Little Brother Montgomery
Encyclopedia
Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985) was an American
jazz
, boogie-woogie
and blues
pianist
and singer.
Largely self-taught, Montgomery is often thought of as just a blues pianist, but he was an important blues pianist with an original style. He was also quite versatile, however, and worked in jazz bands including larger ensembles that used written arrangements. Although he did not read music, he learned band routines by ear, once through an arrangement
and he had it memorized. He was a singer with an immediately recognizable, rather affecting wobble: an oral historian as full of musical anecdotes as Jelly Roll Morton
.
, a sawmill town near the Mississippi
Border, across Lake Pontchartrain
from the city of New Orleans
, where he spent much of his childhood. As a child he looked like his father, Harper Montgomery, and was called Little Brother Harper. The name evolved into Little Brother Montgomery, a nickname which stuck. He started playing piano at the age of 4, and by age 11 he was playing at various barrelhouse
s in Louisiana. His own musical influences were Jelly Roll Morton
who used visit the Montgomery household.
Early on he played at African American
lumber and turpentine camps in Louisiana and Mississippi
, then with the bands of Clarence Desdunes and Buddy Petit. He first went to Chicago from 1928 to 1931, where he made his first recordings. From 1931 through 1938 he led a band in Jackson
.
In 1942 Montgomery moved back to Chicago, which would be his base for the rest of his life, with various tours to other United States
cities and Europe
. His repertoire alternated between blues and traditional jazz
(he played Carnegie Hall
with Kid Ory
's Dixieland band in 1949). In the late 1950s he was "discovered" by wider white audiences. He toured briefly with Otis Rush
in 1956. His fame grew in the 1960s, and he continued to make many recordings, including on his own record label
, FM Records (formed in 1969). FM came from Floberg, his wife Jan's maiden name and Montgomery, his own surname
.
These and other recordings added momentum to Montgomery’s career and he became a world traveller, visiting the UK
and Europe
on several occasions during the 1960s, cutting several of his 20-odd albums there, while remaining based in Chicago. Montgomery appeared at many blues and folk festivals
during the following decade and was considered a living legend, a link to the early days of blues and New Orleans.
Among his original compositions are "Shreveport Farewell", "Farrish Street Jive", and "Vicksburg Blues".
In 1968, Montgomery contributed to two albums by Spanky and Our Gang
; Like to Get to Know You and Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhyme Or Reason.
Montgomery died on September 6, 1985, in Champaign
, Illinois
, and is interred in the Oak Woods Cemetery
.
Paul Gayten
is his nephew
.
, published in 1965 and re-issued by Cambridge University Press
in 1997, includes interviews with Little Brother Montgomery.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and singer.
Largely self-taught, Montgomery is often thought of as just a blues pianist, but he was an important blues pianist with an original style. He was also quite versatile, however, and worked in jazz bands including larger ensembles that used written arrangements. Although he did not read music, he learned band routines by ear, once through an arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
and he had it memorized. He was a singer with an immediately recognizable, rather affecting wobble: an oral historian as full of musical anecdotes as Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
.
Career
Montgomery was born in the town of Kentwood, LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, a sawmill town near the Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
Border, across Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is the second-largest inland saltwater body of water in the United States, after the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the largest lake in Louisiana. As an estuary, Pontchartrain is not a true lake.It covers an area of with...
from the city of New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, where he spent much of his childhood. As a child he looked like his father, Harper Montgomery, and was called Little Brother Harper. The name evolved into Little Brother Montgomery, a nickname which stuck. He started playing piano at the age of 4, and by age 11 he was playing at various barrelhouse
Barrelhouse
Barrelhouse can refer to:*A "juke joint", a bar or saloon. Originates from the storage of barrels of alcohol.*An early form of jazz with wild, improvised piano, and an accented two-beat rhythm ....
s in Louisiana. His own musical influences were Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
who used visit the Montgomery household.
Early on he played at African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
lumber and turpentine camps in Louisiana and Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, then with the bands of Clarence Desdunes and Buddy Petit. He first went to Chicago from 1928 to 1931, where he made his first recordings. From 1931 through 1938 he led a band in Jackson
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
.
In 1942 Montgomery moved back to Chicago, which would be his base for the rest of his life, with various tours to other United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cities and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. His repertoire alternated between blues and traditional jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
(he played Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
with Kid Ory
Kid Ory
Edward "Kid" Ory was a jazz trombonist and bandleader. He was born in Woodland Plantation near LaPlace, Louisiana.-Biography:...
's Dixieland band in 1949). In the late 1950s he was "discovered" by wider white audiences. He toured briefly with Otis Rush
Otis Rush
Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes...
in 1956. His fame grew in the 1960s, and he continued to make many recordings, including on his own record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, FM Records (formed in 1969). FM came from Floberg, his wife Jan's maiden name and Montgomery, his own surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
.
These and other recordings added momentum to Montgomery’s career and he became a world traveller, visiting the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on several occasions during the 1960s, cutting several of his 20-odd albums there, while remaining based in Chicago. Montgomery appeared at many blues and folk festivals
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
during the following decade and was considered a living legend, a link to the early days of blues and New Orleans.
Among his original compositions are "Shreveport Farewell", "Farrish Street Jive", and "Vicksburg Blues".
In 1968, Montgomery contributed to two albums by Spanky and Our Gang
Spanky and Our Gang
Spanky and Our Gang was an American 1960s folk-rock band led by Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The band derives its name from Hal Roach's popular Our Gang comedies of the 1930s...
; Like to Get to Know You and Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhyme Or Reason.
Montgomery died on September 6, 1985, in Champaign
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and is interred in the Oak Woods Cemetery
Oak Woods Cemetery
Oak Woods Cemetery was established in 1854; it covers an area of and is located at 1035 E. 67th Street in Chicago. The first burials took place in 1860. Soon after the American Civil War, between four and six thousand Confederate soldiers, prisoners who died at Camp Douglas, were buried here...
.
Paul Gayten
Paul Gayten
Paul Gayten was an American R&B bandleader, pianist, songwriter, producer and record company executive.-Career:Gayten was born in Kentwood, Louisiana, the nephew of blues pianist Little Brother Montgomery...
is his nephew
Nephew
Nephew is a son of one's sibling or sibling-in-law, and niece is a daughter of one's sibling or a sibling-in-law. Sons and daughters of siblings-in-law are also informally referred to as nephews and nieces respectively, even though there is no blood relation...
.
See also
- List of Chicago blues musicians
- Adelphi RecordsAdelphi RecordsAdelphi Records is a US record label founded in 1968 by Gene and Carol Rosenthal.Musicians on that label are The Nighthawks and Catfish Hodge , Lenny Breau, Reuben Brown and Richie Cole , Yellowman, Big Youth and Toots & the Maytals , Rev. Gary Davis, Gene Johnson [Rock & Soul], and Rev...
- 77 Records77 Records77 Records was a British record label set up in 1957 by Doug Dobell, the proprietor of Dobell's Jazz Record Shop at 77 Charing Cross Road, London...
- Wikipedia:Find-A-Grave famous people/M/Mit
- List of people from Louisiana
- List of blues musicians
Further information
- The Story of Little Brother Montgomery by Karl Gert zur Heide, published by Studio Vista, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, in 1970, provides an overview of his life and early career.
- The October 1985 issue of The Mississippi RagThe Mississippi RagThe Mississippi Rag was an internationally influential monthly newspaper about traditional jazz and ragtime music published by Leslie Johnson since 1973....
has an article on Little Brother Montgomery by Paige Van Vorst. This article was revised and updated and included in the liner notes of the 1990 album Little Brother Montgomery - At Home (posthumously issued as EarwigEarwig Music CompanyEarwig Music Company is an independent American blues and jazz record label, founded October 1978 in Chicago by Michael Frank.Before setting up his label Michael Frank from 1975 until 1977 had been - like Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records and Jim O'Neal of Living Blues magazine - employed in Bob...
4918). These articles provide an overview of his life and musical career.
- The 2 LP Set Little Brother Montgomery - Crescent City Blues (AXM2-5522), published by RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
in 1975, featuring many of his BluebirdBluebird RecordsBluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best...
records from the mid 1930s also has comprehensive liner notes giving an overview of his musical career. They were written by Jim O'NealJim O'NealJim O'Neal is an American blues expert, writer, record producer and record company executive. He co-founded America's first blues magazine, Living Blues, in Chicago in 1970. Since that time the magazine has set standards for blues history, culture, and journalism worldwide...
, the editorEditingEditing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
of Living BluesLiving BluesLiving Blues is a bi-monthly magazine focused on covering the African American blues tradition, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van Singel. Alligator Records owner and founder Bruce Iglauer was also one of the...
magazineMagazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, in ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, August, 1975.
, published in 1965 and re-issued by Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
in 1997, includes interviews with Little Brother Montgomery.
Discography
| Year of Release | Album Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Blues | Folkways Records Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:... |
| 1965 | Music Down Home: An Introduction to Negro Folk Music: U.S.A. | Folkways |
| 1966 | Piano Blues | Folkways |
| 1968 | Farro Street Live | Folkways |
| 1968 | No Special Rider Here | Genes/Adelphi |
| 1975 | Church Songs: Sung and Played on the Piano by Little Brother Montgomery | Folkways |
| 2003 | Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways | Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways... |
| 2003 | Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways, Vol. 2 | Smithsonian Folkways |
| 2008 | Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways | Smithsonian Folkways |
| 2008 | Classic African American Gospel from Smithsonian Folkways | Smithsonian Folkways |
External links
- Illustrated Little Brother Montgomery discography
- Montgomery Discography at Folkways RecordsFolkways RecordsFolkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
- [ Montgomery biography] at Allmusic websiteWebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...