An excerpt from Naptown Blues Chapter Eight
"Along Come the Montgomery Brothers"
Wes Montgomery was the most priceless display among the crown jewels of jazz [on Indiana Avenue]. Born John Lesley Montgomery to Tom Montgomery and Frances Arrington on March 6, 1923, he later adopted the moniker “Wes” and carried it throughout his life. Although he attended Crispus Attucks High School and was exposed to arguably the best music department in the Indianapolis Public School System, Wes did not receive any formal music training. This lack of training rendered him unable to read chord symbols or notations throughout his musical career. When Wes was twelve years old, his older brother Monk brought him a four-stringed tenor guitar on which he would strum from time to time, never taking the instrument too seriously. However, when Wes was nineteen, his appreciation of music would take a “turn toward the best” as he, by chance, heard the recording entitled “Solo Flight” by the great jazz guitarist, Charlie Christian. Of that life-changing experience, Wes comments, “When I heard Charlie Christian, I didn’t know what to think, because I hadn’t heard anything like that. I hadn’t even heard Reinhardt yet. Christian got me all messed up.”
Inspired by his Charlie Christian-induced epiphany, Wes hurriedly rushed to a pawn shop on Indiana Avenue and purchased a brand new guitar and amplifier. He immediately discovered that playing the guitar required a great deal of wisely invested time and total commitment. Wes may have initially assumed that all he would have to do was to strum a few strings on the guitar and a series of beautiful notes would resonate, but he soon dismissed that pipe dream and realized he would have to master the instrument in order to be successful. “I didn’t know any of the fundamentals or nothing,” he said. When he picked up his guitar to practice a few chords, he laments, “that was more trouble than I’d ever had in my life! I didn’t want to face that. It let me know where I really was. It was disappointing.”
Montgomery’s fascination with his newly purchased guitar and amplifier and foray into the world of jazz proved to be infectious to other family members. His youngest brother Buddy began to tinker around on the piano and Monk bought a bass from a pawn shop on Indiana Avenue and immediately began to jam. Jazz became a family affair. “Around 1945-1946, we used to have jam sessions up to my mother’s (house) in Indianapolis every Sunday. Erroll Grandy knew all about the chords and everything and soon my brothers got tired of watching and Monk went out and got him a bass and soon got to playing. Buddy started playing the piano and soon it got to be a regular thing.” Wes began to perform at small clubs along Indiana Avenue including the popular 440 Club. Initially, he was cordially received by the music-loving public, but no one was breaking the doors down to hear him play. According to Indiana Avenue song-stylist, Flo Garvin, “Montgomery used to come into the 440 Club and folks would look up and say, oh hell, here comes Wes lugging that damn guitar.” After months of performing, he began to discover his true voice on the guitar and people began to sit up and take notice.
Fortunately, the future Indianapolis jazz great eventually discovered that the process was inspiring as well. He recalls, “With a little drive within myself, I stayed on the inspiring side. Because there’s been so many cats that buy a guitar, pluck around for a week and then it’s hanging up. He’ll never touch it no more. It only means that it crosses your mind first as a thought. When you come to producing, this is another side altogether. But this is the sincere side of it. Either you will or you won’t.”
David Leander Williams is a collector of memorabilia, historical artifacts and information about African-American history, particularly slavery and African-American music history. He has used his vast knowledge to write a book about the entertainment empire that developed on Indiana Avenue from its beginnings in 1821 until its demise in the 1970s.
Williams is a person of many talents and interests—African/Middle-Eastern political history, Brazilian slave history, foreign languages, biology, medicine and music production, but his first love is music. He comes by that love honestly, his father was a west Tennessee blues guitarist and harmonica player.
Williams holds bachelors and masters degrees, but more important, he attended and graduated from Crispus Attucks High School that figures so prominently in Naptown Blues. Williams personally knows many of the musicians about whom he writes.
There has been very little written about the history of African-Americans in Indianapolis and even less by an African-American. That makes Naptown Blues an important book that will be must reading for all Hoosiers who want to know more about their history. It will also be a vital supplementary text for Indiana middle school/high school/university history classes. Naptown Blues uncovers the hidden and sometimes painful experiences of a people who triumphed against all odds—a people who grew stronger as the magnitude of oppression and adversity grew larger. A must read indeed!
NAPTOWN BLUES is near completion.
Keep checking for the publication date and for new excerpts.
