Bad Bossa Nova is right – as Gene Ammons really hits a great groove here – one that's not exactly bossa, but which has lots of Latin and tropical touches! The session makes great use of 2 guitars at the same time – using that of Kenny Burrell for soulful rhythm, but also adding in Bucky Pizzarelli for some nice acoustic embellishments – in a mode that's similar to the soul jazz-com-bossa style used on records like Ike Quebec's Soul Samba or Charlie Rouse's Bossa Nova Bacchanal. The overall rhythms are a bit more complicated, and a bit more soul jazz based than those sets – with Hank Jones on piano, Oliver Jackson on percussion, and Al Hayes adding in some sweet extra bongo! Titles include the classic "Ca'Purange" – plus "Anna", "Yellow Bird", "Cae Cae", and "Moito Mato Grosso". Also issued under the title Jungle Soul! (Ca' Purange). CD

Way more than just an album with Gene Ammons as a leader – and instead, a set that truly earns the "all stars" listed on the cover – thanks to a great array of supporting players, and a very loose, open-ended jam session style that lets everyone get in plenty of solo space! Ammons' tenor is tremendous, but he's also a great collaborator here, too – working with Idrees Suliman on trumpet, Pepper Adams on baritone, Mal Waldron on piano, Art Taylor on drums, Doug Watkins on bass, and Ray Barretto on conga – in a mode that's maybe slightly tighter than some of the blowing sessions Prestige was doing at the time, but which still has that key longform creative energy that made the hardbop generation so great. Titles include "Blue Gene", "Scamperin", "Blue Greens n Beans", and "Hip Tip" – and all tracks are long, with plenty of focus on solos! CD

A soul jazz classic from Gene Ammons – the kind of session that easy made him "boss" on tenor – with a tone and conception that few other players could touch! The set is done in a style that's laidback, but never too loose – bouncing along in that "with conga" style of rhythm that was used strongly at the start of the 60s – with Ray Barretto on percussion, alongside Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. The style is nice and echoey – a mode that works well not only here, but on most of the 22 other albums that Ammons went onto record during the next 2 years! Titles include "Close Your Eyes", "Canadian Sunset", "Hittin' The Jug", "Confirmation", and "Blue Ammons". CD

A soul jazz classic from Gene Ammons – the kind of session that easy made him "boss" on tenor – with a tone and conception that few other players could touch! The set is done in a style that's laidback, but never too loose – bouncing along in that "with conga" style of rhythm that was used strongly at the start of the 60s – with Ray Barretto on percussion, alongside Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. The style is nice and echoey – a mode that works well not only here, but on most of the 22 other albums that Ammons went onto record during the next 2 years! Titles include "Close Your Eyes", "Canadian Sunset", "Hittin' The Jug", "Confirmation", and "Blue Ammons". LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

One of Ammons' classic blowing sessions for Prestige, with an all-star lineup that includes Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Mal Waldron, and Kenny Burrell. The group plays together on 4 long tracks, and in a tight hardbop vein, with long soulful solos from every player. Titles include "Pint Size", "King Size", and "Funky". CD

A classic album from Gene Ammons – one that features the tenor legend at his prime, working in two different settings! The first batch has Ammons "battling" Sonny Stitt in a set of stuff that features hard twin tenors in the frontline, with the kind of cutting contests the two of them would perform live all over the country. Titles on that one include "Stringin The Jug", "New Blues Up & Down", and "You Can Depend On Me". The other side of the record features Ammons in one of those great Prestige open-ended groups – with crack players like Art Farmer, Lou Donaldson, and Freddie Redd – all soloing long and soulfully on two tracks – "Woofin & Tweetin" and "Juggernaut". CD

An album issued after the untimely early death of tenorist Gene Ammons, but one that features the player working in a nicely relaxed live setting – one that really shows the transformation of his instrument since his famous late 50s/early 60s records on Prestige! Gene's horn here seems to have more of an edge, more of a bite, even on the mellower numbers – which open up in this slow-building formation that's very much in the best Chicago tenor legacy, and which maybe ties Ammons a lot more closely to contemporary Von Freeman than some of the more tightly-produced that were issued in the US during his final years. The mighty Horace Parlan is in the quartet, and gets plenty of space too – alongside Red Mitchell on bass and Ed Jones on drums –on titles that include "Ahus Jazz", "Lover Man", "There Is No Greater Love", and "Billie's Bounce". CD

A real turning point in the career of Gene Ammons – a record that almost returns Ammons to his earthier roots, and in the process helps build up a whole new sound in soul jazz for the 60s! The "Jug" nickname in the title is kind of a joking way to help Ammons stand alongside "Miles", "Trane", "Diz", and other one-name monikered stars in jazz – but even without that gimmick (which somehow lasted for years), the album's got a depth that more than gets Gene back on top, thanks to a gritty soulfulness and good sense of feeling in the grooves! Players here include Richard Wyands on piano on most numbers – plus a rare appearance by Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson on 2 numbers – one on organ, one on piano. Rhythm is by Doug Watkins on bass and JC Heard on drums – and Ray Barretto makes one of his great soul jazz appearances on drums – rolling the groove along with a nice bit of bounce throughout! Titles include "Tangerine", "Ol Man River", "Easy To Love", "Seed Shack", "Miss Lucy", and "Namely You". LP, Vinyl record album

A nice selection of rare Gene Ammons work from the mid 50s – all long, hard-blowing tracks! LP, Vinyl record album

Kind of an obscure session by Ammons – most likely recorded in that jumble of contracts and conflicting label arrangements in the early 60s – a time when Jug actually did some of his best work! There's no players listed on the notes – which is sometimes typical for these early 60s sides (although not usually the ones on Prestige), and overall, the spirit is in keeping with the "preachin" title – as Jug blows his way over small combo organ backing, in a very churchy kind of soul jazz mode. Titles include "The Prayer", "The Light", "What A Friend", "Sweet Hour", and "Yield Not". CD

Cooking rare Emarcy work from Gene Ammons – 78 rpm material packaged into a great 10" LP – with tracks that include "Concentration", "Idaho", "McDougal's Sprout", and "Shermanski". LP, Vinyl record album

Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt go head to head in this classic album of tracks that perfectly captures the joy and fury of their live performances from years before! The record was cut in Chicago with a very hard rhythm section that includes John Houston on piano, Charles Williams on bass, and George Brown on drums – and it's way heavier than the usual Verve "meeting of the masters" session, and feels more like a record that should have been issued on Prestige or Argo. Both players are impeccable, and the solos stretch out for a long long very live time. Titles include "Blues Up & Down", "The One Before This", and "Counter Clockwise" – but these guys even groove amazingly on standards like "Autumn Leaves" and "No Greater Love". CD

A hard set of soul jazz grooves – recorded under the leadership of the great trombonist Benny Green, and one of his few albums not for Blue Note or Prestige! The sound is very much in the Prestige hardbop mode of the late 50s – and Green heads up a group that includes Gene Ammons and Frank Foster on tenor, Nat Adderley on cornet, Frank Wess on flute and tenor, and Tommy Flanagan on piano– a similar lineup, with a similar sound, to some of the albums recorded under Ammons' name as "blowing sessions". The cuts are long, with laid back laid out solos – and titles include "Jim Dog", "Going South", and "Little Ditty". CD features bonus alternate takes of 4 tracks! CD

A classic early set from Jack McDuff – and a record that's very much in his own hands, despite the presence of Gene Ammons as a co-leader! The group's more of a McDuff one than an Ammons ensemble – and features the great Joe Dukes on drums, Eddie Diehl on guitar, and Harold Vick on tenor, who plays alongside Ammons' guest appearance on 5 of the album's 6 tracks. The tunes are in that Steppin Out mode – a cross between Jack's gutbuckety R&B work of the early Prestige years, and some of his cleaner grooves of the mid 60s – and titles include "Mellow Gravy", "Watch Out", "Strollin", "Buzzin Round", and "Mr Clean". LP, Vinyl record album

Ahhhh . . . The Jam Session years of Gene Ammons! This album was one of a number that Jug cut for Prestige during the mid 50s, all excellent examples of how perfectly the label's "blowing session" style could work when it wanted to. The set takes Ammons' tenor, and groups it with an all-star cast that includes Art Farmer and Donald Byrd on trumpets, Jackie McLean on alto, Mal Waldron on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. All the horn players are given free reign to solo – and as most of the tracks go on and on and on, they really get room to open up, blowing with the kind of competitive creativity you'd hear in a live set at the same time. Includes three long tracks: "Not Really The Blues", "Jammin With Gene", and "We'll Be Together Again". CD

Not to be confused with the Jammin' With Gene LP, this set was later reissued as The Twister. Classic blowing session material from Jug – with 4 long tracks that are all a superb example of how great Prestige could be when they wanted to! The group is filled with great players – Jackie McLean, Mal Waldron, Idrees Sulieman, and Kenny Burrell – and the band plays with a free easy groove that produces some beautiful solos, especially from Jug! Titles include "Cattin", "The Twister", "Four", and "Pennies From Heaven". CD

A real turning point in the career of Gene Ammons – a record that almost returns Ammons to his earthier roots, and in the process helps build up a whole new sound in soul jazz for the 60s! The "Jug" nickname in the title is kind of a joking way to help Ammons stand alongside "Miles", "Trane", "Diz", and other one-name monikered stars in jazz – but even without that gimmick (which somehow lasted for years), the album's got a depth that more than gets Gene back on top, thanks to a gritty soulfulness and good sense of feeling in the grooves! Players here include Richard Wyands on piano on most numbers – plus a rare appearance by Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson on 2 numbers – one on organ, one on piano. Rhythm is by Doug Watkins on bass and JC Heard on drums – and Ray Barretto makes one of his great soul jazz appearances on drums – rolling the groove along with a nice bit of bounce throughout! Titles include "Tangerine", "Ol Man River", "Easy To Love", "Seed Shack", "Miss Lucy", and "Namely You". CD

Features Wynton Kelly on piano, Rudy Collins on drums & Henry Pucho Brown on conga. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the tasty blowing session albums that Jug cut for Prestige – remarkable in the quality of the players (Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Pepper Adams, and others), and in the relaxed easy groove of the solid soulful tracks. There's 4 long cuts, and they all swing nicely nicely nicely! Titles include "Ammon Joy", "Groove Blues", and "Jug Handle". CD

Amazing work from the early, legendary years of Billy Eckstine – that time when he was fronting one of the hippest backing groups a vocalist could hope to have! Eckstine's voice was already becoming the stuff of legend by the time of these recordings – but thanks to contributions from a host of famous boppers, his band was getting equal fame, too – a really legendary lineup that includes such greats as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie,Kenny Dorham, and Fats Navarro on trumpets; Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon, and Gene Ammons on tenor; Leo Parker on baritone; Art Blakey on drums; and many other huge names too! The band was virtually a school for a whole generation of jazzmen to come – allowing them to play together, get to know each other, and spin off in important small groups – much in the way the Kenton group a few years later allowed so much development on the west coast. And amidst all this great music, Billy's vocals have never sounded better – much bolder and hard-swinging than in later years! CD

One of our favorite albums by Teddy Edwards – and one with some organ in the group! This obscure quartet side has Gerry Wiggins playing a rare bit of Hammond – grooving the group with a lean and open-ended soul jazz approach that really has Edwards blowing at his best! The style sits right up there next to Gene Ammons' best albums of the time, and the rest of the group features Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Milt Turner on drums. Titles include "Smokin", "No Regrets", "A Bag Of Blues", "Wiggin", and "Little Steddy" – all originals that get Edwards past the usual bag of soulful standards! CD

Live from the Rendezvous Ballroom Balboa & the Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles. With Gene ammons, Bill harris, Serge Chaloff, Terry Gibbs, Shelly manne, oscar Pettiford, Ernie Royal, Shorty Rogers, lou levy, Mary Ann McCall, and more. CD

Important early recordings from the key years of bebop and cool jazz – with Mercury sides by Red Rodney, Lennie Tristano, Chubby Jackson, Bill Harris, Gene Ammons, and Billy Eckstine! LP, Vinyl record album

Jazzy 45s galore – and a huge dip into the vaults of Prestige Records! This tasty set brings together 18 classics recorded in the heyday of the jazz funk years at Prestige – the late 60s and early 70s, a time when the soul jazz sounds of previous years were being forged into a leaner, meaner, harder-hitting groove. And although the LP was the growing format during these days, there was actually a heck of a lot of great work issued on 45s – still spinning strong with the jukebox crowds in the clubs and tap rooms, and still getting major play on radio stations, where the single was still king. The set features many 45 mixes of funky classics that you might know from LPs – and intersperses them with some other more obscure numbers pulled from full albums – making for an all-solid, all-funky set of tracks from one of the hippest jazz labels ever! Titles include "Fire Eater" by Rusty Bryant, "Don't Knock My Love" by Idris Muhammad, "Jungle Strut" by Gene Ammons, "Express Yourself" by Idris Muhammad, "Right On" by Boogaloo Joe Jones, "Who's Gonna Take The Weight" by Melvin Sparks, "Sing A Simple Song" by Charles Earland, "Son Of Man" by Houston Person, "Listen Here (part 1)" by Freddie McCoy, "Black Talk (part 1)" by Charles Earland, "Message From The Meters" by Leon Spencer, "Reelin With The Feeling" by Charles Kynard, "I Want You Back" by Harold Mabern, and "Thank You (part 1)" by Melvin Sparks. CD

Charlie Parker classics in a variety of flavors – a great collection of material from the 50s, 60s, and 70s – all showing the huge influence of Bird's songwriting on the sound of modern jazz! The recordings here offer up a variety of formats, in a variety of different settings – piano jazz, guitar work, and hardbop horns – all pulled from the mighty vaults of Fantasy Records. Titles include "Parker's Mood" by Eddie Jefferson, "Scrapple From The Apple" by Blue Mitchell, "Yardbird Suite" by Art Pepper, "Confirmation" by Gene Ammons, "Now's The Time" by Frank Morgan, "Steeplechase" by Hampton Hawes, "Repetition" by Wes Montgomery, and "Billie's Bounce" by Johnny Griffin. CD also features the bonus track "Relaxin At Camarillo" by Joe Henderson. CD

2nd volume in this great series of sweet n funky tracks from the vaults of the Fantasy/Prestige/Riverside labels. As usual, the CD contains a few bonus tracks, to make for a super long set of raw jazz funk grooves that includes "Boogaloo Joe" by Ivan Boogaloo Joe Jones, "Shortnin' Bread" by 3 Pieces, "Killing Time" by Natural Essence, "Tom Thumb" by Bobby Timmons, "Jug Eyes" by Gene Ammons, "Where I'm Coming From" by Leon Spencer, and "Friday Night Funk For Saturday Night Brothers" by Rusty Bryant". The usual great standard of grooves, and an excellent package from Ubiquity. CD

Funky jazz from the mighty large Fantasy Records catalog – home to all those great Prestige jazz funk classics at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s! The Jazz Dispensary series has been giving us some well-chosen cuts from this generation, all taken straight from the original master tapes – which makes the tunes crackle a lot more than previous Prestige reissues – and titles on this volume include "The Twang Thing" by Billy Butler, "Who's Gonna Take The Weight (single version)" by Melvin Sparks, "Wander" by Idris Muhammad, "Mamblues" by Cal Tjader, "Cootie Boogaloo" by Rusty Bryant, "Soul Groovin (single version)" by Merl Saunders Quartet, and "Jungle Strut" by Gene Ammons. LP, Vinyl record album

Featuring Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Gene Ammons, Coleman Hawkins, McCoy Tyner, John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, and Red Garland. CD

Music from Chet Baker, Gene Ammons, Benny Carter, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Red Garland, Stan Getz, Stephane Grappelli, Hampton Hawkes, Milt Jackson, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery, Gerry Mulligan, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, McCoy Tyner & Mal Waldron. CD

With music from Zoot Sims, Gil Evans, Milt Jackson, Joe Pass, Cal Tjader, Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Gene Ammons, and more. CD

Music from Cannonball Adderley, Gene Ammons, Miles Davis, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Little Jimmy Scott, Ben Webster, Lester Yong & more. CD

Includes "Cool Grits" by Willis Jackson, "Enough Said" by Bill Jennings, "The Rev" by Eddie Lockjaw Davis, and "Blue Hymn" by Gene Ammons. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes selections by James Moody, Gene Ammons, Clark Terry, Ahmad Jamal, Sonny Stitt, Zoot Sims, Benny Goodman, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Illinois Jacquet, Kenny Burrell, Ramsey Lewis, Roland Kirk, Ira Sullivan, Oliver Nelson, Jack McDuff, Ray Bryant, Art Blakey, Budd Johnson, and John Klemmer. LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt, Wardell Gray & Sonny Criss, Sonny Rollins & John Coltrane, Jackie McLean & John Jenkins, Oliver Nelson & Eric Dolphy, Sonny Stitt & Booker Ervin & more. CD

Music from Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims & John Coltrane, Donald Byrd & Phil Woods, Donald Byrd & Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd & Frank Foster, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd & Idrees Sulieman & more. CD

One of our favorite albums ever from pianist Muhal Richard Abrams – a set of spare duets with Amina Claudine Myers, and a real standout from the early days of the Black Saint label! We really love Muhal in a spare setting – as it gives you the chance to hear a side of his piano playing that really doesn't come through in his large group sets. Given the added sensitivity that Myers brings to her music, the company here is wonderful – steeped in a range of jazz piano traditions, explored by both players with a sense of creative freedom that's only matched by their collaborative warmth on the date. Both players work on acoustic piano, but there's also some percussion on the set too – and titles include "Transparency Of Lobo Lubu", "Miss Amina", "Down The Street From The Gene Ammons Public School", and "Dance From The East". LP, Vinyl record album

If this is what they call an Encyclopedia, the folks at Britannica can sign us up! The set's a smoking selection of older soul jazz numbers from the glory days of Prestige Records – that key late 50s/1960s time when the label was helping forge a whole new sound in jazz – mixing in elements of R&B, hardbop, and gospel – and letting fly with a whole range of great tenor and organ players! The tracks here are all classics, all presented in nice long full versions that show what music like this can really do when let loose in the studio – and titles include "Seed Shack" by Gene Ammons, "Nother Futher" by Sonny Stitt & Jack McDuff, "Misty" by Groove Holmes, "Soul Meeting" by King Curtis, "The Honeydripper" by Jack McDuff, "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" by Arnett Cobb, "In The Kitchen" by Eddie Lockjaw Davis, "More Today Than Yesterday" by Charles Earland, "Please Mr Jackson" by Willis Jackson, and "Dirty Apple" by Johnny Hammond Smith. CD

One of the greatest albums ever recorded by hardbop trombone legend Bennie Green – an all-star sextet session that cooks like a mofo! The group features the twin tenors of Billy Root and Gene Ammons (billed just as "Jug" on the session, because of contractual reasons) – and it crackles with electricity from a rhythm section that features Ike Isaacs on bass, Sonny Clark on piano, and Elvin Jones on drums. There's some fantastic tracks on here, including Babs Gonzales' "Lullaby of the Doomed", and a monster jam called "We Wanna Cook", which was once described to us as "all you ever need to have a house party" – to which we wholeheartedly agree! Other tracks include "Black Pearl", "BG Mambo", and "Soul Stirrin" – and the album's one of the heaviest duty Blue Notes from the time! CD

Mingus live is always a treat – especially in these later years, when the fire seemed to go out of most of his studio recordings. Live, though, he always managed to kick it hard - with the sort of emotion that graced his strong early albums. And despite the fact that this one's conducted by Teo Macero, and features some remarks from Bill Cosby – the affair's still pretty hip, and the soloists go to town nicely – with those stretched-out performances that always made for the best individual moments in a Mingus record! The record features great work from Gene Ammons and Bobby Jones on tenor, Lee Konitz and Charles McPherson on alto, James Moody on flute, Randy Weston on piano, Lonnie Hillyer on trumpet, and Eddie Bert on trombone – and Honey Gordon sings a lovely vocal on the track "Eclipse". Other titles include "Jump Monk", "Us Is Two", "ESP", and "Ecclusiastics". CD