The Montgomery Brothers

<a href="spotify:artist:31EBsP0kTUCaHYqAvi5mWs">Buddy</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0Oxygj9VezoPvhzu2dh4sA">Monk Montgomery</a>, along with their more celebrated brother <a href="spotify:artist:03YhcM6fxypfwckPCQV8pQ">Wes</a>, rivaled the <a href="spotify:artist:53yX28INJxLAZYpUbANw3K">Heath</a> family as jazz's most prolific family act. Pianist/vibraphonist <a href="spotify:artist:31EBsP0kTUCaHYqAvi5mWs">Buddy</a> (1930-2009), bassist <a href="spotify:artist:0Oxygj9VezoPvhzu2dh4sA">Monk</a> (1921-1982), and guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:03YhcM6fxypfwckPCQV8pQ">Wes</a> (1923-1968) played together in two well-known and other lesser-known groups. <a href="spotify:artist:0Oxygj9VezoPvhzu2dh4sA">Monk</a> was the first jazz musician to specialize on and record with the electric bass, which he began playing in the early '50s on tour with <a href="spotify:artist:2PjgZkwAEk7UTin4jP6HLP">Lionel Hampton</a>'s big band. <a href="spotify:artist:31EBsP0kTUCaHYqAvi5mWs">Buddy</a> was a soulful, underrated pianist and vibist, effective in bebop, hard bop, blues, or soul-jazz situations. The three brothers worked together in the Montgomery-Johnson Quintet with Alonzo Johnson and Robert Johnson in the mid-'50s, and then as <a href="spotify:artist:6ThqschLqOQvAUGWt83kON">the Mastersounds</a> from 1957 to 1960 and the Montgomery Brothers in 1960 and 1961. <a href="spotify:artist:0Oxygj9VezoPvhzu2dh4sA">Monk</a> returned to acoustic bass, but then went back to electric in the mid-'60s playing with <a href="spotify:artist:3XOVABzceOUTbR3iEz0ImO">Cal Tjader</a>. He settled in Las Vegas in 1970, and played with <a href="spotify:artist:6TDBjaKrCj3BvbxhiUSbog">Red Norvo</a> until 1972. He worked as a disc jockey and started the Las Vegas Jazz Society, while also visiting South Africa as the leader of an African-American jazz group in the mid-'70s.

<a href="spotify:artist:31EBsP0kTUCaHYqAvi5mWs">Buddy Montgomery</a> played piano in a group with <a href="spotify:artist:1JrZuQYlOzhNj1nvlB0Yys">Slide Hampton</a> during the early '50s, then worked with Roy Johnson in a quartet in 1954, prior to the formation of the Montgomery-Johnson Quintet. After the other groups with his brothers disbanded, he divided his time on the two instruments until 1969, then chose piano full-time. <a href="spotify:artist:31EBsP0kTUCaHYqAvi5mWs">Montgomery</a> remained in Milwaukee, WI, playing with area soul-jazz and bebop bands and doing solo dates. He moved to Oakland, CA in the early '80s, playing in the Bay Area and touring with vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:0hirZ8kPPdM9pzXpoagB4w">Marlena Shaw</a>. He organized the first Oakland jazz festival in 1987, bringing such acts as <a href="spotify:artist:1sdyFmN4bVOcuFDpTVsxBB">Kenny Burrell</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4wnzivx3OQ3vjrySAdTdJP">Ron Carter</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5tOQYJ46QiQpCWqsVqHexe">Junior Cook</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2PjgZkwAEk7UTin4jP6HLP">Hampton</a> to Oakland. He also began recording for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Landmark%22">Landmark</a> in the '80s, then was tabbed as a contributor to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Concord%22">Concord</a>'s prestigious solo piano series in 1992. His was the 15th volume in the line. <a href="spotify:artist:31EBsP0kTUCaHYqAvi5mWs">Buddy Montgomery</a> recorded a few sessions as a leader into the 2000s, and both brothers can be heard on CD reissues featuring <a href="spotify:artist:6ThqschLqOQvAUGWt83kON">the Mastersounds</a> and Montgomery Brothers. ~ Ron Wynn, Rovi