BMG - May 1963

Barney Kessel: "The greatest of us all is unquestionably  Wes Montgomery".
Jack Duarte: "Whoever disagrees with him is unlikely to be a Big Man".

Joe Pass (Jazz Journal )

I always thought that Wes was truly a jazz guitar player - even though a lot of people said he was selling out when he started making hit records. To me his phrasing - his lines made him a true jazz player and he still played the same way on those hit records. He was my idea of a REAL player, harmonically, lines, everything......

Musician friends of mine in Detroit and elsewhere mentioned that I had been an influence and inspiration to Wes in terms of his guitar playing. I met him in the late forties when I was not only working in Detroit, but doing a lot of sitting in...Once in a while Wes and his friend Pookie Johnson would drive over from Indianapolis. I didn't realise the significance of this until later.... guitarist and teacher Ivor Mairants pointed out to me in his book on guitarists that Wes had told him that I was one of his influences.....Wow! That made me feel really nice. Wes just listened when he came to Detroit, but we slowly became friends.....One day I got a call from Orrin Keepnews saying that Wes wanted to use my guitar and amplifier to make his debut album. I was somewhat surprised, but then I figured that Wes had asked because he knew me, liked what he had heard on my recordings and figured my Gibson L7....would be OK for him. Whatever the reason, I felt complimented and pleased that he had thought so much of me and my music.

Once in a while we'd get together..... a former manager of mine somewhere has a tape of Wes and me jammimg in a room at the Wellington Hotel........In 1963 I was on Wes' album "Fusion". I felt honoured that he wanted me on second guitar. While octaves became a signature for him, it's often overlooked that he was one of the pioneers of block chords. I don't know of anyone who played chords in their solos to that extent, so well, and so musically. In my book that is one of his greatest contributions to guitar playing. He was a beautiful person and a musical giant.

Wes was an original and you never got the feeling that he was trying to confound anyone - everything that he played felt very comfortable..... I liked the fact that Wes played the whole guitar; beautiful single note lines as well as chord melodies. I love that warm, round sound that he got. He wasn't the first person to use his thumb like a pick....and he wasn't the first to play octaves....but that became a trademark of Wes' style.

It has been my great good fortune to be associated with great musicians. Among the greatest was Wes Montgomery, a guitar virtuoso, a creative genius and spiritual human being. We spent many happy moments together playing......I remember a night in Chicago when he stayed at my apartment the night before he was to take some pictures (Playboy Magazine Jazz Poll). He asked me for some guitar polish to clean his guitar so that it would look great for the photos and while he had the guitar outhe asked if I wanted to play a tune with him. Well, we started about 10pm and the next thing I know we played until 4am. I can only say playing with Wes brought me to a new level. It's true that when you rub elbows with the greats you retain some of their greatness. I have never been the same.......Thank God we have his recordings; they are a constant source of inspiration for me.
We will meet again, Wes. I remember you.

....the man who has meant the most to me in recent years is Wes Montgomery. I'd heard him talked about a lot quite a while ago , and then he made his first record...He really impressed me. Since Charlie Christian, the only completely original soloist is Wes.

The most modern and hippest guitarist of our time was Wes Montgomery, because of his marvellous use of substitute and relative notes for the harmonic ones......... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't influenced by Wes Montgomery's sound when I play octaves.

I remember I was living in Dublin when Wes was appearing at the old Ronnie Scott club in Gerrard Street. I made the pilgrimage across and I went to hear him four nights in arow. I still get goose pimples thinking about it!