Buddy Montgomery
Vibraphonist & Pianist
Inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Fame in 2006
Charles “Buddy” Montgomery
(January 30, 1930 – May 14, 2009)
Born in Indianapolis and the youngest brother of Wes and Monk Montgomery, Buddy first played professionally in 1948 after Wes taught him chords on the guitar which he would repeat on the piano. He played with Big Joe Turner and soon afterwards with Slide Hampton. After a period in the Army, where he had his own quartet, he joined The Mastersounds as a vibraphonist with his brother Monk, pianist Richie Crabtree and drummer Benny Barth in 1957. At this time Buddy had switched to the vibraphone, an instrument he became interested in as a teenager after seeing Lionel Hampton.
Buddy led the "Montgomery-Johnson Quintet" with saxophonist Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson from 1955 to 1957 and his earliest sessions as a leader are from the late 1950s. He played briefly with Miles Davis in 1960. After Wes Montgomery’s death in 1968, Buddy became active as a jazz educator and advocate. He founded organizations in Milwaukee, where he lived from 1969 to 1982, and California where these entities offered jazz classes and presented free concerts.
