The Magnificent Goldberg

Sorry, this is quite a long post. For about half a century, I’ve been saying, when asked and maybe on this board, that my all time favourite jazz musician was Grant Green. But for the past few years, Green’s work has become less and less important to me and Gene Ammons’ more and more, so I think I’ll change my plea and say it’s Jug now. As I’ve ripped my collection to hard drives, I’ve been thinking more about his music and the way he was thought about, particularly by the other people who paid - record company bosses and record producers. As far as audiences - bums on seats to use a technical term – were concerned, no tenor saxophonist was so well LOVED by the black community as Gene Ammons. No tenor saxophonist had a sound as beautiful as Jug’s. He could honk, but almost never did. He could whisper sweet nothings in your ear, more sweetly and tenderly even than Ben Webster, and frequently did. He could play Bebop but never sounded at home with it; as if the constraints of Bebop didn’t free him to be himself. Bebop, created in the atmosphere of after hours cutting contests, required you to show your chops. But for players like Ben Webster, Ike Quebec, Grant Green, Gene Ammons and numerous others, who relied on having an expressive and beautiful BIG sound, and liked and needed to play deliberately enough to get their messages through in that wonderful sound, it was a trap. Of course, if you were Charlie Parker, you didn’t mind that playing fast ruined the beautiful sound you got when you played ‘Bird of paradise’. And if you were Sonny Criss, well, fast or slow didn’t make any difference; you could sound fabulous all the time. But musicians like Criss are very rare, so Jug played Gene Ammons; at first when he could, then later, when the record company proprietors found that Gene Ammons playing Gene Ammons sold a shed load of records, more and more frequently. Beneath Jug‘s beautiful big sound, however, was great power; power he could have used to honk the dancehalls full of knocked out audiences. But he seldom wanted to do that. He used his power sparingly, to emphasise the rhythm, to make even slow songs swing, to make everything good for dancers listening as much with their bodies as their ears. And when your lady or gentleman is in your arms, you understand deeply where that timing is leading you. Jug had hits in the forties, fifties, sixties and seventies: ‘Red top’ in 1947; ‘My foolish heart’ in 1950; ‘Jug’ in 1951; ‘Bad bossa nova’ in 1962; ‘The boss is back’ in 1970; ‘Black cat’ in 1971; and ‘My way’ in 1972. Among the Soul Jazz fraternity, only Arthur Prysock managed something similar (though his hits in the forties were as lead singer with the Buddy Johnson band). And Prysock was a singer; that makes a hell of a difference to hit-worthiness. Gene was the son of the great boogie-woogie pianist, Albert Ammons and was born and grew up in Chicago. He got his early music training at DuSable High School, where he studied under Walter Dyett, whose pupils included many of the greatest Chicago musicians. His early experience was with the well thought of band of King Kolax, a trumpet player. In the notes to ‘My buddy’, Sonny Stitt says… “I first met Jug in a club in Detroit. Sawdust on the floor… He was with King Kolax but I was with a big league band, Tiny Bradshaw.” In 1942, Bradshaw’s band was quite a long way from the big league, and Kolax even farther down the pecking order. But that was where you started if you were promising. In 1944, he joined Billy Eckstine’s second new band, after Eckstine left Earl Hines. He ran his own small band, with Miles Davis and Sonny Stitt, for a while after Eckstine disbanded the orchestra and became a solo singer in 1947, then joined Woody Herman for a short period. In 1950, he started a two tenor duo with Sonny Stitt. So for six years, Jug was mostly associated with bands that played bebop. And this affected the way he was perceived by the record companies for which he recorded as a leader, to an extent that hindered what in hindsight we can say was the proper development of his career. And unnecessarily so. He pointed the way in his first session for Mercury, with a hit record of ‘Red top’ (#3 on the R&B charts in 1947). Other material recorded at that and subsequent Mercury dates was usually rather or significantly boppish. But ‘Red top’ was true Gene Ammons material, at THE perfect Jug tempo, lithe and loosely arranged (by George Stone), with no showboating chops on display. But Mercury didn’t give Jug a chance to show his ballad style, either, until his final session, in October 1949. Still, there are plenty of nice blues among his Mercury recordings, fortunately. However, Aristocrat recorded some lovely ballads by Gene, culminating in his whizzo recording with cavernous echo chamber of ‘My foolish heart’ in 1950. Mercury caught up when Gene recorded his last session for the label, and ‘Everything depends on you’ was recorded 4 October 1949, regrettably without the cavernous echo chamber of Universal Studios, deployed to great effect on ‘My foolish heart’. On medium up numbers, Gene was right at home and both Chess and Prestige recorded lots of them. There’s a definitive Jug pace – the tempo of ‘Red top’ – which he made his own. At Prestige, Ammons made quite a lot of recordings, as leader and sideman with Sonny Stitt. Most of them ended up on one of the four ten inch LPs of singles material that the label issued. It’s interesting to reassemble the three volumes of ‘Tenor sax favorites’. Each comes a little closer to a pure Jug album. Although all the material was issued as singles, volume three seems to have been intended as an album, as it was recorded at two closely spaced sessions, and concentrates on the kind of material Jug recorded in the early sixties. With only one chart hit at Prestige (‘Jug’ #10 R&B in 1951 - a bit of a honker), but a good deal of other material that might have been thought of as hit material, Jug left Prestige, to seek more profitable channels. He did a session for Decca, on 24 March 1952, which pretty well got lost. But it was a beautiful session. Jug sounded fabulous and ALL of it was pure Jug music. Gene was backed on that session by Bill Massey (tp), J J Johnson (tb), Sonny Stitt (bar), John Houston (p), Shep Shepard (b) and Bob Wilson (d). Well, nothing happened and Decca, a company that had more or less stopped trying to cater for the black audience by then, never asked him to come back next week, so Gene tried a new Chicago label, United, and did his first session for them on 18 November 1952. It’s wondered by some why Gene went to United, when Chess in Chicago were doing so well. United may have been a new label, owned by a new player, a tailor called Leonard Allen, but it was managed by Lew Simpkins, who’d done a similar job for Lee Egalnik’s labels, Miracle, then Premium. After Premium closed, Simpkins took a good proportion of the Miracle/Premium artists with him to United. So Lew was a man with a track record; he had seen twenty of his productions become R&B chart hits since September 1947; seven of them had occupied the #1 slot for twenty weeks in total. And three of his productions had even got onto the pop top thirty. So, whereas a hit with some other company might sell in the tens of thousands, a hit with Simpkins might sell in the hundreds of thousands. Perhaps even more important; four of those #1 hits had featured jazz musicians: Eddie Chamblee; Tab Smith and Jimmy Forrest. Chess had been successful, with 17 R&B hits since September 1948, but only 3 at #1, and only one other that made the top five. None had entered the pop chart. Chess’ great days as a money-making organisation were in the future. United’s were in the past, though no one knew it. But Simpkins died in 1953 and, though the firm made fine recordings later, it was all in the past. But the SOUND on Gene’s United discs was fantastic! United used the same studios as Chess and had that fabulous echo chamber (I can’t remember whether it was a toilet or a bathroom, the former, I think), but also a very high degree of hifi. Savoy acquired Gene’s United masters (as well as a load of material by The Caravans) and put them together to make a ten inch LP, ‘The golden tone of Gene Ammons’. He did two more sessions for United, the last one after Simpkins’ death, in June 1953, then reported back for duty at Prestige, and remained with Bob Weinstock until his death, though moonlighting to Chess pretty frequently. Weinstock had a new idea for him; to make albums with one long track per side, as Miles Davis had been doing so successfully; ‘Walkin’’ was the first great rent party album. Weinstock specifically wanted Jug to do jam sessions, which Miles hadn’t wanted to do. Gene went along with it – presumably Richard Carpenter – who managed both Miles and Jug – had told him how much he could make out of those kind of albums. The first was ‘Gene Ammons all stars’ PR211, one of the last ten inch LPs Prestige issued. Art and Addison Farmer, Lou Donaldson, Freddie Redd and Kenny Clarke were with him for this. The big number was ‘Woofin’ and tweetin’’ After the changeover to 12 inch LPs, Gene recorded several more jam session albums. The first of them was ‘The happy blues’, the title track was a number at Jug tempo and really suited Ammons. Though Jackie McLean and Art Farmer weren’t truly into this, as everyone else solos first, their playing doesn’t sound too bad. Gene followed it up with six more jam sessions for Prestige, before his first prison sentence began. The last, and best, was ‘Blue Gene’, again featuring a tune at Jug pace; ‘Blue greens and beans’, which became something of a jazz standard. All of the tunes were written by Mal Waldron, the pianist on the session. I think Mal was the pianist most in tune with and stimulating for Jug. None of those jam session albums were totally satisfactory Gene Ammons records. One of the things Gene seemed to like was being in charge. He always seemed at his best when he was firmly in control of proceedings. Well, after all, he was the Boss Tenor. You can hear all the GOOD jam session tracks (except ‘Woofin’ and tweetin’’) on ‘Gene Ammons greatest hits: the fifties’ OJCCD6013. The rest just show how badly mistaken about what Jug should have been doing Weinstock was. None of those albums sold poorly, so Weinstock’s accounts books showed he wasn’t all THAT wrong. When Jug got out of jail in 1960, he went back to Prestige. By that time, Esmond Edwards was the main producer. Edwards was a black guy and KNEW how the black audience felt about jug. Between June 1960 and September 1962, he produced fourteen Ammons albums. In the same period, Jug moonlighted, officially or unofficially, for Pacific Jazz, Argo, Verve and Winley, and made nine other albums. And there is not a dud among all twenty-three of them. I put a thread up about those albums a few years ago. Then he did time again, and was away for seven years. After his return, from November 1969 to March 1974, he made nineteen more albums, all but two for Prestige. Most of the Prestige studio material was produced by Bob Porter, another one who understood Jug very well. After Weinstock sold Prestige to Fantasy, Porter left or was fired and Jug’s studio albums were produced by Ozzie Cadena (very good), Ray Shanklin (a guy who did NOT get Jug), Duke Pearson (pretty good), and Orrin Keepnews (surprisingly magnificent). Seven of the albums from this period are live and are variable; the two done at the Left Bank in Baltimore are (along with ‘Groovin’ with Jug’ from 1961) the best. The two with Dexter Gordon are the worst. Although Jug LIKED bop – he’d grown up with it, after all - and generally played all kinds of material slightly too fast at live gigs, he was truly not fitted for bop. I LURVE Jug. MG

OK, here it is, folks. Thanks once again to Thom for expunging some tags I didn't know about. All is well now. You can find the download or the stream thing here: http://thomkeith.net/index.php?cID=136 All tracks are more or less inauthentic Enjoy! MG

I think I have very nearly everything Jug recorded as a leader now, except a live date issued on LP by a firm called Chazzer. And most of his sideman dates, too, except for the Woody Herman material I think (well I know I haven't got that). I've been ripping stuff to my hard drives for months, and assembling albums I never bought like 'Soulful saxophone' (now THERE'S an understatement!) and, searching the web for cover photos realised there have been a bunch of compilations issued. So I thought I'd assemble those, too. And my GOD! 'Gentle Jug vol 3' (PR24249) is perhaps the most magnificent piece of programming I've ever heard. If you only get one Gene Ammons album, this is the one to make you a fan, I reckon. More later - Jug has been much in my thoughts these last months. MG

OK - the BFT folder is now with Thom Keith. I'll change the title of this thread so people know it's for discussions, if anyone's talking to me still MG

Sorry for the delay, folks - I thought it was October I was doing this, but Bill reminded me yesterday evening. I'll send the material to Thom Keith in a couple of hours. MG

Well, I had a good think about this stuff and decided that it was really time I got the Lloyd Price LP. So I did yet another search and found one at Discogs, which I've ordered!!!! MG

Thank you, Mike. I NEVER look at Kenny Dorham albums, so I didn't know that this was that and that was this; I just thought it was the other! MG Thank you, Dan. I wasn't aware of that reissue. I have another reissue of her Chess material, so I can just get a few extra downloads. MG

Erroll Dixon Luther Dixon The Shirelles

Thinking about this a bit more, there are some 45s I greatly regret not having. Top of the list are: Fats Domino - Why don't you do right? - ABC His ABC stuff wasn't usually all that good, but that one was a real R&B record and as in the pocket as you could get. Should have kept it. Etta James & Sugar Pie Desanto - Somewhere down the line Cadet A B side that seems to have been lost among the reissues but was a million times better than the A side (Do I make myself clear). The Rivingtons - Deep water - Liberty Another B side that's been lost but one of the most soulful records ever made (the B side of Papa-oom-mow-mow). MG

I'd like a download, please, Dan. And PLEASE don't pick anything I'm going to pick MG

I used to think that, but I've rediscovered so much stuff I got rid of decades ago; most recently Solomon Burke's LP 'if you need me'. NOW I think he was a much better album artist than I thought he was back in the sixties. I sometimes get a yen to hear Archie Shepp's 'Fire music' again, but it's not (yet) serious. At present, 'Two's company' by Chris Connor and Maynard Ferguson is top of my pondering list. Second is 'If I should miss heaven' by the Spirit of Memphis Quartet. In the eighties, I also had three LPs by Wings over Jordan Choir and flogged 'em all MILES too quickly, without REALLY listening properly. One I've looked for for decades is Dave Bailey's Jazzline LP 'Bash'. Selling THAT was a bad move, if there ever was one. Another of those is 'New Orleans blues' by Jimmy Witherspoon & Wilbur deParis. And more than any other bad sale, there's Lloyd Price's 'This is my band' on his own label Double L, with Fred Jackson on alto sax! I was REALLY desperately poor then. 'Rippin' & runnin'' by Johnny Hodges, Eddie Chamblee's 'Chamblee Music' and Duke Pearson's 'Merry ole soul' are also on the perennial list, for when cheapo copies come my way. Also 'Dancing the big twist, by Ray Bryant and 'Milt and Hal' by Buckner & Singer. Sometimes I wonder if I should buy 'Sidewinder' again, but I soon get over it Still, in the end, one has to eat and, later, wives and kids have to eat, so some records go the way of all vinyl. MG

And to you ALL! Hell, I was wondering what brought all those old guys back into the forum! It's not only Easter Sunday, but our older grandson's 21st birthday. So we're all going out for a Chinese meal this evening, taking his chocolate cake and candles with us. I expect I'll be a stone heavier tomorrow, but it DOES only come once in a lifetime MG

Rudy Van Gelder Ruud Lubbers The Toys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_muziTEnNWs

Owen Money Bread The Jam

Was John Manning white? Because there's a white sax player by that name in a band called Roarshack up in Ontario. https://roarshackband.wordpress.com/about/ They're not young guys, so I wondered... MG

Washboard Sam The Scrubbers Danny Wormwood

Duke of Iron Lord Kitchener Composer

Pinhead Doug Bradley Komatsu

That's what I do. Oh well. MG

So it's pretty much like the Senegalese system, but that includes royalties as well as (or perhaps instead of) a license fee. In the West, I guess licences are a lot less money than royalties. Or maybe it depends on what you're trying to license. MG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x3Yk0hrzUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x3Yk0hrzUY&feature=player_embedded How do you put a YouTube video on so it shows up? MG

Smart Alec Maxwell Smart Max Headroom

You've got a point there, Dan. The Moses Davis single has never been reissued, either, and you'd have thought that the cover of his tune 'Jan Jan' by Grant Green and others would have sparked that. In fact, The Counts first LP, on Cotillion, with the original version of 'Jan Jan', has never made it onto CD, and that's their best album. So, someone else can go figure... MG

Nick Clegg David Lloyd George Boy George

Red Hot Chili Peppers Barbecue Bob Mango Santamania