Gene Ammons
Gene Ammons was a prominent American jazz saxophonist known for his influential contributions to the genre, particularly in the development of soul jazz. Born to boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene was immersed in music from an early age and developed his skills under the guidance of notable educators and musicians in Chicago. His career began in the 1940s, where he played tenor saxophone for rhythm-and-blues bands, most notably Billy Eckstine’s, which introduced him to bebop and competitive "tenor battles" alongside notable contemporaries like Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt.
After returning to Chicago, Ammons recorded for several small labels and gained recognition for his ballad performances, particularly with the hit "My Foolish Heart." He played with renowned orchestras, including Woody Herman's, and maintained a long partnership with Stitt. However, his career was marred by struggles with drug addiction, leading to periods of incarceration in the 1960s. Despite these challenges, Ammons continued to tour and record, leaving behind a significant legacy that blended elements of blues, swing, and bebop, which evolved into soul jazz. His unique style and collaborations have made him a key figure in the history of jazz, particularly as one of the original "Chicago Tenors."
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Gene Ammons
Jazz musician
- Born: April 14, 1925
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Died: August 6, 1974
- Place of death: Chicago, Illinois
Ammons was one of the first of the “Chicago Tenors”—saxophonists born and educated in Chicago who were influenced by the blues but reared in the bebop revolution of the mid-1940’s. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Ammons was widely noted for his ballad playing as well as his fierce, bop-tinged improvisations. Despite two extended incarcerations for drugs, he had a long and varied career as both soloist and sideman.
Early Life
Eugene Ammons began his musical career under the tutelage of his father, the renowned boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, with whom he made an early recording. Ammons studied under the noted music educator Captain Walter Dyett at DuSable High School in Chicago, where he received a thorough grounding in technique and theory. As a teenager, he had his first important professional engagement on tenor saxophone in the early 1940’s with the band of rhythm-and-blues trumpeter King Kolax. This exposure led Ammons to a two-year job with Billy Eckstine’s band, in which he was exposed to the new bebop style of bandmates including Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey. The most significant influence of that period was his section mate Dexter Gordon, with whom Ammons was featured nightly in “tenor battles”—gladiatorial contests that became a key element of Ammons’s music for the rest of his life.
Life’s Work
After his time with Eckstine, Ammons returned to Chicago, where he became a fixture on the club scene and began recording for a variety of small labels (Chess, Aristocrat, EmArcy, Mercury) under his own name. Initially, these recordings were firmly located in the bebop/rhythm-and-blues style. However, by the late 1940’s, he had become known as a ballad specialist, propelled by his 1950 Chess recording of “My Foolish Heart,” which became a modest hit. During this period, Ammons also played with Woody Herman and his orchestra (one of the first African Americans to be so featured). He left Herman in early 1950 to play briefly with Count Basie’s Octet.
After the short-lived Basie engagement, Ammons remained in New York and began a long association with Stitt. The saxophonists formed a seven-piece group that featured the two of them playing tenor battles (although typically one would play tenor and the other baritone sax in the ensembles) that lasted almost two years before Stitt left to work as a soloist. Ammons continued using this format through 1955, after which he also began to tour as a soloist.
Late in 1958, Ammons was arrested for narcotics possession and was incarcerated until the middle of 1960. Upon his release, he began playing and recording again, frequently in a jam-session format with Stitt. At the end of 1962, he was sent back to prison for drug possession, and he remained there until mid-1969. Until his death from cancer in 1974, Ammons continued to tour and record, most frequently with other tenor saxophone players (including Stitt, Gordon, James Moody, and Houston Person).
Ammons left a long and rich legacy of recordings documenting his stylistic evolution from a big band bebop artist to a more blues-based, soulful improviser. His most enduring recorded legacy is in his partnerships with other tenor saxophone players, most notably Stitt. These encounters range from the highly structured arrangements done by the Ammons/Stitt band of the early 1950’s to the free-flowing jam sessions of the early 1960’s and 1970’s. The Ammons/Stitt band represents an interesting and little-studied nexus of the late swing era, bebop, and rhythm and blues. While very organized (using arrangements by Jimmy Mundy, Gerald Valentine, and others), the group provided ample opportunity for the principals to improvise and do battle with each other.
While not considered a true big band musician, Ammons had a long tenure with the Billy Eckstine band, which was effectively a workshop for young African American musicians who were attracted to bebop. Ammons was clearly influenced by the cutting-edge style for which the band was renowned. His later experience in the Woody Herman band was notable not only for his being among the first African Americans to be a regular member of the group but also for the fact that Ammons single-handedly changed the sound of the group from the cool, “Four Brothers” style of its previous incarnation to a more gritty and fiery ensemble.
Although his drug problems severely limited his impact during the 1960’s, Ammons came to be seen as one of the inspirations for “soul jazz”—a melodic and bluesy style favoring emotion over intellectual content.
Significance
Ammons was one of the original stylists who came to be known as a “Chicago Tenor.” His synthesis of blues, swing, and bebop developed into soul jazz during the 1960’s and 1970’s—a counterpoint to the avant-garde developments of the same period. Despite being absent from the scene for nearly all of the 1960’s because of his problems with drugs, Ammons remained a potent force in jazz, largely through his extensive recording catalog with Prestige and other companies.
Bibliography
Feather, Leonard. “The Rebirth of Gene Ammons.” DownBeat 37, no. 12 (June 25, 1970). Interview with Ammons after his release from prison and subsequent career renewal. Includes much information on his drug arrests, work with the prison band, and his thoughts on the development of jazz while he was incarcerated.
Gourse, Leslie. Dizzy Gillespie and the Birth of Bebop. New York: Atheneum, 1994. Gourse’s book emphasizes Gillespie’s commitment to the creation of bebop and provides valuable musical context for Ammons’s work. Includes a bibliography and an index.
Horricks, Raymond. Dizzy Gillespie and the Be-Bop Revolution. New York: Hippocrene, 1984. Emphasizes Gillespie’s career and the relationships he formed with fellow musicians, including Ammons. Horricks’s book also contains a brief musical history of bebop and brief biographical sketches of several of Gillespie’s predecessors and contemporaries. Includes photographs, discographies, and a bibliography.