. Literally made to play like that.

Most people dislike Jazz which is not too popular and prefer pop music and easy listening. So there are millions who do not love this music :-) simple as that.

@@2009framat Well I love it, always will, and it's as simple as that! Pop sucks.

@@Tomatohater64 I like the Beatles, Wes Montgomery, Lightning Hopkins and many unknown Blues and Jazz. Beatles do'nt suck (unless you are a sucker).

@@2009framat Beatles were/are sooooooo 😴😴😴. Yuk.

@@Tomatohater64 Wes liked them. But he knew about good music 🙂

It's a shame you can't say something nice about the guy

@@spactick nice...😏

@ airdale73 - After Wes' death, tributes poured in and not just about his musical achievements and genius, but his down-to-earth personality, his gentle kindness, and his devotion to his family. Orrin Keepnews, his producer at Riverside Records, said that in their long association, he never saw Wes mistreat anyone or raise his voice in anger. Relentlessly self-critical, Wes was hard on himself, but kind to others. Never a discouraging or harsh word. I know maybe three or four people who were fortunate enough to be alive in those days and see/hear Wes live, and they all said pretty much the same thing about him: That the kindness and gentleness of spirit of Wes the man came through in his music, too. So many performers, jazz cats, look grim when they play - like they were undergoing a root canal or something. Not Wes; he smiled and laughed with the band and the audience as he played. He enjoyed being there and wanted them to feel that way also.

He’s so accomplished and well versed that the guitar is a pure extension of him and thus he is completely cool and relaxed. Beyond brilliant!

The timing and swing even in themes' exposition is beyond brilliant.

how is , how he plays , even possible?

@ Nander: Re: "The line at 6:50 that he comes in with is amazing" Everyone talks about Wes' octaves and his use of block chords in solos, and rightly so, but his genius as a player of compelling single-note lines often gets overlooked. Wes had that popping, Clifford Brown-like articulation happening, which is so sought after by jazz musicians but so seldom attained. Using not only alternative picking with his thumb, he added in slides, glisses, hammers, pull-offs, ghost notes, slurs, slides and rest strokes to attain greater character in his lines. Guitarists know how difficult it is to pull that off on the instrument, but Wes made it look all so effortless and smooth. What a genius he was!

The entire minute after that continues to cook.

You all are so right. What a fantastic entry line. What a blessing to be able to see this footage and hear mastery.

"Jingles" - the live version played on the 1965 tour of Europe - is almost scary it is so good. That band, the cats in it ... Harold Mabern on piano, Art Harper on bass, and Jimmy Lovelace on drums... were some bad dudes in their own right. Superb musicians, all of them. It is really interesting to listen to tunes Wes covered at different times in his career - sometimes with different band-mates - to hear the different interpretations Wes and the band make. "Jingles" was covered early on by Wes on his LP with Milt Jackson. That version sounds nothing like this one, the one done in 1965 in Europe. You can do this comparison with other tunes also. Wes played "Four on Six" in the studio with the Wynton Kelly Trio in 1965, the sessions were done at Rudy Van Gelder's studio, if memory serves. Great take by Wes and the band. They then did it again live at the "Half Note" jazz club in 1965 as well, also a killer version of the tune, but different again from the studio cut. Finally, Wes did the tune with Mabern and the band in Europe, and it sounded great there, too, but different as well. Absolutely amazing the way these elite musicians each put their own stamp on Wes' composition, and how Wes played it different at different times, but always brilliantly. I was fortunate-enough to see/hear Harold Mabern live in Chicago several times in the 2000s and the early 2010s, at the famous "Jazz Showcase" club, where he played piano for Eric Alexander's group, the brilliant tenor sax player. I spoke with 'Mabes - as he was called - several times, and he was such a fine gentleman and a wonderfully kind man in addition to being an amazing musician. We lost him some years ago, but his playing will live on. He was still playing brilliantly, too.

He’s Humphrey lytelton he was a well known trad jazz band leader in the UK , Also because he had such an easy way with him he would be on the radio and tv .He did a lot bringing jazz to the tv audiences in the early sixties ,

Those finger they are to big relax