Jammin' in Hi Fi With Gene Ammons

by Gene Ammons

Product Description:

Personnel: Gene Ammons (tenor saxophone); Jackie McLean (alto saxophone); Idrees Sulieman (trumpet); Mal Waldron (piano); Kenny Burrell (guitar); Paul Chambers (bass); Arthur Taylor (drums).

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on April 12, 1957. Originally released on Prestige (7110). Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler.

Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (1992, Fantasy Studios, Berkley, California).

JAMMIN' IN HI FI finds Gene Ammons in a context familiar to many jazz players in the 1950's--the Prestige Records jam session, where some ace musicians, most of whom were bandleaders as well, get together and get down on some familiar tunes. State the theme in unison, and wail.

"Jug"--as Ammons was affectionately known--does just that on the opener "The Twister," generating the kind of tenor-storm that blew from the Jazz At The Philharmonic concerts. Hot on his heels are the Gillespie/Brown-style trumpet of Idrees Sulieman, the tart alto of Jackie McLean, and the bluesy cool-bop of Kenny Burrell's guitar. This session is propelled mightily by the oft-paired rhythm team of Art Taylor and the sublimely steady Paul Chambers. If you want to hear the bop side of Ammons, or dig Prestige label-era hard bop, JAMMIN' IN HI-FI is where it's at.