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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Albert Ammons| image = Albert Ammons.jpg| image_size = 240px| caption =| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name = Albert C. Ammons| alias =| birth_date = birth date|1907|9|23|mf=y| birth_place = Chicago , Illinois , United States | death_date = death date and age|mf=y|1949|12|2|1907|9|23| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States| origin =| instrument =| genre = Jazz , blues , boogie-woogie | occupation = Pianist | years_active = 1920s–1949| label = Vocalion Records|Vocalion , Blue Note Records|Blue Note , Delmark Records|Delmark , Mercury Records|Mercury | associated_acts =| website =| notable_instruments = Albert Ammons (September 23, 1907 – December 2, 1949) http://users.efortress.com/doc-rock/1950.html Dead Rock Stars website - accessed February 2008 was an United States|American pianist . Ammons was a player of boogie-woogie , a blues y jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.
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 (classic)|drum and bugle corps as a adolescence|teenager and was soon performing with band (music)|bands on the Chicago nightclub|club scene. After World War I he became interested in the blues, learning by listening to Chicago pianists Hersal Thomas and the brothers Alonzo and Jimmy Yancey .Santelli, Robert. The Big Book of Blues , Penguin Books, page 13, (2001) - ISBN 0-14-100145-3 In the early to mid 1920s Ammons worked as a taxi cab|cab driver for the Silver Taxicab Company. 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 DeLisa in 1934 and remained at the club for the next two years.cite book | first= Tony | last= Russell | year= 1997 | title= The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray | edition= | publisher=Carlton Books Limited | location= Dubai | pages= 88 | isbn= 1-85868-255-X
During that time he played with a five piece unit that included Guy Kelly , Dalbert Bright, Jimmy Hoskins, and Israel Crosby . Ammons also sound recording and reproduction|recorded as Albert Ammons's Rhythm Kings for Decca Records in 1936. The Rhythm Kings' version of "Swanee River Boogie" sold a million copies. Ammons moved from Chicago to New York City|New York , where he teamed up with another pianist, Pete Johnson . The two performed regularly at the Café Society , occasionally joined by Meade Lux Lewis, and performed with other noted jazz musician|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 who had attended John H. Hammond 's From Spirituals to Swing concert on December 23, 1938, which had introduced Ammons and Lewis, two weeks later started Blue Note Records , recording nine Ammons solo (music)|solos including "The Blues" and "Boogie Woogie Stomp"), eight by Lewis and a pair of duet (music)|duets in a one-day session in a rented recording studio|studio .Vladimir, Bogdanov. All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues , By Bogdanov, Backbeat Books, page 14, (2003) - ISBN 0-87930-736-6
In 1941, Ammon's boogie music was accompanied by drawn-on-film animation in the short film Boogie-Doodle by Norman McLaren .cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Jazz|publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518359-7|url= http://books.google.com/books? id=dIyO-dQwkDwC& pg=PA711& dq=Boogie-Doodle+ammons#v=onepage& q=Boogie-Doodle%20ammons& f=false|editor=Bill Kirchner|page=771|date=May 2005 Ammons played himself in the movie Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944), with Lena Horne and Pete Johnson. http://imdb.com/title/tt0036661/ Imdb: Boogie-Woogie Dream" (1944) As a sideman with Sippie Wallace in the 1940s Ammons recorded a session with his son, the tenor saxophone|tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons . Although the boogie-woogie fad began to die down in 1945 Ammons had no difficulty securing work. He continued to tour as a solo artist and between 1946 and 1949 recorded his last sides for Mercury Records with bassist Israel Crosby.
Ammons's played at President of the United States|President Harry S. Truman 's inauguration in 1949.Feather, Leonard G. Encyclopedia of Jazz , Horizon Press, page 101, (1960) - ISBN 0-8180-1203-X He died on December 2, 1949 in Chicago and was interred at the Lincoln Cemetery (Blue Island)|Lincoln Cemetery , at Kedzie Avenue in Blue Island, Illinois|Blue Island , Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois|Worth Township , Cook County, Illinois|Cook County , Illinois.
Legacy
Ammons has had wide influence on countless pianists such as Dave Alexander (musician)|Dave Alexander , Dr. John , Hadda Brooks , Johnnie Johnson (musician)|Johnnie Johnson , Ray Bryant , Erroll Garner , Katie Webster , Axel Zwingenberger , and the Germany|German pianist Joerg Hegemann . The latter honoured Ammons, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ammons's birth in 2007, with his album A Tribute To Albert Ammons .
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
Bibliography
Boogie Woogie Stomp - Albert Ammons & His Music by Christopher I. Page, 1997; ISBN 978-1-885066-32-9
See also
List of blues musicians
List of boogie woogie musicians
List of jazz pianists
List of Mercury Records artists
References
Reflist
External links
http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/ammons-albert-biography E-Notes: Albert Ammons
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/profiles/albert_ammons.shtml BBC: Albert Ammons
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi? page=gr& GRid=6720705 Find a Grave
http://www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/7273/116/ Jazz Police article on Albert Ammons Centennial Celebration
http://www.nfb.ca/film/boogie-doodle Watch the 1941 short film Boogie-Doodle
Persondata | NAME = Ammons, Albert | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American jazz pianist | DATE OF BIRTH = September 23, 1907 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Chicago, Illinois | DATE OF DEATH = December 2, 1949 | PLACE OF DEATH = Chicago, Illinois DEFAULTSORT:Ammons, Albert Category:1907 births Category:1949 deaths Category:Boogie-woogie pianists Category:Swing pianists Category:American jazz pianists Category:American blues pianists Category:Musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Blue Note Records artists
