As the brother of famed jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery
(1923-1968), Monk knew plenty of top players and he quickly sent word to
another brother in Indianapolis, Buddy Montgomery (vibraphone) – as well as Sydney,
Montana, pianist Richie Crabtree (b. 1934), and Indianapolis drummer Benny
Barth (b.1929) – and they arrived and began getting their sound together. As
Barth once explained in an interview (which was posted on the website of San
Francisco’s Musicians’ Union AFM Local 6 in 2011): “When the Mastersounds
started out, we lived together in a big house in Seattle for several months in
1957, playing the Seattle clubs and traveling. We rehearsed every day. It was
full time music.”
Indeed, it was during the months of January through March
that the band drew crowds to Dave Levy’s downtown jazz club, Dave’s Fifth
Avenue (506 Denny Way). And among those who stopped in and were impressed by
their fresh sound was Chet Noland – owner/operator of Seattle’s pioneering
audio studio, Dimensional Sound (2128 3rd Avenue) and it’s
affiliated label, Celestial Records – who recorded a lot of jazz ensembles in the
1950s including those headed by sax-star Corky Corcoran, and another by piano
whiz, Gay Jones. The combo was invited into Dimensional for a few sessions and
they proceeded to cut a dozen hep songs including “Wes’s Tune,” “Water’s Edge,”
and “Bela By Barlight.”
Meanwhile, the contractual gig at Dave’s ended – as did the
bandmembers’ required payments to Seattle’s “Negro Musicians’ Union” AFM Local
493 – and Monk took off for San Francisco to scout for their next gig. And, even
though Noland had high hopes of releasing their tunes on Celestial, he
supported the group by giving them a nice clean second-generation copy of the
Master Tapes, which they hopefully could use to help score that next gig. Well, Monk
arrived in San Francisco and went to the Jazz Showcase nightclub on Market
Street, introduced himself to the owners, and played the tapes for them. As jazz
historian Steve Cerra has written: then, those owners, “upon hearing the
Mastersounds tapes Monk Montgomery had brought along, booked the group into the
room beginning in September, 1957 for an unlimited engagement.”
Soon, Monk took a trip to Los Angeles where, as Cerra also
noted, “he met fellow
bassist Leroy Vinnegar whose immediate reaction to listening to the
Mastersounds demo tapes was to call Dick Bock, president of World Pacific
Records. Upon hearing them, Bock signed the group to a contract that would
result in six albums being produced for the World Pacific/Pacific Jazz Series.”
As for Noland, he was happy for the band’s success, but was understandably
upset that he was shunted aside, and that – as he still retained the original Master Tape – their debut 1958 LP, Jazz Showcase - Introducing
The Mastersounds [World Pacific Records #PJM403] did not even credit his
excellent production/ engineering work.
