Jazz / Soul, Bop, Soul-Jazz, Post-Bop, Hard Bop
Recorded between June 1961 and April 1962
Gene Ammons - Sax (Tenor)
Jack McDuff Organ, Keyboards
Sonny Stitt - Sax (Tenor), Sax (Baritone)
Billy Gene English - Drums
Bob Ashton - Sax (Baritone)
Charlie Persip Drums
Clark Terry - Trumpet
David Himmelstein Liner Notes
Eddie Diehl - Guitar
Esmond Edwards Supervisor, Photography
Etta Jones - Vocals
George Barrow - Sax (Tenor)
George Duvivier Bass
Harold Vick Saxophone, Sax (Tenor)
Hobart Dotson Trumpet
Jamie Putnam Art Direction, Cover Design
Joe Dukes Drums
Kirk Felton Digital Remastering, Remastering
Lee Tanner Photography
Nat Hentoff Liner Notes
Oliver Nelson Arranger, Orchestra, Sax (Alto)
Patti Bown - Piano
Phil Carroll Art Direction
Ray Barretto - Conga
Red Holloway - Sax (Tenor)
Richard Wyands - Piano
Rudy Van Gelder Engineer
Walter Perkins Drums
Wendell Marshall - Bass
This single CD reissues all of the music from two LPs titled Soul Summit and Soul Summit, Vol. 2. The latter session is one of the lesser known of the many collaborations of tenors Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, who are joined by organist Jack McDuff and drummer Charlie Persip. Their six performances are primarily riff tunes with "When You Wish upon a Star" taken at a medium pace and "Out in the Cold Again" the lone ballad. The second half of this CD features Ammons on two songs ("Love I've Found You" and a swinging "Too Marvelous for Words") with a big band arranged by Oliver Nelson, jamming "Ballad for Baby" with a quintet, sitting out of "Scram" (which stars McDuff and the tenor of Harold Vick) and backing singer Etta Jones on three numbers, of which, "Cool, Cool Daddy" is the most memorable. Overall, this is an interesting and consistently swinging set that adds to the large quantity of recordings that the great Ammons did during the early '60s. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Gene Ammons
Active Decades: '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s
Born: Apr 14, 1925 in Chicago, IL
Died: Aug 06, 1974 in Chicago, IL
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Bop, Soul-Jazz, Hard Bop
Gene Ammons, who had a huge and immediately recognizable tone on tenor, was a very flexible player who could play bebop with the best (always battling his friend Sonny Stitt to a tie) yet was an influence on the R&B world. Some of his ballad renditions became hits and, despite two unfortunate interruptions in his career, Ammons remained a popular attraction for 25 years.
Son of the great boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons (who was nicknamed "Jug") left Chicago at age 18 to work with King Kolax's band. He originally came to fame as a key soloist with Billy Eckstine's orchestra during 1944-1947, trading off with Dexter Gordon on the famous Eckstine record Blowing the Blues Away. Other than a notable stint with Woody Herman's Third Herd in 1949 and an attempt at co-leading a two tenor group in the early '50s with Sonny Stitt, Ammons worked as a single throughout his career, recording frequently (most notably for Prestige) in settings ranging from quartets and organ combos to all-star jam sessions. Drug problems kept him in prison during much of 1958-1960 and, due to a particularly stiff sentence, 1962-1969. When Ammons returned to the scene in 1969, he opened up his style a bit, including some of the emotional cries of the avant-garde while utilizing funky rhythm sections, but he was still able to battle Sonny Stitt on his own terms. Ironically the last song that he ever recorded (just a short time before he was diagnosed with terminal cancer) was "Goodbye."
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
