Montgomery, Buddy (Charles F.)

Montgomery, Buddy (Charles F.), jazz pianist, vibraphonist, brother of Monk and Wes Montgomery; b. Indianapolis, Ind., Jan. 30, 1930. His brother Wes got him interested in music, though he didn’t begin playing piano until age 18. He never learned to read or write music. His influences were Garner, Tatum, Bud Powell, and Indianapolis pianist Earl Grandy. After only six months, he was hired for a tour down South with singer Joe Turner organized by saxophonist Jimmy Coe. Into the 1950s he rehearsed and gigged with Slide Hampton and his brothers Maceo and Lucky (trumpet and tenor) in the Hampton family band. He worked with his brothers in two aggregations in 1957–62, the Mastersounds and the Montgomery Brothers. He appeared in several C.A. concerts with the Miles Davis sextet in place of Coltrane in February and March 1960 and was scheduled to go with Davis to Europe but declined, citing a fear of airplanes. He later went to Las Vegas and became fairly successful playing in pit and stage bands. He had a long residence at the Bombay Bicycle Room at Milwaukee’s Mark Plaza Hotel in the 1970s with bassist Jeff Chambers and Ray Appleton.

Discography

Two-Sided Album (1968); This Rather Than That (1969); Ties of Love (1986); Of Love (1986); So Why Not? (1988); Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. 15 (1991); Here Again (1997); Mastersounds: Kismet (1958); Jazz Showcase Introducing the Mastersounds (1958); Flower Drum Song (1958); Mastersounds in Concert (1959); Mastersounds Play Horace Silver (1959); Ballads and Blues (1959); Happy Holidays from Many Lands (1960); Swing-in with the Mastersounds (1961); Mastersounds on Tour (1961); Date with the Mastersounds (1961); King and I (1964).

—Lewis Porter