Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ammons studied music with instructor Walter Dyett at DuSable High School. Ammons began to gain recognition while still at high school when in 1943, at the age of 18, he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax's band. In 1944 he joined the band of Billy Eckstine (who bestowed on him the nickname "Jug" when straw hats ordered for the band did not fit), playing alongside Charlie Parker and later Dexter Gordon. Notable performances from this period include "Blowin' the Blues Away," featuring a saxophone duel between Ammons and Gordon. After 1947, when Eckstine became a solo performer, Ammons then led a group, including Miles Davis and Sonny Stitt, that performed at Chicago's Jumptown Club. In 1949 Ammons replaced Stan Getz as a member of Woody Herman's Second Herd, and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt.
The 1950s were a prolific period for Ammons and produced some acclaimed recordings such as "The Happy Blues" (1955), featuring Freddie Redd and Lou Donaldson. Musicians who played in his groups, apart from Stitt, included Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Mal Waldron, Art Farmer, and Duke Jordan.
His later career was interrupted by two prison sentences for narcotics possession, the first from 1958 to 1960, the second from 1962 to 1969. He recorded as a leader for Mercury (1947-1949), Aristocrat (1948-1950), Chess (1950-1951), Prestige (1950-1952), Decca (1952), and United (1952-1953). For the rest of his career, he was affiliated with Prestige. After his release from prison in 1969, having served a seven-year sentence at Joliet penitentiary, he signed the largest contract ever offered at that time by Prestige's Bob Weinstock.
Ammons died in Chicago in 1974, at the age of 49, from cancer.
Ammons and Von Freeman were the founders of the Chicago school of tenor saxophone. Ammons's style of playing showed influences from Lester Young as well as Ben Webster. These artists had helped develop the sound of the tenor saxophone to higher levels of expressiveness. Ammons, together with Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt, helped integrate their developments with the emerging "vernacular" of the bebop movement, and the chromaticism and rhythmic variety of Charlie Parker is evident in his playing.
While adept at the technical aspects of bebop, in particular its love of harmonic substitutions, Ammons more than Young, Webster or Parker, stayed in touch with the commercial blues and R&B of his day. For example, in 1950 the saxophonist's recording of "My Foolish Heart" made Billboard Magazine's black pop charts. The soul jazz movement of the mid-1960s, often using the combination of tenor saxophone and Hammond B3 electric organ, counts him as a founder. With a thicker, warmer tone than Stitt or Gordon, Ammons could at will exploit a vast range of textures on the instrument, vocalizing it in ways that look forward to later artists like Stanley Turrentine, Houston Person, and even Archie Shepp. Ammons showed little interest, however, in the modal jazz of John Coltrane, Joe Henderson or Wayne Shorter that was emerging at the same time.
Some fine ballad performances in his oeuvre are testament to an exceptional sense of intonation and melodic symmetry, powerful lyrical expressiveness, and mastery both of the blues and the bebop vernacular that can now be described as, in its own way, "classical."
King Pleasure recorded his vocalese take on Ammons' composition "Hittin' the Jug" under the title "Swan Blues".
"Answer Me, My Love" written by Fred Rauch, Carl Sigman and Gerhard Winkler, performed by Gene Ammons, is featured on the soundtrack for Romance & Cigarettes (2005).
He played on a Bb Conn 10M tenor saxophone with a Brilhart Ebolin mouthpiece.
Ammons is considered a major influence on the style of popular jazz tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman a.o..
Back In Your Own Back Yard
Gene Ammons Lyrics
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Hoping ev'ry cloud will be silver lined.
But we all return as we live wo learn,
That we left our happiness behind.
When they sing you "Look for the Silver Lining,"
It is silver dollars they're looking for.
You will find my friend that the rainbow's end,
The bird with feathers of blue, is waiting for you,
Back in your own back yard,
You'll see your castle in Spain, through your window pane,
Back in your own back yard.
Oh you can go to the East go to the West,
But someday you'll come weary at heart back where you started from,
You'll find your happiness lies, right under your eyes,
Back in your own backyard.
The Gene Ammons Band's song "Back In Your Own Back Yard" is a poignant reminder that happiness is not always found in faraway places, but often in our own homes. The lyrics suggest that we all leave home with high expectations of finding something better, something that will bring us happiness. However, as we journey through life and gain experience, we come to realize that what we were looking for was always right there in our own backyard.
The lyrics highlight that we often seek material wealth and possessions to bring us happiness, but true happiness lies in the simple things in life, such as familiar surroundings, family, and friends. The second verse of the song urges the listener to seek the rainbow's end, which is often imagined to be exotic and far away, but in reality, it is "somewhere around your kitchen door."
The song concludes by urging us to seek happiness by looking within ourselves and our homes, rather than searching for it in far-off destinations. The lyrics advise us that the "bird with feathers of blue is waiting for you, back in your own backyard," and that our happiness lies "right under your eyes, back in your own backyard."
Overall, the song is a beautiful ode to the importance of appreciating the present and finding joy in the simple things in life.
Line by Line Meaning
We leave home expecting to find a blue bird,
We often leave our comfortable surroundings hoping to find happiness and joy, symbolized by the blue bird.
Hoping ev'ry cloud will be silver lined.
We expect everything to go smoothly and be perfect
But we all return as we live wo learn,
As we journey and gain experience, we become aware that happiness was always within us.
That we left our happiness behind.
We sometimes leave our happiness behind in pursuit of things we think will make us happy.
When they sing you "Look for the Silver Lining,"
When someone tells you to always look for the upside or positive side of a situation,
It is silver dollars they're looking for.
They may only be looking for monetary gain.
You will find my friend that the rainbow's end,
The true treasure or reward of life,
Is somewhere around your kitchen door.
Is often right where you started, within your own familiar environment.
The bird with feathers of blue, is waiting for you,
The source of our happiness and contentment,
Back in your own back yard,
Is often found within our own homes, families, and communities.
You'll see your castle in Spain, through your window pane,
We should always take the time to appreciate what we have, right where we are.
Oh you can go to the East go to the West,
Traveling to faraway places and seeking new experiences is always exciting,
But someday you'll come weary at heart back where you started from,
But eventually we all return to our homes and our roots, tired and in need of comfort.
You'll find your happiness lies, right under your eyes,
Only then do we realize that our true happiness lies right in front of us.
Back in your own backyard.
We should never forget to appreciate the beauty and blessings of our own lives, right where we are.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: Al Jolson, Billy Rose, Dave Dreyer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind