Leo Montgomery

Pianist Leo Montgomery is a lively participant who spent years in the Chicago jazz picture with apparently very little to show for this with regards to recorded documentation. Due to the fact few listeners will come across this pianist to begin with, perhaps it really is unnecessary to indicate that it’s a uncommon jazzman using the surname Montgomery who’s not area of the same family members from whence sprang Wes Montgomery, Pal Montgomery, and Monk Montgomery. When like the pianist in his Who’s Who in Jazz, writer John Chilton also found fit to indicate that Leo Montgomery isn’t linked to bluesman Eurreal “Small Brother” Montgomery. Like many jazz performers, the unrelated Montgomery acquired a strong curiosity about dance. One major reason for his insufficient participation in the documenting industry might have been this curiosity basically frustrating his jazz actions following Second World Battle. While hostilities had been still raging, Montgomery acquired begun establishing his very own dance studios in the Windy Town. Out of the evolved some dance revues and floorshows which in some instances removed Montgomery from your piano bench completely; instead he might have already been occupied watching the techniques of his troupe from your sidelines. He didn’t quit piano totally and was recognized to consider gigs when he was nearing age 70. Maybe he lost desire for performing jazz more frequently because of the problems of employed in the genre. It could certainly seem annoying if, as has been the case, a few of the most talented players in jazz produced the best hurdles because of their working associates. It really is hard to think about a couple of music artists as wonderful as clarinetist Johnny Dodds and his small sibling, drummer Baby Dodds, however newspaper accounts in the ’40s illustrate the type of complications encountered by their devoted pianist. “Johnny Dodds needed all his tooth pulled,” starts one epistle, “departing Natty Dominique, Baby Dodds and Leo Montgomery to accomplish all the just work at the 9750 Membership.” On another evening in the severe wintertime of 1940: “Johnny Dodds is normally playing clarinet once again. Partly retrieved from his latest serious disease, and reinstated in the music artists’ union which lately expelled him for nonpayment of dues….” Etc. Montgomery’s contact with such travails could possess started when he was actually younger, although probably not as a kid. His parents’ solid fascination with music never resulted in professional activity for either of these. Bandleader Hayes Alvis raised the family members in to the professional category by firmly taking a pastime in the pianist boy, a link that, like a lot of Montgomery’s profession, comes filled with a Chicago community vibe, in cases like this Melrose Recreation area circa the Roaring Twenties. The Dodds connection adopted in the ’30s, as do gigs with two violinists, Carroll Dickerson and Erskine Tate. Work in the second option outfit extended over an interval of many years. Additional working human relationships for the pianist included Gerald Casey & His Music Ambassadors in the first area of the 10 years as well as the Freddie Williams music group.