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 |
| Origin | Kentwood, Louisiana |
| Died | September 6, 1985 (Age 79) |
| Genre(s) | Jazz Blues music |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist Vocalist |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals Piano |
| Associated acts | Lil Hardin Armstrong Buddy Petit |
| 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]
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[edit] 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).[3] In the late 1950s he was "discovered" by wider white audiences. He toured briefly with Otis Rush in 1956.[4] His fame grew in the 1960s, and he continued to make many recordings, including on his own record label, FM Records (formed in 1969)[5]. 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.[6]
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.
[edit] See also
- List of Chicago blues musicians
- Adelphi Records
- 77 Records
- Wikipedia:Find-A-Grave famous people/M/Mit
- List of people from Louisiana
- List of blues musicians
[edit] External links
- Illustrated Little Brother Montgomery discography
- Montgomery biography at the All Music Guide website
[edit] For further information
- The Story of Little Brother Montgomery by Karl Gurt Zer 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.
- Oliver, Paul (1965). Conversation With the Blues. Cassell, London. ISBN 3-85445-065-6., published in 1965 and re-issued by Cambridge University Press in 1997, includes interviews with Little Brother Montgomery.
[edit] References
- ^ All Music Guide biography
- ^ a b Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited, p. 146. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
- ^ All Music Guide biography
- ^ Allboutjazz.com - accessed January 2008
- ^ All Music Guide biography
- ^ Allboutjazz.com - accessed January 2008
