Albert Ammons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since September 2006.

Albert Ammons (September 23, 1907-December 2, 1949) was an American boogie-woogie pianist.

Ammons formed his own band in 1934, and in 1938 performed in the Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall, which among other achievements launched the boogie-woogie craze. He and two other performers at the concert, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson, became the leading boogie-woogie pianists of the day. The three worked together at Café Society and also toured and recorded as a trio.

His biggest hit was "Swanee River Boogie". Ammons played the melody of "Old Folks at Home" over a boogie woogie bass. The recording was used as a theme song by pioneer rhythm and blues disk jockey Gene Nobles on WLAC radion in the 1950s.

He worked steadily till his death in 1949; he played at Harry S. Truman's inauguration that year.

He was the father of tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons.

External links