Customer Reviews

Boss Tenor

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Late night, low light. Sip your drink, sink in your chair. Alone. Befriended. You can't beat this record. You simply can't. Each and every song is a stern rebuke to the Kenny Gs of the world. Flows and flows and sooths. A great companion to this is 'Jug'.

After a two year "forced layoff" (the usual culprit for Gene: drugs), this marked his return album (6/16/60), which would be the first in a long string of albums (22) over the next two years. And it's a terrific one. The great Tommy Flanagan is aboard on piano ("The first time I ever played with him," Flanagan recalled), and the rhythm section is solid (Doug Watkins-b; Art Taylor-d; Ray Barretto-conga).

Tempos vary, as does the material. HITTIN THE JUG is a slow blues with good down-home Ammons. BLUE AMMONS is another blues, this time medium tempo. CONFIRMATION, the bop standard, is taken up and features some very relaxed Ammons. MY ROMANCE is taken a tad too slow and could use the double-time chorus, which is missing here, that Gene often employed when doing very slow ballads like this. Flanagan is excellent - I wish there was more of him solo-wise. This is a good return date for Ammons. Definitely worth checking out.

Gene Ammons' tone never sounded so velvety. His trademark tone-shadings are highly in evidence on this outing. As other reviewers have noted, this album is perfect for late-night listening sessions, with its dark hues and moody song selection. A special note: if you can get the XRCD version it has especially good sound quality and the instruments are particularly 3-dimensional. A classic straight-ahead jazz album!

Gene Ammons comes from a great family. His father Albert is one of my favorite boogie woogie pianists.
What makes Ammons such an attractive musician is his smooth but strong sound, and his light and flexible phrasing, displaying great control over all facets of his tenor.
To me, Ammons is one of the greatest ballad players in jazz. This should be obvious to anyone who had a chance to listen to the Gentle Jug cd's. The performance of My Romance on this cd does more than validate Ammons' ballad reputation.
There are two original blues by Ammons, on slow and one medium type, that show he is also a great blues man.
The supporting cast is as good as it gets for this kind of music - Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on Bass, Art Taylor on drums and Ray Barreto on Congas.
But overall, it is Ammons' sound and phrasing that makes me want to listen to him again and again. This mellow tenor sound that comes from the heart of this Boss Tenor.

This is a superb CD by Gene Ammons containing mainly blues and ballads played in a soulful manner with a huge tone on the tenor. Included are classic versions of the standards "My Romance" and Canadian Sunset". This is definitely a treasure in my expanding jazz collection.