This fourth installment in the Classics Gene Ammons chronology sews together everything recorded and released under his name for the Prestige, Decca, and United record labels between June 1951 and June 1953.
Instrumental highlights, in addition to Ammons' sensually charged tenor saxophone, include Sonny Stitt on supporting tenor (on tracks 13-16, Stitt plays baritone sax); trombonist J.J.
Johnson (tracks 13-16); and trumpeter supreme Johnny Coles, who was destined to make outstanding records with James Moody and Charles Mingus (tracks 17-24).
This particular slice of Gene Ammons' career is delightfully gutsy and easy to relate to.
The Prestige material is classic Jug; his brief involvement with Decca is a thrilling sideshow, and those sanguine, sultry, scruffy sides for Chicago's tiny United record label are precious artifacts of inestimable worth.
Note that the rocking "Jim Dawgs" is an entirely different entity from a similarly titled bop exercise recorded by Ike Quebec for Savoy Records in August of 1945.
During his heyday, Gene Ammons represented the perfect blend of swing, bop, and R&B.
This wonderful compilation presents a healthy stripe of vivid material from his label-hopping period during the years immediately preceding the Eisenhower era.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I'll Walk AloneSammy Cahn, Jule Styne | Gene Ammons | Play | 02:48 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 2 | Old FolksDedette Lee Hill, Willard Robison | Gene Ammons | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 15 MB |
| 3 | Beezy | Gene Ammons | Play | 02:44 | 6 MB | 14 MB |
| 4 | Somewhere Along the WayKurt Adams, Sammy Gallop | Gene Ammons | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 13 MB |
| 5 | Just Chips | Gene Ammons | Play | 03:03 | 7 MB | 14 MB |
| 6 | Street of Dreams | Gene Ammons | Play | 02:57 | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| 7 | The Beat (Good Time Blues) | Gene Ammons | Play | 02:55 | 6 MB | 13 MB |
| 8 | Travelin' Light | Gene Ammons | Play | 02:56 | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| 9 | Red Top | Gene Ammons | Play | 03:07 | 7 MB | 14 MB |
| 10 | Fuzzy | Gene Ammons | Play | 03:08 | 7 MB | 15 MB |
| 11 | Stairway to the StarsMatty Malneck, Mitchell Parish, Frank Signorelli | Gene Ammons | Play | 02:48 | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| 12 | Jim Dawgs | Gene Ammons | Play | 03:01 | 6 MB | 14 MB |
| 35 mins | 82 MB | |||||
| 35 mins | 168 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kurt Adams | Composer |
| 2 | Gene Ammons | Primary Artist, Sax (Tenor) |
| 3 | Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson | Piano |
| 4 | George Brown | Drums |
| 5 | Sammy Cahn | Composer |
| 6 | Johnny Coles | Trumpet |
| 7 | Eli Dabney | Sax (Tenor), Trombone |
| 8 | McKinley Easton | Sax (Baritone) |
| 9 | Sammy Gallop | Composer |
| 10 | Dedette Lee Hill | Composer |
| 11 | John Houston | Piano |
| 12 | J. Alan Johnson | Trombone |
| 13 | Matty Malneck | Composer |
| 14 | Bill Massey | Trumpet |
| 15 | Earl May | Bass |
| 16 | Mitchell Parish | Composer |
| 17 | Maceo Pinkard | Composer |
| 18 | Lew Pollack | Composer |
| 19 | Erno Rapee | Composer |
| 20 | Willard Robison | Composer |
| 21 | Anatol Schenker | Liner Notes |
| 22 | Ernie Shepard | Bass |
| 23 | Frank Signorelli | Composer |
| 24 | Teddy Stewart | Drums |
| 25 | Sonny Stitt | Sax (Baritone), Sax (Tenor) |
| 26 | Jule Styne | Composer |
| 27 | Doris Tauber | Composer |
| 28 | William Tracey | Composer |
| 29 | Traditional | Composer |
| 30 | Rudy Williams | Sax (Baritone) |
| 31 | Bob & Pauline Wilson | Drums |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |