Search - Gene Ammons :: Blue Gene

A brilliant collection of bop blues tunes

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 08/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Great musthave album from Gene Ammons. I have to correct the previous reviewer, the trumpet player is not Farmer, but Idrees Sulieman, he did a fantastic job. It is a blowin' date based on various blues forms. The first is a medium slow blues played with great feeling, the second a fast blues really boppin! The third tune is another blues mid tempoed. The last tune is not a blues but a minor key ballad. The line up is great, Pepper Adams played really well here like Sulieman and the other guys did, but Ammons is the first voice. His playing is a winning mix of blues soulful phrasing and bop techniques. This album is a winner not a sleeper like many strictly blues albums. If you like this one try "Only the blues" by Sonny Stitt/Oscar Peterson trio. This two albums are really good examples of jazzed blues music."

Great Jug

Shalom Spencer | Berkeley, CA USA | 06/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My Dad who was a Jazz Musician 'schooled' me on to this Lp when I was a teenager and just really getting into Jazz. This is essentially a session of Jug blowing slow blues but it also follows the format of the jam sessions that appeared in such albums as The Happy Blues, Jug In Hi-Fi,etc. Pepper Adams and Art Farmer are also on this session and provide great support. Jug blows his ass off and his tremendous ability to synthesize blues, bop and of course the soulful sound that makes Jug so unique makes this an essential piece for any one who digs Jug."

Another blowing session for Jug

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 10/31/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Prestige Records loved putting together what became known as "blowing sessions": get a handful of musicians together in the recording studio and let them jam around the chords of a few simple blues and standards. These weren't working bands by a long shot, and most of the players were part of the label's stable of players. Depending on the mood everyone was in, the material at hand, and whether styles jelled or not usually determined the success of the date.



This date is only mildly successful, with Jug having an off day. (It would be his last album for almost two years: another drug conviction would take him off the scene yet again. Maybe that had an effect on his playing here.) Pepper Adams, though, on baritone sax does his best to save the date; he is especially good on the long (13+ minutes) slow blues BLUE GENE. Idrees Sulieman is a stark trumpeter (he sounds a lot like Donald Byrd to me, but less lyrical), and Mal Waldron can sound like a minimalist player on piano at times, hammering away at a single note or two during a solo. This album is okay, but two years hence, when Ammons would record again, the results would be a whole lot better."