01/13/2025
On the next episode of "Strumming with Ross Morgan", Ross looks at guitar greats Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Larry Goldings, Rob Piltch, Lenny Breau, Chet Atkins, Ed Bickert, Lorne Lofsky and Duncan Hopkins. Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 8pm Pacific / 11pm Eastern on Easy Jazz FM.
PICTURED: The great jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery of Indianapolis in 1966. Wes did not start out in life wanting to be a jazz guitarist. But he loved playing. He could not read music and had no formal training, preferring to do his own experimentation. In the late 1940s, he was hired by the Lionel Hampton band. But afraid of flying, Wes would drive all over the US to meet up with his band mates. Even in the 1950s when he was becoming known and worked with established artists, including Freddie Hubbard and Quincy Jones - he still did not make enough money to support his wife and 7 children, so he was employed as a welder during the day. It wasn't until the 1960s when Wes recorded the album "Movin' Wes" that his career began to take off. The album sold more than 100,000 copies and put Wes and his guitar on the map. That quickly led to more ground-breaking records and TV appearances. But sadly, a few years later - just as Wes, (who was a heavy smoker), was becoming established as a star in jazz circles, he suffered a major heart attack at his home in 1968 and died. He was just 45 years old.
