Jack Montrose

Jack Montrose, also called " West Coast Jack" ( born December 30, 1928 in Detroit, † February 7, 2006 in Las Vegas ), was an American tenor saxophonist and arranger of the West Coast jazz. He played with Chet Baker, Art Pepper, Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne.

At the beginning of his musical career Montrose worked with Jerry Gray in 1953 and in kind Peppers quintet in 1954. Since he was " free lance" worked as a tenor saxophonist and arranger on the west coast of the USA, worked with Chet Baker, Bob Gordon, John Grass, Lennie Niehaus, Shorty Rogers, but also took with singers Mel Torme and Abbey Lincoln on plates. Under his own name he recorded several albums with Red Norvo and Jim Hall; its relative lack of success eventually forced him to withdraw from the jazz scene and to play in the casinos of Las Vegas. Only in 1977 he again took on jazz music and played several albums since 1986 with Pete Jolly one.

Jack Montrose is not to be confused with the tenor saxophonist JR Monterose.

Selected Discography

• Blues And Vanilla (RCA Victor, 1957) with Red Norvo, Shelly Manne, Jim Hall
• The Horn 's Full (RCA Victor, 1957) with Red Norvo, Jim Hall, Barney Kessel, Mel Lewis

Literature / source

• Martin Kunzler: Jazz Encyclopedia. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1993
• Bielefeld Catalog Jazz 2001
• Richard Cook, Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. Penguin, 6th Edition, London, 2002. ISBN 0-14-017949-6