Gene Ammons – Boss Tenor (200g LP)

Label: Analogue Productions – APRJ 7180 – 200 Gram Virgin Vinyl –
Limited Edition – Mastered By Kevin Gray
AAA 100% Analogue – Prestige 7180 – Pressed at QRP –
The Absolute Sound Super Disc List TAS Harry Pearson Super LP List

“Both are gorgeous impressions of soul, jazz and blues, brought together through the legacy of standards and new compositions. The tonality of Gene Ammons in particular is transfixing and it is with the stereo reissues from Prestige that Gene will get a lot of love with multiple titles scheduled for release. Booker Ervin was another great tenor sax player and his contributions to the Prestige vaults are timeless with Exultation!.” – Erik Otis, Sound Colour Vibration

Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions

50 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made.

For nearly a quarter-century, beginning in 1950, tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons (1925-1974) was among the brightest stars in the Prestige Records firmament. Whether leading or partaking in one of Prestige’s jam sessions, immersing himself in the organ-dominated blues and gospel grooves that in the 1950s came to be called “soul jazz,” or digging deep for heart-rending ballads, Ammons was multiply masterful. And in 1960, leading a quintet featuring the impeccable pianist Tommy Flanagan, plus Ray Barretto’s piquant congas, he produced the insuperable Boss Tenor.

he great tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons was of the generation of swing-era players that easily adapted to bop. But though he was a modernist, Ammons maintained that breathy, old-school romantic approach to the tenor. Boss Tenor, a quintet session from 1960, is one of Ammons’ very best albums. Ray Barretto’s congas subtly add a bit of Latin spice, but otherwise this is a collection of standards rendered with a gorgeous late-night bluesy feel. Accompaniment by Tommy Flanagan, one of the best mainstream pianists ever, certainly doesn’t hurt, either. A gem.

This relaxed, swinging quintet session from 1960 But it is among the finest, most rewarding music tenor great Gene Ammons (1925-74) ever made. Boss Tenor – easily confused with Boss Tenors , the 1961 Verve record Ammons cut with Sonny Stitt – is probably included here due to Ammons’s enduring and unprecedented affiliation with Prestige. Ammons recorded over 50 albums for the label from 1950, around the time of the label’s inception, until Ammons’s death in 1974 (interrupted only by seven years in jail between 1962 and 1969). A warm, burnished, consistently recognizable tone always blew through Ammons’s horn and the assured, identifiable manner he could scale ballads, blues, bop and r & b was always reliable and appealing.

A winner all the way around, and one of the definitive additions to Ammons’s huge discography.

• Plated by Gary Salstrom

• Mastered by Kevin Gray

• Stereo