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Little Brother Montgomery

 
Artist: Little Brother Montgomery
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Similar Artists:

Otis Spann, Sunnyland Slim, Erwin Helfer, Jimmy Yancey, Curtis Jones, Blind John Davis, Black Ivory King

Influenced By:

Jelly Roll Morton, Roosevelt Sykes

Followers:

Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Mr. B, Danny Barker, Paul Gayten, Willie Dixon, Frank Muschalle

Performed Songs By:

Eurreal Montgomery

Worked With:

Mack Thompson, Otis Rush, Odie Payne, Magic Sam, Lafayette Leake, Fred Below, Harold Burrage, Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon
  • Born: April 18, 1906, Kentwood, LA
  • Died: September 06, 1985, Champaign, IL
  • Active: '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s
  • Genres: Blues
  • Instrument: Piano, Vocals
  • Representative Albums: "Chicago: The Living Legends," "Complete Recorded Works (1930-1936)," "Tasty Blues"
  • Representative Songs: "Vicksburg Blues," "No Special Rider Blues," "Farish Street Jive"

Biography

A notable influence to the likes of Sunnyland Slim and Otis Spann, pianist "Little Brother" Montgomery's lengthy career spanned both the earliest years of blues history and the electrified Chicago scene of the 1950s.

By age 11, Montgomery had given up on attending school to instead play in Louisiana juke joints. He came to Chicago as early as 1926 and made his first 78s in 1930 for Paramount (the booty that day in Grafton, WI, included two of Montgomery's enduring signature items, "Vicksburg Blues" and "No Special Rider"). Bluebird recorded Montgomery more prolifically in 1935-36 in New Orleans.

In 1942, Little Brother Montgomery settled down to a life of steady club gigs in Chicago, his repertoire alternating between blues and traditional jazz (he played Carnegie Hall with Kid Ory's Dixieland band in 1949). Otis Rush benefitted from his sensitive accompaniment on several of his 1957-58 Cobra dates, while Buddy Guy recruited him for similar duties when he nailed Montgomery's "First Time I Met the Blues" in a supercharged revival for Chess in 1960. That same year, Montgomery cut a fine album for Bluesville with guitarist Lafayette "Thing" Thomas that remains one of his most satisfying sets.

With his second wife, Janet Floberg, Montgomery formed his own little record company, FM, in 1969. The first 45 on the logo, fittingly enough, was a reprise of "Vicksburg Blues," with a vocal by Chicago chanteuse Jeanne Carroll (her daughter Karen is following in her footsteps around the Windy City). ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Little Brother Montgomery
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Little Brother Montgomery
Birth name Eurreal Wilford Montgomery
Also known as Little Brother Montgomery
Born April 18, 1906(1906-04-18)
Origin Kentwood, Louisiana
Died September 6, 1985 (aged 79)
Genre(s) Jazz
Blues music
Occupation(s) Pianist
Vocalist
Instrument(s) Vocals
Piano
Associated acts Lil Hardin Armstrong
Buddy Petit
Skip James
Notable instrument(s)
Piano

Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (18 April 1906 – 6 September 1985[1]) was a jazz and blues pianist and singer.

Largely self-taught, Montgomery is often thought of as just a blues pianist, but he was an important blues pianist with an original style. He was also quite versatile, however, and worked in jazz bands including larger ensembles that used written arrangements. Although he did not read music, he learned band routines by ear, once through an arrangement and he had it memorized. He was a singer with an immediately recognizable, rather affecting wobble: an oral historian as full of musical anecdotes as Jelly Roll Morton.[2]

Contents

Career

Montgomery was born in the town of Kentwood, Louisiana, a sawmill town near the Mississippi Border, across Lake Pontchartrain from the city of New Orleans, where he spent much of his childhood. As a child he looked like his father, Harper Montgomery, and was called Little Brother Harper. The name evolved into Little Brother Montgomery, a nickname which stuck. He started playing piano at the age of 4, and by age 11 he was playing at various barrelhouses in Louisiana. His own musical influences were Jelly Roll Morton who used visit the Montgomery household.

Early on he played at African American lumber and turpentine camps in Louisiana and Mississippi, then with the bands of Clarence Desdunes and Buddy Petit. He first went to Chicago from 1928 to 1931, where he made his first recordings. From 1931 through 1938 he led a band in Jackson.

In 1942 Montgomery moved back to Chicago, which would be his base for the rest of his life, with various tours to other United States cities and Europe. His repertoire alternated between blues and traditional jazz (he played Carnegie Hall with Kid Ory's Dixieland band in 1949).[1] In the late 1950s he was "discovered" by wider white audiences. He toured briefly with Otis Rush in 1956.[3] His fame grew in the 1960s, and he continued to make many recordings, including on his own record label, FM Records (formed in 1969)[1]. FM came from Floberg, his wife Jan's maiden name and Montgomery, his own surname.

These and other recordings added momentum to Montgomery’s career and he became a world traveller, visiting the UK and Europe on several occasions during the 1960s, cutting several of his 20-odd albums there, while remaining based in Chicago.[2] Montgomery appeared at many blues and folk festivals during the following decade and was considered a living legend, a link to the early days of blues and New Orleans.[3]

Among his original compositions are "Shreveport Farewell", "Farrish Street Jive", and "Vicksburg Blues".

Montgomery died on September 6, 1985 in Champaign, Illinois, and is interred in the Oak Woods Cemetery.

Paul Gayten is his nephew.

See also

Further information

  • The Story of Little Brother Montgomery by Karl Gert zur Heide, published by Studio Vista, London, in 1970, provides an overview of his life and early career.
  • The October 1985 issue of The Mississippi Rag has an article on Little Brother Montgomery by Paige Van Vorst. This article was revised and updated and included in the liner notes of the 1990 album Little Brother Montgomery - At Home (posthumously issued as Earwig 4918). These articles provide an overview of his life and musical career.
  • The 2 LP Set Little Brother Montgomery - Crescent City Blues (AXM2-5522), published by RCA in 1975, featuring many of his Bluebird records from the mid 1930s also has comprehensive liner notes giving an overview of his musical career. They were written by Jim O'Neal, the editor of Living Blues magazine, in Chicago, August, 1975.

Discography

Year of Release Album Title Label
1961 Blues Folkways Records
1965 Music Down Home: An Introduction to Negro Folk Music: U.S.A. Folkways
1966 Piano Blues Folkways
1968 Farro Street Live Folkways
1968 No Special Rider Here Genes/Adelphi
1975 Church Songs: Sung and Played on the Piano by Little Brother Montgomery Folkways
2003 Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways
2003 Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways, Vol. 2 Smithsonian Folkways
2008 Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways
2008 Classic African American Gospel from Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways

References

  1. ^ a b c Allmusic biography
  2. ^ a b Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 146. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 
  3. ^ a b Allboutjazz.com - accessed January 2008

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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