Latest Release
- A Day in the Life (Reissue) · 1967
- Tequila (Expanded Edition) · 1966
- Incredible Jazz Guitar (Remastered) · 1960
- Incredible Jazz Guitar (Remastered) · 1960
- A Day in the Life (Reissue) · 1967
- Incredible Jazz Guitar (Remastered) · 1960
- So Much Guitar! · 1961
- Tequila (Expanded Edition) · 1966
- Incredible Jazz Guitar (Remastered) · 1960
- California Dreaming · 1966
Essential Albums
Music Videos
- 2007
Artist Playlists
- This innovative jazz guitarist was a true master of melody.
- Elegant hidden treasures and powerful live takes.
Appears On
About Wes Montgomery
Born in Indiana in 1923, Wes Montgomery ranks as one of jazz’s most distinctive and individualist guitarists, with an instantly recognizable use of octaves and a plucking attack using the side of his thumb. Between 1948 and 1950, he worked in the big band led by vibist Lionel Hampton, later establishing himself in a group with his brothers Buddy and Monk. The family band relocated to California and made its first recordings for Pacific Jazz, but the guitarist returned to Indiana, where he formed a trio with organist Melvin Rhyne that soon signed with Riverside and released a string of albums elevating him as a major figure in jazz. Upon signing with Verve in the mid-'60s, Montgomery cut a series of string-sweetened crossover albums that set a repertoire of jazz standards alongside soul tunes and Beatles covers, presaging the emergence of smooth jazz decades later. He suffered a fatal heart attack in 1968.
- HOMETOWN
- Indianapolis, IN, United States
- BORN
- 6 March 1923
- GENRE
- Jazz