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Gene Ammons, Saxophonist born

Gene Ammons

Saxophonist Gene Ammons was born on this date in 1925.  He was a Black jazz musician.

Known by his nickname Jug, Ammons was the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. The younger Ammons worked with the big band of Billy Eckstine from 1944 through 1947. At that time, the band included most of the great boppers of the time (Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, and Art Blakey).

Ammons worked with Woody Herman in 1949, then moved on to a forceful two-tenor setting with Stitt and James Moody in the '50s and beyond. Ammons was incarcerated for drug offenses in the late '50s and again from the mid to late '60s.

The largest portion of his recordings was done for Prestige records, and those efforts with Stitt include "Soul Summit" (OJC) as the most memorable. He was a major influence, as were Johnny Griffin and Clifford Jordan.

The sound of his tenor saxophone always matched his hometown of Chicago, sprawling, working-class, and imbued with an uncomplicated and direct bluesiness. His stylistic approach appeared to be built on elements of Coleman Hawkins (filtered through Ben Webster) and Lester Young. Gene Ammons died of pneumonia

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