He was a pioneer of the electric bass guitar and possibly the first to be recorded playing the instrument when he participated in a 1953 session released on The Art Farmer Septet.

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States,[1] into a musical family, Monk had three brothers and a sister.

Montgomery is perhaps the first electric bassist of significance to jazz, taking up the Fender Precision Bass in 1952 or ‘53,[1] after replacing Roy Johnson in the Lionel Hampton Orchestra.

[5] Guys in other kinds of music may have beat me to the studio, though I'm not aware of any ... As far as I know, I was the first in jazz to record electric bass.

Later, from 1966 to 1970, he freelanced with vibraphonist Cal Tjader and continued to play where he settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the Red Norvo Trio until 1972.

In 1976, he served on the Jazz Advisory Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts with Benny Carter, George Russell, Muhal Richard Abrams, and others.

[9] In 1977, he helped organize the inaugural Maseru Music Festival in Lesotho, which featured Dizzy Gillespie, plus students and staff from Rutgers University and local musicians.

[10][11] In his final years, Montgomery was active in the Las Vegas Jazz Society, which he founded,[12] and he presented a local radio show.