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..
My Romance
Gene Ammons Lyrics
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My romance doesn't need a blue lagoon standing by
No month of may, no twinkling stars
No hide away, no softly guitars
My romance doesn't need a castle rising in Spain
Nor a dance to a constantly surprising refrain
Wide awake I can make my most fantastic dreams come true
My romance doesn't need a thing but you
The lyrics to Gene Ammons's song "My Romance" talk about the singer's love for someone and how it doesn't require grand gestures or settings to feel magical. Instead, the simple presence of the person is enough to make their dreams come true. The first two lines of the verse set the tone for the entire song by saying that the love he shares with his partner doesn't have to be under the perfect setting, like a moonlit night or a blue lagoon. He believes that their love stands alone and needs nothing to be considered romantic.
The singer then goes on in the next lines and says that he doesn't need any traditional symbols of love or romance like the month of May, twinkling stars, or softly playing guitars. He doesn't need a castle in Spain or even a constantly surprising dance refrain. All he needs is his loved one and the love that they share. The singer then confesses that with his partner, he can make his most fantastic dreams come true, which is the ultimate representation of his love for them. Overall, the lyrics to "My Romance" illustrate that true romance doesn't need extravagance but can be found in the simplicity of being with the one you love.
Line by Line Meaning
My romance doesn't have to have a moon in the sky
I don't need a picturesque setting to be in love
My romance doesn't need a blue lagoon standing by
I don't need an exotic location to be in love
No month of may, no twinkling stars
I don't need a specific time of year or the stars to align to be in love
No hide away, no softly guitars
I don't need a romantic retreat or music to be in love
My romance doesn't need a castle rising in Spain
I don't need grandeur or opulence to be in love
Nor a dance to a constantly surprising refrain
I don't need extravagance or surprises to be in love
Wide awake I can make my most fantastic dreams come true
I can find happiness in love even while conscious
My romance doesn't need a thing but you
All I need for love is you
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind