Gene Ammons "Late Hour Special"

Gene Ammons

"Late Hour Special"

(LP Prestige, 1964)

Catalog # PRLP 7287

Personnel & Tracklisting :

Hobart Dotson, Clark Terry - Trumpet

Oliver Nelson - Alto sax, Arranger

Gene Ammons, George Barrow, Red Holloway - Tenor sax

Bob Ashton - Baritone sax

Richard Wyands - Piano

Wendell Marshall - Bass

Bill English - Drums

Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, June 13, 1961

3079 Things Ain't What They Used To Be

3080 Makin' Whoopee

3081 I Want To Be Loved

3082 Lullaby Of The Leaves

Gene Ammons - Tenor sax

Patti Bown - Piano

George Duvivier - Bass

Walter Perkins - Drums

Ray Barretto - Congas

Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, April 13, 1962

3484 The Party's Over

3486 Lascivious

3487 Soft Winds

also issued on Fantasy OJCCD 942-2.

Review :

Originally released by Prestige while tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons was serving a long prison sentence for possession of drugs (the label effectively kept Ammons' name alive by regularly coming out with "new" material), this album was reissued on CD in 1997. The distinctive tenor is heard on three numbers with a quartet/quintet also including pianist Patti Bown, bassist George Duvivier, drummer Walter Perkins, and sometimes Ray Barretto on conga, and on four cuts as part of a ten-piece group arranged by Oliver Nelson. Flugelhornist Clark Terry gets a couple of choruses on "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," and Bown has several solos, but Ammons is the main star throughout. In addition to performing his own "Lascivious" (a blues), he sticks to standards, infusing each tune with soul and swing. A fine outing, although with brief (35 & 1/2 minutes) playing time.

by Scott Yanow [AMG]