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..
I Want to Be Loved
Gene Ammons Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Trying to work out life's happy plan
Doing unto others as I'd like to have them doing unto me
When I find a very lonely soul
Soon be-kinda-comes my only goal
I feel so much better when I tell them my philosophy
But I won't be happy
Till I make you happy too.
Life's really worth living
When we are mirth giving
Why can't I give some to you
When skies are gray and you say you are blue
I'll send the sun smiling through
I want to be happy
But I won't be happy
Till I make you happy too.
When skies are gray and you say you are blue
I'll send the sun smiling through
I want to be happy
But I won't be happy
Till I make you happy too.
In "I Want to Be Loved," Gene Ammons sings about his desire to find happiness by making others happy. He describes himself as an ordinary man who is trying to figure out life's plan but has a philosophy of doing unto others as he would like them to do unto him. He finds purpose in helping lonely souls and making them happy. The lyrics reveal that he believes life is worth living when people are giving joy to others. He expresses a willingness to go out of his way in order to make someone happy as it brings him happiness too.
The central theme of the song is a selfless desire for the happiness of others, and it shows an empathetic side to the singer. He believes that when he is able to make someone happy, he gains happiness himself. The lyrics also suggest that the singer understands the value of interpersonal relationships and the need for human contact. He reaches out to lonely souls, sensing that they need someone to talk to and find solace in his company. The song concludes with a promise from the singer to bring sunshine to the lives of others, showing his commitment to making others happy.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm a very ordinary man
I am a common individual
Trying to work out life's happy plan
I am attempting to decipher the meaning of life
Doing unto others as I'd like to have them doing unto me
I treat others the way I wish to be treated
When I find a very lonely soul
When I encounter a person who is isolated
Soon be-kinda-comes my only goal
I focus solely on comforting that person
I feel so much better when I tell them my philosophy
I experience joy when conveying my beliefs to them
I want to be happy
I desire happiness
But I won't be happy
However, I cannot achieve contentment
Till I make you happy too.
Until I ensure that you are also content.
Life's really worth living
Existence has genuine value
When we are mirth giving
When we provide joy to others
Why can't I give some to you
I wish to grant you happiness as well
When skies are gray and you say you are blue
When you are unhappy on dreary days
I'll send the sun smiling through
I will lift your mood
I want to be happy
I desire happiness
But I won't be happy
However, I cannot achieve contentment
Till I make you happy too.
Until I ensure that you are also content.
When skies are gray and you say you are blue
When you are unhappy on dreary days
I'll send the sun smiling through
I will lift your mood
I want to be happy
I desire happiness
But I won't be happy
However, I cannot achieve contentment
Till I make you happy too.
Until I ensure that you are also content.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Irving Caesar, Vincent Youmans
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind