Customer Reviews

Boss Tenors

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Take "kind of Blue". Take "Blue Trane". Take the best thing Mingus ever did. Take the most soulful & bluesest Howard Land lick ever laid down . . . combine it with the raw intuition of people like Cannonball and Bill Evans, blend it with, say, Oscar Peterson's super-duper-swing . . . and you have that wonderful kernal that gets people -- all people: jazz fans or not -- tapping their toes and moving their heads. This CD embodies that essence; it simply flows. It should be one of the popular classics, but Gene Ammons -- as great as he was -- didn't have that Miles mystique (or business sense). Like the above reviewer said: these guys are playing catch, i.e., their communication is unbelievable.

Early in 1950, Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt co-led a two tenor septet together and frequently interlocked horns during live jazz settings. It is befitting that the two tenors came together in Chicago then for this August 1961 date to play, this time in a quintet formation. The rhythm section here is a solid one, featuring John Houston on piano, Buster Williams on bass and George Brown on drums.

"There Is No Greater Love" is an up-tempo ballad featuring some magnificent interactions between Ammons and Simmons in 8 bar increments. "The One Before This" is a romping melody with Sonny and Gene blowing out choruses in turn. Originally produced by Creed Taylor for Verve, this album was digitally remastered by Tom Ruff at PolyGram Studios. The sound quality and caliber of musicianship are excellent on this release, so I recommend this one without hesitation to the jazz collector in you.

Personnel:

Gene Ammons (tenor sax)
Sonny Stitt (tenor and alto sax)
John Houston (piano)
Buster Williams (bass)
George Brown (drums)

If you wanted to catch Jug and Sonny in Chicago circa 1961, you took your chances (esp. if you were a white boy) and headed to McKie's Show Lounge at 63rd and Cottage Grove. No risk was too great to deny the ultimate reward--the experience of being seated literally inches from the Selmer Mark 6's of the South Side's two great tenor troubadors, miraculously squeezed together on a postage-stamp bandstand along with a drummer and Hammond B-3 player just across the bar (patrons would reach across and shake the hand of a triumphant soloist, or pass along a drink to the usually obliging Sonny).

As good as this album is, it comes up just a trifle short because of the use of an acoustic piano, at the time an artifact of the recording studio (though Sonny would gravitate more and more toward piano players as the sixties closed out). For the "ultimate trip" the album you want is the one with Jug and Sonny plus Donald Patterson on organ, especially the side that includes tunes like "Bye Bye Blackbird," "Why Was I Born," "Long Ago and Far Away," and "Walkin'". At one time, that side was included with this one as part of a two-fer album called "Prime Cuts." It might take some trouble to find, but it's well worth the hunt.

A bit short at 37 minutes compared to many CD compilations which add bonus tracks, still the quality of the music here is hard to match anywhere. This is uniformly lively, and "Autumn Leaves" is hardly recognizable when compared to jazz treatments which take it slower. I still like their mellower collaboration, "We'll be Together Again" even better, but not by much. While Sonny Stitt has had a longer career than Gene Ammons, I think the tracks laid down by the two together are likely to be superior to anything either did alone. Good jazz, good driving music, keeps you awake, makes you smile...what else do you need?

Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt first recorded together back in 1950; their dueling tenor sounds opened lots of eyes and the Boss Tenors seemed totally suited to each other's extroverted style of playing jazz. In the early 1960s they made a few albums together, and this is one of them. It's not surprising they'd kick things off with BLUES UP AND DOWN, which dates back to their first recording session together - a stomping up-tempo a-a-a blues that pits each man's prowess off the other's. They begin to trade choruses right from the get-go, and the 8-minute performance is one of their best. But what's kind of interesting about this album is that Sonny and Gene don't actually do battle with each other track after track; there's a lot of lyricism and shared moments here. Sonny is at his pacifist best on the catchy tune THE ONE BEFORE THIS where his playing is smooth and creamy. The blues COUNTER CLOCKWISE, which goes into double-time in the middle of each man's solo, again features the two in a complimentary fashion rather than pugilistically. The playing is very relaxed after the opening romper, especially on AUTUMN LEAVES and THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE. Gene and Sonny would cut another album together for Verve the following year (1962), which is also good, but this CD is exceptionally good. It's one of their best together.

The quintessential Gene Ammons, blowin' Sonny away with his huge, fat, warm reedy sound, soulful phrasing and simple melodic ideas. Autumn Leaves is a great cut and probably my favorite recording of this tune, and i have heard many. Blues Up and Down is hip.
Buster WIlliams is a young man here and sounds like a different player than he is nowadays. I prefer this older sound.
If you like the key of Bb you will dig this record. every tune is in it.
Jug can say more with one note than most cats say with 10 choruses. Young players should dig more of him. Sonny Stitt is cool here. Enough said
peace

This is a great recording to say the least, but i have to say, stitt has played better. his work with bud powell and sonny rollins, i thought was better than this. that said, it is a classic. ammons is in top form, check him out on counter clockwise and blues up and down. there is a great sense of atmosphere, like you're really there, with stitt hooting ammons along in his solos. The rhythm section is more than solid, and it should sit right up there inthe best of your collection.

What can I say? Stitt and Ammons together? It doesn't get any better. I can listen to this album over and over and hear something new each time.
What artists!

For Samuel Chell-
The album you like is called "All Star Sessions With Sonny Stitt". I have a review (four stars) on Amazon, if you are interested. All Star Sessions I've now heard this album, and it's outstanding. Not as wild as most bebop, but a very energetic session, and a good listen. Might be a good choice for modern jazz neophites. Very short CD, however, with no bonus cuts. Fine sound quality.

Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons were two of the leading sax players of their time.

On August 26-27 1961 they were paired up by Verve Records for a recording session in Chicago that produced two excellent albums: We'll Be Together Again and Boss Tenors.

This is a superb collaboration. It's an album that will be appreciated by anyone with a interest in jazz.

An interesting recording feature was that Ammons and Stitt were recorded on separate channels, so Stitt's sax comes from one speaker of your stereo and Ammons' from the other.