This website has been set up to celebrate the life and work of pioneering jazz bassist Monk Montgomery. In a career which spanned over three decades, Montgomery recorded and performed with some of the greatest names in jazz history.
Often cited as the first person to use a bass guitar on a jazz recording, Montgomery was also one of the first to expose the instrument to a wide audience when he toured internationally with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in 1953. His innovative and sensitive approach to the instrument kept the feel and tonal qualities close to those of the double bass, helping to ease the sound of the instrument into jazz.
Montgomery continued to play the double bass through the 1960's, recording alongside his brothers Wes & Buddy, Johnny Griffin, Hampton Hawes, Harold Land, Jack Wilson & others.
The aim of this website is to tell Monk Montgomery's story as accurately as possible, to compile his discography, to share rare interviews, to provide transcriptions for educational purposes and to shed more light on a career which left a lasting legacy in jazz music and beyond.
