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Gene Ammons
Ammons began to gain recognition when he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax band in 1943, at the age of 18. He became a member of the Billy Eckstine and Woody Herman bands in 1944 and 1949 respectively, and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt. His later career was interrupted by two prison sentences for narcotics possession, the first from 1958 to 1960, the second from 1962 to 1969.
Ammons and Von Freeman were the founders of the Chicago School of tenor saxophone. His style of playing showed influences from Lester Young as well as Ben Webster. These artists had helped develop the sound of the tenor saxophone to higher levels of expressiveness. Ammons, together with Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt, helped integrated their developments with the emerging "vernacular" of the bebop movement, and the chromaticism and rhythmic variety of Charlie Parker is evident in his playing.
While adept at the technical aspects of bebop, in particular its love of harmonic substitions, Ammons more than Young, Webster or Parker, stayed in touch with the commercial blues and R&B of his day. The "soul Jazz" movement of the mid-1950s, often using the combination of tenor saxophone and Hammond B3 electric organ, counts him as a founder. Often using a thinner, drier tone than Stitt or Gordon, Ammons could at will exploit a vast range of textures on the instrument, vocalizing it in ways that look forward to later artists like Stanley Turrentine, Houston Person, and remarkably Archie Shepp. Ammons showed little interest however in the modal jazz of John Coltrane, Joe Henderson or Wayne Shorter that was emerging at the same time.
Some fine ballad performances in his oeuvre are testament to an exceptional sense of intonation and melodic symmetry, powerful lyrical expressiveness, and mastery both of the blues and the bebop vernacular which can now be described as, in its own way, "classical."
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Listener Favorites & DrJ’s Birthday Blowout
by Marc Cohn
It's time for our recurring '5' (as in Show 365) party, listener favorites from Shows 351-360. And a bonus--DrJazz's birthday blowout (we don't usually do this, but this one is a nice round number....'40.' Well, 70 is the new 40?), in which he indulges with some of the tracks that keep his motor running when he's on the road. Enjoy the show. We did... Playlist Jane Ira Bloom “Big Bill" from Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson (Outline) 00:00 ...
Continue ReadingGene Ammons: Boss Tenor
by Matthew Aquiline
Tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons' tone can be best described using the qualities of an ideally brewed cup of joe: rounded, bold, smooth, and exhilarating after first taste. Widely regarded as an original founder of the “Chicago school of tenor sax," Ammons' nonchalant, yet indelible sound--echoing the soft, breathy tone of Lester Young--drove him to a great deal of fame within the post- World War II jazz crowds of the '50s. Ammons, famously nicknamed “Jug," had an inherent ability ...
Continue ReadingGene Ammons: Fine and Mellow
by Derek Taylor
Gene “Jug” Ammons was a sucker for finely wrought pop songs. He was also unapologetic slave to melody, putting his sturdy saxophone into the service of countless hummable themes. But his improvisations were never slavish and even with material of papish pedigree he always seemed to find something worthwhile to say.
Perfect case in point is this new Prestige two-fer, which combines material from a pair of early '70s platters, Got My Own and Big Bad Jug. ...
Continue ReadingGene Ammons & James Moody: The Chicago Concert
by Derek Taylor
Gene Ammons took the stage countless times during a career that spanned well over three decades. On a significant number of those dates, Jug found himself in the company of other horns, but sparks were often most plentiful when his foil in the frontline was a single tenor saxophone. Sonny Stitt abetted as his most common accomplice in this capacity and the pair solidified a place as one of the preeminent tandems in jazz. But Jug also found the opportunity ...
Continue ReadingGene Ammons: Angel Eyes
by Robert Gilbert
Gene Ammons’ Angel Eyes leaves a nagging feeling that it was thrown together and dumped onto the marketplace with little or no thought. After all, when Angel Eyes was released in 1965, Ammons was in the middle of serving a long jail term for narcotics possession. These tunes are culled from two separate sessions, done in 1960 and 1962 respectively, featuring vastly different groups. So, not only does the album feature an outdated snapshot of Ammons’ work as a jazz ...
Continue ReadingGene Ammons & Sonny Stitt: Left Bank Encores
by David A. Orthmann
The antithesis of studio-bred perfection, Left Bank Encores is another interesting artifact of Ammons and Stitt’s long-term partnership. The presence of a large, vocal crowd at the Famous Ballroom doesn’t spur the expected tenor battle; rather, something looser and less dramatic occurs.
During a brisk rendition of “Just In Time,” the set’s opener, Ammons states the melody then delivers a solo full of short, abrupt phrases with a burly, elephantine tone. The rhythm section, comprised of pianist Cedar Walton, bassist ...
Continue ReadingGene Ammons: A Stranger In Town
by C. Andrew Hovan
More so than other independent jazz labels such as Blue Note and Riverside, the powers to be at Prestige seemed to take great liberties in producing albums that would often contain cuts from multiple sessions, a discographical nightmare at its most basic. But even more troubling, this often made for a lack of coherence that could be disconcerting at times. What then made all of this worse was that the practice was often used with some of the label’s most ...
Continue ReadingBackgrounder: Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor, 1960
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
During the second half of the 1950s, tenor saxophonist recorded mostly jam session albums for Prestige. In June 1960, the label's founder and producer, Bob Weinstock, figured out that Ammons could also record with just a rhythm section behind him. The result was one of Ammons's finest albums—Boss Tenor. The LP featured Gene Ammons (ts), Tommy Flanagan (p), Doug Watkins (b), Art Taylor (d) and Ray Barretto (congas). Canadian Sunset would become a jukebox jazz hit. Hittin' the Jug and ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Gene Ammons
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Gene Ammons' birthday today!
Eugene “Jug" Ammons was a jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. Ammons began to gain recognition when he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax band in 1943, at the age of 18. He became a member of the Billy Eckstine and Woody Herman bands in 1944 and 1949 respectively, and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt. His later career was interrupted ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Gene Ammons
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Gene Ammons' birthday today!
Eugene “Jug" Ammons was a jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. Ammons began to gain recognition when he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax band in 1943, at the age of 18. He became a member of the Billy Eckstine and Woody Herman bands in 1944 and 1949 respectively, and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt. His later career was interrupted ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Gene Ammons
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Gene Ammons' birthday today!
Eugene “Jug" Ammons was a jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. Ammons began to gain recognition when he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax band in 1943, at the age of 18. He became a member of the Billy Eckstine and Woody Herman bands in 1944 and 1949 respectively, and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt. His later career was interrupted ...
read more
Gene Ammons' Ballads (1950-'53)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Jazz has a long history of tenor saxophone pairings. The list includes Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin, and Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray. Such duos initially began as improvisational battles, which were popular in clubs and then on recordings. My favorite tenor duelists were Gene “Jug" Ammons and Sonny Stitt. Both started out recording in Billy Eckstine's orchestra in 1945 and reunited in smaller groups each of them led in 1950 when they recorded ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Gene Ammons
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Gene Ammons' birthday today!
Eugene “Jug" Ammons was a jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. Ammons began to gain recognition when he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax band in 1943, at the age of 18. He became a member of the Billy Eckstine and Woody Herman bands in 1944 and 1949 respectively, and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt. His later career was interrupted ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Gene Ammons
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Gene Ammons' birthday today!
Eugene “Jug" Ammons was a jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. Ammons began to gain recognition when he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax band in 1943, at the age of 18. He became a member of the Billy Eckstine and Woody Herman bands in 1944 and 1949 respectively, and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt... Read more.
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Gene Ammons
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Gene Ammons' birthday today!
Eugene “Jug" Ammons was a jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. Ammons began to gain recognition when he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax band in 1943, at the age of 18. He became a member of the Billy Eckstine and Woody Herman bands in 1944 and 1949 respectively, and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt... Read more.
Place our Musician ...
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Gene Ammons: Brother Jug!
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The jazz-rock fusion movement of the late 1960s and '70s elevated electronic instruments, particularly the guitar and keyboards. But while the rock guitar, Fender Rhodes electric piano and synthesizers were front and center in many fusion bands, the saxophone experienced a rebirth in the parallel soul-jazz movement. Sidelined as a solo rock instrument since the rise of the electric guitar in the mid-'50s, the saxophone was once again featured prominently raised its visibility by covering hit songs of soul vocalists. ...
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Gene Ammons: Blue Groove
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Between 1961 and '62, tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons was struggling with a menacing heroin habit. His sizable number of recording sessions during these years was partly due to his need for cash. Ammons's first arrest, conviction and prison term lasted from 1958 to 1960. The second bust came in late 1962. According to Bob Porter, writing in Soul Jazz: Jazz in the Black Community 1945-1975, “The arrest warrant charge was possession with intent to sell. The case against Ammons was ...
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Gene Ammons
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
Born: April 14, 1925
Died: August 6, 1974
