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Wes Montgomery is one of the icons of Jazz Guitar.

In fact, if you created a time line for jazz guitar innovation, one could argue that it would start with Charlie Christian and then evolve with Wes Montgomery via his use of octaves and chords when soloing.

If you don't know of Wes, this picture says it all. I have never seen him with a true "guitar face". It is always a pleasant face, like he is digging what he's playing. Most pictures show him smiling, like he's having a blast.

So, since this is my blog, I will let him join the guitar faces club, even if he doesn't make any!

Interesting note: When Wes was learning how to play with octaves, he said he would get the worst headaches because playing that way was such a strain. And the moment he quit, the headaches went away. So yes, even the great players struggle with the learning process from time to time!

There are tons of CD's out there, compilations, "best of" packages, etc. I would definitely recommend "Boss Guitar" and "Smokin' at the Half Note".

If you've been thinking about checking out some jazz guitar playing, you can't go wrong starting with Wes!











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