He joined his brothers in California to perform as the Montgomery Brothers for the Monterey Jazz Festival. The Mastersounds had broken up, and Buddy and Monk had signed with Fantasy and recorded (with Wes) "The Montgomery Brothers", followed by "Groove Yard". Montgomery recorded another album as a leader, "So Much Guitar", then while visiting his brothers had a chance to perform with the John Coltrane band in San Francisco. In 1961, work was getting harder to find. A tour in Canada led to the album "The Montgomery Brothers in Canada", then the band broke up. Montgomery returned to Indianapolis to work in his trio with Rhyne. Keepnews sent him back to California to record a live album with Johnny Griffin, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. Their performance became the album "Full House". This was followed by "Fusion!", his first album with a string section.