2007 Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn

Subject: RE: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Guest, Lexi Cruz
Date: 04 Mar 14 - 07:38 PM

My name is Lexi, I was Monte's first granddaughter from Cleo. I happened to be "googling" him and my grandma, Fontella (or Karen) and stumbled upon this site. It's absolutely amazing to see what all of you remember of him. I'm a bit bummed that I saw this so late out, but this really touched my heart. I called my mom as soon as I saw this, just to let her know of those that cared. I wish I could have known him better, or even at least as well as some of you, I was barely 13 when he died, so I missed out on a lot of great stories he probably had to tell. Seeing the short ones you guys have had has made my day a little more bittersweet. Thank you all so much.

Subject: RE: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,|Mark Ross
Date: 05 Mar 14 - 05:05 PM

Say hello to Karen for me. I knew her and Monte in NYC in the mid '70's.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Ed Taublieb
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 01:33 PM

In doing a Google search I learned of Monte's passing. Around 1962 I was a regular at a coffee house in Buffalo,NY called The Lime Light. I was there one evening when Monte went on stage. He did some old-time county and blues. He was really good at it. Wonderful guitar work and vocals. He came to Buffalo to attend college at SUNY Buffalo. He has a tremendous knowledge of the songs he did. Most of them were new tome. (As I got more into the music of the '20s and'30s later on I came across many of them.) I was fortunate to see him play with some local musicians. He could play back-up to anything! I knew he was good and would be moving on. So, I was not surprised when he dropped out of college to do back up for Ian and Sylvia. (they were based in Toronto, Canada 90 miles from Buffalo.)
    I wish he had done an album of the old stuff he did while he was in Buffalo.
Ed Taublieb
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,jacquie Mosher
Date: 15 Dec 14 - 08:59 PM

thank you , Ed. Nice that people are still sharing the early stories of Monte's music. He was at Buffalo and was studying labor law-- he was 17 years old. I am his daughter, Jacquie. He married my mother Liane Caumont. He has 2 other daughters and one stepdaughter out west from his first marriage to Karen Kruse. He did go out on his own in many ways. He taught at the local private school and worked in music therapy. He also was an avid and brilliant writer (op-ed and features) for several publications. His gift as a writer was as outstanding as his music and his knowledge of law. He had many talents and he used them to help others - that is how I will always remember him. He was a father to me for over 25 years. I miss him very much.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - Apr 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Jacqueline Mosher
Date: 15 Mar 15 - 10:09 PM

In honor of Monte ....
Not sure if anyone here is aware of the documentary "The Wrecking Crew," but Monte was part of the Wrecking Crew…film came out this year—a about the session players behind all those who took the spotlight

http://www.magpictures.com/thewreckingcrew/
http://www.sonnycher.com/6.html

Blessings

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - Apr 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Martin I. Saperstein
Date: 19 Mar 15 - 05:10 PM

I knew Monte from high school. He was head of the folk music club. I remember I had an English teacher who was into folk music. He had Monte play for my class, guitar & banjo. He was already an accomplished musician. Years later I got Ian & Slyvia's Early Morning Rain album. Monte was listed as alternating with Ian on guitar. I flipped. RIP Monte.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Bill Waterman
Date: 20 Mar 15 - 09:17 PM

I met Monte our freshman year at SUNY Buffalo. There were groups singing and playing folk music in any space we could find. Monte would be there playing anything that had strings. Other players would stop when he started just to watch him play. He bummed cigarettes from everyone. He left school for several months when he started playing with Ian & Sylvia. One day he showed up at the student union with a big duffle bag. He looked up all of his friends and gave us cartons of cigarettes to pay us back "now that he was a success".

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Mar 15 - 07:36 PM

Beautiful memories, Martin and Bill. Thank you for sharing them. ~~ jacqueline

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Guest: Jack C.
Date: 08 May 15 - 10:56 AM

Monte was my third cousin. We lived in New Hampshire and every summer his family would come visit us. This is about 1959-62. My grandmother had a two-family house and we lived upstairs. The house had a lot of rooms so a lot of people came and stayed every summer.
Monte brought guitars and a ukulele. We had never seen this. He would sit on the floor and play for us for hours. There was a piano from 1920 that had all kinds of keys that were broken. He would play piano too.
He was brilliant. We had never met anyone like this.
My mother (RIP) said he was the smartest and most talented person in our extended family.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Jacquie Mosher
Date: 28 May 15 - 09:18 PM

Beautiful memory you have shared, Jack. He and my mom (late widow of Monte) Liane were married over 25 years. His was brilliant at so many things -- his writing was brilliant, too. There was never a time I would see Monte with either an instrument, a book or writing -- his mind was incredible and incredibly active. I miss him. Coming up on his birthday and their (he and my mom) anniversary in June. Thank you for sharing your memories~~~

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,nikos1121
Date: 06 Jul 15 - 08:46 PM

Do you recall what guitar Monte was playing? I met him in Chicago around 1964 or 65. I was like 15 years old. I carried his guitar out to his car. He was playing back up for Ian and Sylvia. I think he was playing a Guild F-20 or 30. Would you know? nick

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jul 15 - 08:52 PM

Jacquie,

I remember his guitar. Was it an F-20 or F-30? I carried it out to his car when I was 15 years old in Chicago. He was backing Ian and Sylvia. nick

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Jul 15 - 09:51 PM

A rather nice biography at allmusic.com:

Monte Dunn was one of a small group of guitar players who supplied musical accompaniment for Greenwich Village-based singer-songwriters of the 1960s. Although he never attained the heights of Danny Kalb, who went from backing up Phil Ochs and Judy Collins to leading influential folk-rock group, the Blues Project, and John Herald of the Greenbrier Boys, who recorded with Joan Baez, Dunn managed to play on some very influential recordings.

A sideman on Ian and Sylvia's albums, Northern Journey in 1964 and Early Morning Rain, a year later, Dunn gained further notoriety when the then-married Canadian folksingers attributed their version of the traditional folksong, "Nancy Whiskey", to him and folksinger Logan English. He went on to appear on Cher's album, All I really Want To Do in 1965, the debut self-titled album by Dylan pal, David Blue in 1966, Buffy Sainte-Marie's Fire & Fleet & Candlelight in 1967 and Peter, Paul and Mary's Late Again in 1968.

When a duo album, recorded with vocalist Karen Cruz, in 1969, failed to generate much sales, Dunn returned to studio work, subsequently appearing on albums by Tim Hardin, Richie Havens and Fred Neil.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Perry Lee
Date: 21 Oct 15 - 05:53 AM

I don't know if anyone is still watching this thread, but I will add one Monte Dunn story. First of all, I am saddened to hear of his passing. Far too many of that generation are going, and soon we will all be minor entries in the history books.
I hung around the Buffalo coffee houses, and I even managed one for a while: The Boar's Head (aka The Golden Boar) on Pearl Street. The Limelight was a couple of blocks over, and the hub of activity was Laughlin's Bar, but that is a whole other bunch of stories...
Jerry Raven owned the Limelight, and he also owned a coffee house near UB that I can't remember the name of... The Ninth Circle? Lots of good people hung out there, and that is where my one Monte Dunn story took place.
Steve Mann had just finished a set when a strange man walked in and started greeting everybody like old friends. I asked who it was and Gary Faulmann said it was Monte Dunn, guitarist for Ian and Sylvia. Monte sat down and chatted until Steve came off the stage, and Monte asked Steve if he could try his 12 string. It was a brand new Guild, if I remember correctly, and Steve handed it to Monte with a bit of reluctance. Monte proceeded to play, talk, smoke and mostly play for over half an hour. Regardless of what his mind and voice were doing, his hands kept weaving the most mesmerizing thirty minutes of music I had ever heard. He played so hard that he broke two strings on the guitar, and it did not slow him down a bit. Steve Mann did not say a word. He was just as mesmerized as every one else. It was a special moment, and I will never forget it. There were some amazing guitarists in the room that night, and they all deferred to Monte.
A little later Monte left, and I never saw him again.
Not much of a story I know, but I was listening to "Early Morning Rain" today,and Monte's name popped into my head. I have read all of the posts in this thread and I see that he contributed far more to the world than backup guitar on a few albums.
My wife and I live on forty acres halfway between Lexington and Louisville KY. I am now a landscape photographer, and those days in Buffalo and Toronto seem very far away, except at 3 AM when I can't sleep, and I pull out a David Blue or Ian and Sylvia album, and then it seems like only yesterday.
My sympathies to all the people who lost a father, husband, companion and mentor.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Perry Lee
Date: 21 Oct 15 - 06:34 AM

I remember the name of Jerry Raven's coffee house on Bailey Avenue in Buffalo: it was The Inner Circle. Chris Gray, Gary Faulmann, Gregory Corso, Steve Mann, Brian Maday... Too many good people to remember.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,jacqueline
Date: 25 Oct 15 - 08:51 PM

Perry Lee - I keep up with the thread. I posted here right after Monte passed. Thank you for sharing your story-- never say "it isn't much of a story" -- stories matter -- memories matter-thank you for sharing.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,tobaccocard
Date: 11 Feb 16 - 04:12 PM

It is a long time since this thread was started but I have just discovered it.

Monte was a good friend of mine in Stuyvesant High School in New York City. Stuyvesant was north of Greenwich Village and a small group of us were members of the Folk Song Club, and spent many hours in the Village. Listening, drinking coffee and playing in the basket clubs.

Monte was a bitter picker than most of us, and although we were surprised when he dropped out of school to go on tour with Ian and Sylvia, we were extremely proud of his success, which seemed to end when Ian's legal problems began.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,tobaccocard
Date: 24 Feb 16 - 11:33 AM

I was thinking back about Monte after I found this thread. I remembered the day he had mastered picking Railroad Bill and proceeded to teach us how it was done.

I have a strong memory of him picking Sporting Life Blues. I don't think I had heard it before.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Richard Pertz
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 11:28 AM

I met Monte in 1961 in New York, and am posting to this thread to let you (and, mostly, his family) know that you can catch a glimpse of Monte in a short film on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEvKe2WLumI) of a protest at Washington Square Park in New York in April of 1961. Monte can be seen playing his Noah Wolfe guitar at 2:35 (he's on the far left of the shot). I'm carrying a sign "Commissioner Morris, of Thee We Sing" at 2:55.
I haven't checked out the rest of the film, but wanted to let those of you who knew Monte to know it's there.
Monte was then, and in the years I knew him (early '60's) a compulsive musician, and apparently stayed that way over the years.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Jacqueline
Date: 20 Jan 18 - 04:29 PM

Thank you , Richard, thank you so very much for the footage link.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: The Sandman
Date: 20 Jan 18 - 05:43 PM

thanks that is an interesting clip

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,J.L. Gevirtz
Date: 23 Jan 18 - 04:18 PM

I am very late in this, but I felt that I should acknowledge that I new Monte back in 1959 when he used to come by Noa Wulfe's shop where I was working. He had one of the original Noa guitars that was held together with orange crate. He was just learning the Cuckoo, a modal Appalachian tune. I was glad when he developed into the musician he became. Very sad to learn of his passing.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Lexi Cruz (montes granddaughter)
Date: 25 Apr 19 - 11:25 PM

Thank you everyone whose shared these stories on here. It’s amazing reading all about my grandfather through those who knew him. It’s been 12 years today and i just found this thread. Thank you so much to everyone. If anyone has any other stories they would like to share you can email me at [e-mail]. My mom and I would love to hear anything out there. The more great memories we hear from others the more it just keeps his spirit alive of the amazing talented man he was. With much love, Lexi.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Sarah Caumont-Gibson
Date: 26 Sep 19 - 09:10 PM

I am Monte's step-grandaughter and can testify to his wonderfulness. He knew everything about Chinese culture and the mafia and was just a sweet sweet person.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,Paulie G.
Date: 21 Feb 20 - 12:42 PM

I don’t know why I picked today to google Monte since I haven’t spoke with him in years and now I know why. I first met Monte as a young teenager at a TMA 514 meeting and at that time, I thought he was the most radical person I had ever seen. Little did I know thru the years when we spoke that his views would later make more sense than anyone I had met. Monte was a libertarian....for less govt, and more personal freedom. Monte truely was a kind soul who thought light years ahead of me. RIP Monte and keep strumming that guitar. You were one of a kind.

Subject: RE: Obit: The passing of Monte Dunn - April 25, 2007
From: GUEST,13579jim
Date: 08 Apr 24 - 05:42 PM

I saw Monte play with Ian and Sylvia at the Town Hall in NYC. He backs them up on their fourth album, Early Morning Rain. I can listen to his guitar parts all night and all day. Every day. Which I have.

Is that his best work? On the second and third Ian and Sylvia records it's Monte and John Herald. Those are extraordinary as well.