Albert Ammons
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| Albert Ammons | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | September 23, 1907 |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Died | December 2, 1949 (aged 42) |
| Genre(s) | Jazz, Blues, Boogie-woogie |
| Years active | 1920s — 1949 |
| Label(s) | Vocalion, Blue Note, Demark, Mercury |
| Associated acts | Pianist |
Albert Ammons (September 23, 1907 — December 2, 1949[1]) was an American pianist. Ammons was the king of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style that swept the United States from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.
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[edit] Life and career
Born Albert C. Ammons in Chicago, Illinois, his parents were pianists, and he had learned to play by the age of ten. He also played percussion in the drum and bugle corps as a teenager, and was soon performing with bands on the Chicago club scene.
After World War I, he became interested in the blues, and learned by listening to Chicago pianists Hersal Thomas and the brothers Jimmy Yancey and Alonzo Yancey.[2] In the early to mid 1920s, Ammons worked as a cab driver for the Silver Taxicab Company and continued to reside in Chicago. In 1924 he met a fellow taxi driver who also played piano, Meade Lux Lewis. Soon the two players began working as a team, performing at club parties. Ammons started his own band at the Club De Lisa in 1934, and remained at the club for the next two years. During that time he played with a five piece unit that included Guy Kelly, Dalbert Bright, Jimmy Hoskins, and Israel Crosby. Ammons also recorded as Albert Ammons's Rhythm Kings for Decca Records in 1936.
The Rhythm Kings' version of "Swanee River Boogie" would sell a million copies. Despite this success, he moved from Chicago to New York, where he teamed up with another pianist, Pete Johnson. The two performed regularly at the Café Society, and were occasionally joined by Meade Lux Lewis, and performed with other noted jazz artists such as Benny Goodman and Harry James.
In 1938, Ammons appeared at Carnegie Hall with Johnson and Lewis, an event that helped launch the boogie-woogie craze. Record producer Alfred Lion attended John H. Hammond's From Spirituals to Swing concert of December 23, 1938, which had introduced Ammons and Lewis. Two weeks later, he started the Blue Note Records by recording nine Ammons solos ("The Blues", "Boogie Woogie Stomp"), eight by Lewis, and a pair of duets, a one-day session in a rented [[recording studio|studio.[3] Recorded as a sideman with Sippie Wallace in the 1940s, Ammons even cut a session with his son, the tenor saxophonist, Gene Ammons.
Ammons played himself in the movie, Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944), with Lena Horne, and Pete Johnson.[4] Although the boogie-woogie fad began to die down in 1945, following World War II, Ammons had no difficulty securing work. He continued to tour as a solo artist during this time, and between 1946 and 1949 recorded for Mercury Records, his last sides, with bassist Israel Crosby.
Ammons's last triumph came when he played at President Harry S. Truman's inauguration in 1949,[5] the same year as his own death.
Ammons died in February 1949 in Chicago.[1] He was interred at the Lincoln Cemetery, at Kedzie Avenue in Blue Island, Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois.
[edit] Legacy
Ammons has had wide influence on countless pianists such as Dave Alexander, Dr. John, Hadda Brooks, Johnnie Johnson, Ray Bryant, Erroll Garner, Frank Muschalle, Katie Webster, Axel Zwingenberger, and the German pianist Joerg Hegemann, who honoured Ammons on the occasion of his 100th birthday in 2007 with his album A Tribute To Albert Ammons.
[edit] Album discography
| Year of release | Album title | Record label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | King of Boogie Woogie (1939-1949) | Blues Classics | |
| 1951 | Boogie Woogie Classics | Blue Note Records | |
| 1992 | The First Day | Blue Note | |
| 2004 | The Boogie Woogie Trio, Vols. 1-2 | Storyville |
[edit] See also
- List of blues musicians
- List of boogie woogie musicians
- List of Boogie-Woogie musicians
- List of jazz pianists
- List of Mercury Records artists
[edit] References
- ^ a b Dead Rock Stars website - accessed February 2008
- ^ Santelli, Robert. The Big Book of Blues, Penguin Books, page 13, (2001) - ISBN 0141001453
- ^ Vladimir, Bogdanov. All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues, By Bogdanov, Backbeat Books, page 14, (2003) - ISBN 0879307366
- ^ Imdb: Boogie-Woogie Dream" (1944)
- ^ Feather, Leonard G. Encyclopedia of Jazz, Horizon Press, page 101, (1960) - ISBN 081801203X
