[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/242657147?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=0]BHMGSL#1[/url] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/242695836?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=0]BHMGSL#2[/url] Just a heads up, this one is going to completely copy / pasted from Wikipedia as I'm conflicted between making the thread and playing ranked in Smite, so... John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb which granted him a distinctive sound. He often worked with his brothers Buddy(piano and vibes) and Monk (bass guitar), and with organist Jimmy Smith. Montgomery's recordings up to 1965 were generally oriented towards hard bop, soul jazz, and post bop, while circa 1965 he began recording more pop-oriented instrumental albums that featured less improvisation but found mainstream success. His later-career guitar style is a major influence on fusion and smooth jazz. Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. According to NPR Jazz Profiles "The Life and Music Of Wes Montgomery", the nickname "Wes" was a child's abbreviation of his middle name, Leslie.[2] He came from a musical family; his brothers, Monk (double bass and electric bass) and Buddy(vibraphone and piano), were jazz performers. The brothers released a number of albums together as the Montgomery Brothers. Although he was not skilled at reading music, he could learn complex melodies and riffs by ear. Montgomery started learning the six-string guitar at the relatively late age of 20 by listening to and learning the recordings of his idol, guitarist Charlie Christian; however, he had played a four string tenor guitar since age twelve. He was known for his ability to play Christian's solos note for note and was hired by Lionel Hampton for this ability. Montgomery toured with Lionel Hampton early in his career; however, the combined stress of touring and being away from family took him back home to Indianapolis. To support his family of eight, Montgomery worked in a factory from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, then performed in local clubs from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am. Cannonball Adderley heard Montgomery in an Indianapolis club and was floored. The next morning, he called record producer Orrin Keepnews, who signed Montgomery to a recording contract with Riverside Records. Adderley later recorded with Montgomery on his Pollwinners album. Montgomery recorded with his brothers and various other group members, including the Wynton Kelly Trio which previously backed up Miles Davis. Following the early work of swing / pre-bop guitarist Christian and gypsy-jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, Wes joined Tal Farlow, Johnny Smith, Jimmy Raney, and Barney Kessell to put guitar on the map as a bebop / post-bop instrument. While these men generally curtailed their own output in the 1960s, Montgomery recorded prolifically during this period, lending guitar to the same tunes contemporaries such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis were recording. John Coltrane asked Montgomery to join his band after a jam session, but Montgomery continued to lead his own band. Boss Guitarseems to refer to his status as a guitar-playing bandleader. He also made contributions to recordings by Jimmy Smith. Jazz purists relish Montgomery's recordings up through 1965, and sometimes complain that he abandoned hard-bop for pop jazz toward the end of his career, although it is arguable that he gained a wider audience for his earlier work with his soft jazz from 1965 to 1968. During this late period he occasionally turned out original material alongside jazzy orchestral arrangements of pop songs. In sum, this late period earned him considerable wealth and created a platform for a new audience to hear his earlier recordings. To many, Montgomery's playing defines jazz guitar and the sound that students try to emulate On the morning of June 15, 1968, while at home in Indianapolis, Indiana, Montgomery awoke and remarked to his wife that he "didn't feel very well." He soon collapsed, dying of a heart attack within minutes. 45 years old at the time of his death, Montgomery had just returned from a tour with his quintet and was at the height of his fame, having attained a degree of popular acceptance that few jazz artists in that era achieved. Montgomery's home town of Indianapolis later named a park in his honor. According to jazz guitar educator Wolf Marshall, Montgomery often approached solos in a three-tiered manner: he would begin a repeating progression with single note lines, derived from scales or modes; after a fitting number of sequences, he would play octaves for a few more sequences, finally culminating with block chords. He used mostly superimposed triads and arpeggios as the main source for his soloing ideas and sounds. The use of octaves (playing the same note on two strings usually one octave apart) for which he is widely known, became known as "the Naptown Sound". Montgomery was also an excellent "single-line" or "single-note" player, and was very influential in the use of block chords in his solos. His playing on the jazz standard "Lover Man" is an example of his single-note, octave- and block-chord soloing. ("Lover Man" appears on the Fantasy album The Montgomery Brothers.) Instead of using a guitar pick, Montgomery plucked the strings with the fleshy part of his thumb, using downstrokes for single notes and a combination of upstrokes and downstrokes for chords and octaves. Montgomery developed this technique not for technical reasons but for the benefit his neighbors. He worked long hours as a machinist before his music career began and practiced late at night. To keep neighbors from complaining, he began playing more quietly by using his thumb. This technique enabled him to get a mellow, expressive tone from his guitar. George Benson, in the liner notes of the Ultimate Wes Montgomery album, wrote, "Wes had a corn on his thumb, which gave his sound that point. He would get one sound for the soft parts, and then that point by using the corn. That's why no one will ever match Wes. And his thumb was double-jointed. He could bend it all the way back to touch his wrist, which he would do it to shock people." [spoiler]Sorry for the complete and utter laziness this time 'round. Tomorrow will have more effort put into and if I can't make a decision on who, it will feature the first bass guitarists.[/spoiler]