Monk Montgomery

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Monk Montgomery

William Howard "Monk" Montgomery (October 10, 1921 – May 20, 1982) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
bassist

Bassist

A bass player is a musician who plays a double bass, bass guitar, or another low-pitched instrument, such as keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as tuba or sousaphone....
. He is perhaps the first electric bass

Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
ist of significance to jazz, introducing the Fender Precision Bass

Fender Precision Bass

The Fender Precision Bass is an bass guitar, and was the first widely-available model of the instrument. It was designed by Leo Fender and brought to market in 1951....
to the genre in 1951. Montgomery also played the double bass

Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
.

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis is the Capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. The United States Census estimated the city's population, Indianapolis , Indiana the Unigov, at 795,458 in 2006....
, Montgomery was the older brother of guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres....
Wes Montgomery

Wes Montgomery

John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an United States jazz guitarist. He is generally considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, and Pat Metheny....
; younger brother, Buddy Montgomery

Buddy Montgomery

Buddy Montgomery is an American jazz vibraphone and pianist. He is the youngest brother of Wes Montgomery and Monk Montgomery.Buddy first played professionally in 1948; in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner and soon after with Slide Hampton....
plays vibraphone

Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the mallet subfamily of the percussion instrument family....
and piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
.

His professional career did not start until after his younger brother Wes, at the age of 30.

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Encyclopedia

William Howard "Monk" Montgomery (October 10, 1921 – May 20, 1982) was an American

United States

Jazz

Bassist

Bass guitar

Fender Precision Bass

Double bass

Indianapolis, Indiana

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres....
Wes Montgomery

Wes Montgomery

Buddy Montgomery

Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the mallet subfamily of the percussion instrument family....
and piano

Piano

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton , was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players....
Orchestra. After that he worked with his brothers and Alonzo Johnson in the Montgomery Johnson Quintet. In 1955 he moved to Seattle to form the Mastersounds from 1957–1960. Later from 1966–1970, he freelanced with Cal Tjader

Cal Tjader

Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. a.k.a. Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his death....
and continued to play where he settled in Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, Nevada, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and entertainment....
with The Red Norvo

Red Norvo

Red Norvo was one of jazz's early vibraphone, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments....
Trio. In his final years he was active in the Las Vegas Jazz Society, which he founded. He had also been planning a world jazz festival.

The brothers released a number of albums together as the Montgomery Brothers

Montgomery Brothers

The Montgomery Brothers were a jazz trio consisting of the brothers Wes Montgomery , Buddy Montgomery and Monk Montgomery . They released a number of albums for various labels including Columbia Records, Fantasy Records, Jazzland Records , Pacific Jazz and Riverside Records....
.

Montgomery died of cancer

Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
in Las Vegas on May 20, 1982. He had a wife, Amelia, three sons, and four stepchildren.

Discography

It's Never Too Late (1969), MoJazz
Bass Odyssey (1971), Chisa
Reality (1974), Philadelphia International

External links

"". The New York Times
The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"?named for its staid appearance and style?is regarded as a national newspaper of record....
. May 22, 1982. Retrieved on May 5, 2008.