Wes Montgomery

Wes Montgomery (John Leslie Montgomery, died 1968) was an American jazz guitarist from Indianapolis. He played with the side of his thumb instead of a pick and made heavy use of melodies in octaves, which gave him a distinctive sound. He moved from hard bop records for Riverside to orchestral pop jazz albums for Verve and A&M produced by Creed Taylor. Wes Montgomery recorded for Riverside from 1959, with albums such as The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960) and Full House (1962).