Gene Ammons - My Way (1971) [vinyl>flac]

Although late in the Prestige jazz funk years, and not in the small combo mode of some of Ammons' best early 70s sides, this is still an excellent batch of tracks - thanks to hip arrangements from Bill Fisher! The format's almost in a Kudu/CTI mode, as larger arrangements envelope Jug's soulful tenor - funking away with a blacksploitation on tracks like "Chicago Breakdown", "Back In Mérida", and a great cover of "What's Going On", all done with tight horns, compressed guitar, and even a bit of strings. There's a few mellower numbers that aren't as great - but these tracks more than make the album worth having! © Dusty Groove America, Inc.

Ammons is joined with some great players on these sessions, in particular Roland Hanna & Ted Dunbar on the 1^st Side. On the 2^nd side Billy Butler does his thing along with Ron Carter and banging away in the background is the mighty Idris Muhammad. Also with brass and strings added there are some very dynamic grooves going down. Even though this is a latter-day album by Ammons he still blows amazing hard right throughout, Enjoy!

Prestige Records, PR 10022, 1971

Recorded 26^th July (#B1-B3) & July (#A1-A3), 1971 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Personnel:

Gene Ammons - Tenor Saxophone

Robert Prado- Trumpet (#A1,A2,B1-B3)

Ernie Royal - Trumpet (#A1,A2,B1-B3)

Garnett Brown - Trombone (#A1,A2,B1-B3)

Richard Landry - Tenor Saxophone (#A1,A2,B1-B3)

Babe Clark - Baritone Saxophone (#A1,A2,B1-B3)

Roland Hanna - Electric Piano (#A1-A3)

Ted Dunbar - Guitar (#A1-A3)

Billy Butler - Guitar (#B1-B3)

Ron Carter - Bass (#B1-B3)

Chuck Rainey - Electric Bass (#A1,A2)

Idris Muhammad - Drums (#A1,A2,B1-B3)

Omar Clay - Percussion (#A1,A2,B1,B2)

Yvonne Fletcher, Patricia Hall, Loretta Ritter, Linda Wolfe - Vocals (#A2,B1,B2)

Unidentified String Section (#A2,B1,B3)

Bill Fischer - Arranger And Conductor

Track Listing:

A1. Chicago Breakdown {William S. Fischer} (9:37)

A2. What's Going On {Renaldo Benson, Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye} (4:15)

A3. A House Is Not A Home {Burt Bacharach, Hal David} (3:41)

B1. Sack Full Of Dreams {Gary McFarland, Louis Savary} (6:19)

B2. Back In Mérida {William S. Fischer} (4:17)

B3. My Way {Paul Anka, Claude François, Jacques Revaux} (5:58)

Credits:

Producer - Bob Porter

Recording Engineer - Rudy van Gelder

Arranger, Conductor - Bill Fisher

Photography & Design - Tony Lane