Biblioteca de la Guitarra y Cuerda Pulsada

In this article, I explore the history of the electric bass in jazz from the instrument’s debut in 1951 to just after its adoption by rock ’n’ roll musicians in 1957. Focusing specifically on the plight of pioneering electric bassist William “Monk” Montgomery (older brother of famed guitarist Wes Montgomery), I contextualize the early history of the instrument and the discourse that surrounded its arrival. Montgomery despite being the person most closely associated with the new Fender Precision Bass, was a reluctant trailblazer who openly struggled with the idea of playing an electric bass in a jazz setting. While he was quickly won over by the instrument, many of his contemporaries remained highly skeptical, and Montgomery often endured their ridicule and criticism. Drawing upon recordings from this era, critics’ commentaries in liner notes and publications such as Down Beat and Melody Maker, and Montgomery’s own recollections, this article examines the electric bass’s early reception in jazz and how Montgomery personally and professionally navigated his position at the margins. Ultimately, I am attempting not only to complicate the conventional conception of the electric bass as a fusion instrument but also to explore the challenges that early jazz electric bassists pose to jazz historiography
 

Brian F. Wright (2015): “A Bastard Instrument”: The Fender
Precision Bass, Monk Montgomery, and Jazz in the 1950s, Jazz Perspectives, DOI:
10.1080/17494060.2015.1085888
 

“A Bastard Instrument”: The Fender Precision Bass, Monk Montgomery, and Jazz in the 1950s