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Monte Montgomery: Modern Guitar Slaying Genius Has Been Witnessed Here!Dec 07 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line DO NOT MISS a chance to see and hear Monte Montgomery! He is a legend in the making. Astounding! Unforgettable! Raw passion and incredible artistry at its finest!
Astounding!!! Incredible!!! Such words seem to be a proper place to start in discussing Monte Montgomery. Hopefully I have your attention, so I'll lead you into this slowly. Please allow me to take you to a place you've been before: Imagine with me, if you would, the grand ovation and whistling of an audience after hearing the final, crushing note of a song's powerful ending. The crowd roars. You've been there before, most likely. Now let's take this vision to the next step, as Monte Montgomery walks away from his microphone to the side of the stage (with his guitar still slung over his shoulder) toward his amp stack. The crowd silences... mystified by the wonder of what is coming next. What's he up to now??? The curiosity overwhelms the crowd into complete stillness. But Monte knows exactly what's going on. He knows that every single move he makes is studied and anticipated, and that he has already moved and amazed his listeners and observers beyond measure. He has the crowd where he wants them, in a complete state of awe. He then reaches toward his amp. Quickly sipping from his water bottle, he turns back to the crowd and wields an "I gotcha" grin. The crowd releases sighing laughter as everyone realizes that Monte Montgomery has just granted them permission to breathe again! Such is the intensity of the Monte Montgomery experience. Why is this so? Because Monte Montgomery is perhaps the most creative and spellbinding guitar wizard who has ever taken the stage, period! Not only that..he's an entertainer. He will keep you on your toes as to what you will hear next, but one thing is certain..you will be impressed! Perhaps only to up the ante in his "guitar-players-I-dare-you-to-try-to-do-this-at-home" thrill-a-minute performance, he produces his awe-striking and jaw-dropping offerings of blistering guitar by utilizing a very abused and war-torn Alvarez cut-away acoustic. While this may not carry a lot of meaning to people who have never played guitar, any players out there can fully appreciate the increased difficulty of an acoustic guitar. Utilizing a virtual arsenal of effects boxes, amplification devices, etc... Monte routinely rotates from a beautiful acoustic sound, into wild and wicked, bone-crushing and punishing rock guitar which will readily spank anyone who has ever thought of considering themself a creative guitar player. Rock or otherwise. Let us also give proper credit to the fact that Montgomery is a fine songwriter,and a very sufficient singer. Performing with him were bassist-vocalist: Chris Maresh and drummer-vocalist: Phil Bass. Together they are the tightest trio I have heard since Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Only one difference: The Montgomery crew kick's A** even harder! Their punctuation, punch and timing throughout the entire show was evidence of not only fine, outstanding musicians, but also of incredible minds which have formed together to become one musical entity. The perfect setting: I was fortuned to see this show quite recently, within the smaller atmosphere of a night club in Champaign, Illinois. A movie theater-turned-bar called The Canopy Club was the perfect setting, allowing me to approach the stage to witness this man's magic, up close and personal. As a guitar player, it was my goal to witness and understand the method of the music I was already familiar with...to find out for myself how he did it all..to take home his technique and work on it for myself. The perfect let-down: Sorry I was to realize this a complete impossibility! His right and left hand technique are both so extraordinary that you cannot learn it by observation. You can only stand in front of the master himself and freakin' drool! And now the technical part: Monte is a profound guitarist, and has completely cornered the market of innovation by selecting the acoustic guitar as his weapon of choice in proving himself as THE NEXT GUITAR LEGEND. For guitarists who are aware of him, he is to be imitated, but the difficulty of imitation is in finding out what he is doing and how. His use of multiple effects: echo, reverb, distortion,sythesizers, phasers, flangers, (Lord only knows what, and in what combination at any particular moment), remain to be the key to his signature sound. Pardon me... sounds (plural). With much similarity to Stanley Jordan, I know his gain and sensitivity controls must be set very high... yet when this is done with a "plugged-in" acoustic guitar, one normally can expect screeching feedback which can kill small mammals, not to mention some sensitive women. But his set-up avoids it, and allows for Hendrix-style controlling of feedback at will. Thus, I assume he's running all-tubes, thought I've read he uses a "Tube-it" stomp box. Comparisons: Who can I compare him to? With a voice which strikes me as being similar to that of Billy Joel (to some degree)... and possibly with similar songwriting also, Monte stands apart from the crowd as a guitarist, though he is obviously influenced by many guitar greats. His albums do not compare to his live show. While there are many instances of guitar greatness on his CD-s, the man blossoms as an entertainer onstage and expands way beyond his studio recordings. You will hear guitar influence from the likes of Hendrix, Satriani, Jeff Beck, Stanley Jordan, Mark Knopfler, George Benson, Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Micheal Hedges, Santana.. nearly any guitar legend you can think of. Monte Montgomery is each and every one of those players rolled up into one incredible guitar slayer, guided by the spirit of all those who have commanded the stage before him...with speed-flash, walking bass lines, neck-bending, arpeggios, power chords, chord solos, incredible use of harmonics, rhythmic slaps, right and left hand technique, dexterity beyond imagination, every finger of his right hand utilized..even using the back of his fingernails- arm and elbow, and raw emotion, he can only leave your jaw hanging at knee level! The Aftermath After hearing Monte play live, you know that you have just been a part of and witnessed something huge. Yet, the hardest part is in trying do describe your fascination. More than anything you will feel stunned. You will be at a loss of words. My Suggestion To You I suggest you keep an eye out for Monte Montgomery. Seeing him at this point in his career could be comparable to seeing early Hendrix, prior to Woodstock. If Monte Montgomery is coming to a city near you, DO NOT blow the opportunity of seeing him! Do whatever you must... If it is a weeknight, call in sick the next day! If your band has a gig that night, cancel! If your boyfriend is a prude, find somebody else to take you! If your wife wants the night alone with you, assure her you'll find a private corner with her at the show!...Sell your car and home to raise funding for tickets...do what you must, but BE THERE!!! Trust me. You will thank me later ;) In closing, I offer another piece of good news: I have heard straight from Monte himself that his next CD will be that of a live compilation. Yes!!! And finally...I thank you for your time. P.S. I have been forced to update this review more than once, as none of the links seemed to work correctly for anyone I sent them to. Also I changed the title a bit, so's to be politically correct. Hope you understand. ;)  |
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