Albert Ammons

Albert Ammons ( born September 23, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois, † December 2, 1949 ) was an American pianist who was mainly known for his boogie-woogie interpretations and compositions.

Life and work

Ammon, the son of a pianist couple who already learned with ten years of piano. His interest in blues was awakened by shots of Hersal Thomas and Jimmy Yancey. Originally taxi driver, Ammons founded by first musical experiences in 1929 François Moseley, in the early 1930s in Chicago clubs. In 1934 he had his own band, the Rhythm Kings, which he presented in 1936 first recordings for the Decca label, at which the trumpeter Guy Kelly and bassist Israel Crosby participated. Their cover version of Swanee River Boogie sold over one million copies. Recordings were made for Decca with the singer Sam Theard as Oscar's Chicago Swingers.

Despite this success, he left Chicago and moved to New York. In 1938, he joined together with the pianist Meade Lux Lewis (with whom he was a close friend since his taxi driver time ) and Pete Johnson at New York's Carnegie Hall with John Hammond's famous Spirituals to Swing concert at. He had regular appearances at New York's Cafe Society. Ammons was involved in the former Boogie -woogie fever, which made ​​the three ( Ammons, Johnson, Lewis) to the most famous pianists of her time.

In the 1940s, he lived for a time in New York, where he performed, among others, Benny Goodman and Harry James, 1949 Ammons took on with the band of Lionel Hampton and played at the inauguration of President Harry S. Truman. With Israel Crosby yet emerged last recordings for Mercury Records.

Together with Meade "Lux " Lewis deserves the merit of being the first musician in 1939 resulting records of the young jazz label Blue Note Records. Many boogie pianist designate him as their greatest influence (eg, Dave Alexander, Dr. John, Hadda Brooks, Johnnie Johnson, Ray Bryant, Erroll Garner, Frank Muschalle, Katie Webster, Axel Zwingenberger ). The German Boogie pianist Jörg Hegemann published in 2007, on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Ammons Album A Tribute To Albert Ammons.

Albert Ammons is the father of tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons and grandfather of the singer Lila Ammons.

Disco Graphical Notes

  • Albert Ammons 1936-1939 ( Classics )
  • Boogie Woogie Man ( Topaz ) with Harry James, Frankie Newton, Hot Lips Page, JC Higginbotham, Vic Dickenson, Sid Catlett

Collections

  • The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis ( Mosaic - 1983) - solo piano

Swell

  • Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley: Rough Guide to Jazz. 2nd expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart, inter alia, 2004, ISBN 978-3-476-01892-2
  • Richard Cook, Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6.
  • Christopher I. Page: Boogie Woogie Stomp - Albert Ammons & His Music. Northeast Ohio Jazz Society, Cleveland Oh. 1997, ISBN 978-1-885066-32-9.
  • Robert Santelli: The Big Book Of Blues. A Biographical Encyclopedia. Pavilion, London 1993, ISBN 0-14-015939-8, pp. 10 f
  • Boogie -woogie pianist
  • Jazz Pianist
  • American musician
  • Born 1907
  • Died in 1949
  • Man
Decca Records John Hammond (producer) Café Society Dave Alexander (blues musician) Johnnie Johnson (musician) J. C. Higginbotham Mosaic (disambiguation) Richard Cook (journalist) Brian Morton (Scottish writer) Integrated Authority File
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