Wes Montgomery

Pencil Portrait by Antonio Bosano.

Wes Montgomery Pencil Portrait
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The quality of the prints are at a much higher level compared to the image shown on the left.

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A3 Pencil Print-Price £45.00-Purchase

A4 Pencil Print-Price £30.00-Purchase

*Limited edition run of 250 prints only*

All Pencil Prints are printed on the finest Bockingford Somerset Velvet 255 gsm paper.

P&P is not included in the above prices.

Comments

So there I was in my teens discovering George Benson before realising that I’d then have to check out Wes Montgomery as well. After all, alongside Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian, the man is right up there amongst the greatest names in jazz guitar.

His octave and chordal ideas were revolutionary yet when he played, he looked like an amateur, his fingers splayed all over his Gibson L-5 as he readied his thumb to do battle with the strings. He preferred to play with the fleshy part of his thumb, not even his nail, and played only down strokes for single note lines and up/down strokes for chords. Nobody told him he could use his fingers and yet once fired up, that thumb could make millions of players sound like schmucks.

This unique style was developed out of consideration for his wife. He worked long hours as a machinist before his career began, and practiced late at night while his wife was sleeping. Playing exclusively with his thumb, he would coax a softer, more mellow tone out of his guitar that did not wake her. She’d have divorced Hendrix!