Albert Ammons "The king of boogie woogie" (1981)

Albert Ammons

A major inspiration to generations of improvising musicians, Albert Ammons is best remembered as an exciting pianist who inaugurated the Blue Note record label by hammering out blues and boogie duets with Meade "Lux" Lewis, and as the father of hard bop tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons. Born in Chicago on September 23, 1907, he learned the rudiments of piano from his parents and neighbors and began cultivating an ability to play the blues when he was 12 years old. His main influences were Jimmy Blythe, Jimmy and Alonzo Yancey, Hersal Thomas, and Clarence "Pinetop" Smith, who personally encouraged the aspiring pianist.
At the age of 17 Ammons met Meade "Lux" Lewis while they were both drivers for Chicago's Silver Taxicab Company. The two men honed their skills by pounding the ivories on an upright at the depot and by gigging publicly after hours, sometimes doubling up for boogie-woogie piano four hands. By 1934 Ammons was leading his own little group at the Club De Lisa on the South Side. A powerhouse stride pianist who had stylistic traits in common with Fats Waller (the two would have made a formidable duo had anyone ever thought to bring them together), Ammons became strongly identified with the boogie-woogie style after recording "Boogie Woogie Stomp" and "Swanee River Boogie" for Decca with his Rhythm Kings in 1936. Ammons next decided to take himself to New York, where he gigged regularly at Café Society (Downtown and Uptown) with Meade "Lux" Lewis and the Kansas City contingent of Pete Johnson and blues shouter Big Joe Turner.
In 1938 the four created a sensation at the Spirituals to Swing concert in Carnegie Hall, establishing boogie-woogie as a crowd-pleasing trend that made good money for most of the popular big bands in the nation, including those led by Benny Goodman, who actually jammed with Ammons, and Tommy Dorsey, who never hesitated to take advantage of a good thing. Ammons, who had cut a few sides for Vocalion in 1938, recorded a series of solos and duets with Meade "Lux" Lewis on January 6, 1939, now established as the very first titles in the catalog of Alfred Lion's newly founded Blue Note label. Ammons was also the backbone of the Boogie Woogie Trio, a hot little unit that recorded a stomp called "Woo Woo" with trumpeter Harry James for the Brunswick record company on February 1, 1939. On April 7 he recorded several blues and boogie improvisations in the company of guitarist Teddy Bunn, bassist Johnny Williams, and drummer Sidney Catlett as the rhythm section of a quintet alternately led by trumpeter Frankie Newton and trombonist J.C. Higginbotham, then with both horns to form a sextet presented by Blue Note as the Port of Harlem Jazzmen.
Ammons recorded a passel of duets with Pete Johnson for Victor in 1941, but then ceased performing for a while after accidentally severing a fingertip while fixing up a sandwich. In 1944 Ammons recorded for Commodore as a soloist and with a solid little band that had a front line of trumpeter Hot Lips Page, trombonist Vic Dickenson, and tenor saxophonist Don Byas. He also performed a duet with Meade "Lux" Lewis in Boogie Woogie Dream, a motion picture starring Lena Horne. During the years 1945-1949 he returned to Chicago, held down a steady gig at the Bee Hive, and periodically recorded for Mercury, backing legendary blues woman Sippie Wallace, collaborating with guitarists Lonnie Johnson and Ike Perkins, and, on April 8, 1946, sharing a memorable session with his son Gene Ammons. His final achievements consisted of Decca recordings with Lionel Hampton and a special performance at the White House in the nation's capital for Harry Truman's second-term inauguration. Illness forced Albert Ammons off the scene and when he passed away on December 2, 1949, he was only 42 years old. Tragically, Gene Ammons would follow his father's example by passing away at the age of 49, in 1974.

Source: All Music.com.

Amos Milburn "Greatest hits" (1989)

Amos Milburn

Boogie piano master Amos Milburn was born in Houston, and he died there a short 52 years later. In between, he pounded out some of the most hellacious boogies of the postwar era, usually recording in Los Angeles for Aladdin Records and specializing in good-natured upbeat romps about booze and its effects (both positive and negative) that proved massive hits during the immediate pre-rock era.
The self-taught 88s ace made a name for himself as "the He-Man Martha Raye" around Houston before joining the Navy and seeing overseas battle action in World War II. When he came out of the service, Milburn played in various Lone Star niteries before meeting the woman whose efforts would catapult him to stardom.
Persistent manager Lola Anne Cullum reportedly barged into Aladdin boss Eddie Mesner's hospital room, toting a portable disc machine with Milburn's demo all cued up. The gambit worked -- Milburn signed with Aladdin in 1946. His first date included a thundering "Down the Road Apiece" that presaged the imminent rise of rock & roll. But Milburn was capable of subtler charms too, crooning mellow blues ballads in a Charles Brown-influenced style (the two would later become close friends, playing together frequently).
The first of Milburn's 19 Top Ten R&B smashes came in 1948 with his party classic "Chicken Shack Boogie," which paced the charts and anointed his band with a worthy name (the Aladdin Chickenshackers, natch). A velvet-smooth "Bewildered" displayed the cool after-hours side of Milburn's persona as it streaked up the charts later that year, but it was rollicking horn-driven material such as "Roomin' House Boogie" and "Sax Shack Boogie" that Milburn was renowned for. Milburn's rumbling 88s influenced a variety of famous artists, notably Fats Domino.
With the ascent of "Bad, Bad Whiskey" to the peak of the charts in 1950, Milburn embarked on a string of similarly boozy smashes: "Thinking and Drinking," "Let Me Go Home Whiskey," "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer" (an inebriating round John Lee Hooker apparently enjoyed!), and "Good Good Whiskey" (his last hit in 1954). Alcoholism later brought the pianist down hard, giving these numbers a grimly ironic twist in retrospect. Milburn's national profile rated a series of appearances on the Willie Bryant-hosted mid-'50s TV program Showtime at the Apollo (where he gave out with a blistering "Down the Road Apiece").
Aladdin stuck with Milburn long after the hits ceased, dispatching him to New Orleans in 1956 to record with the vaunted studio crew at Cosimo's. There he recut "Chicken Shack Boogie" in a manner so torrid that it's impossible to believe it didn't hit (tenor saxist Lee Allen and drummer Charles "Hungry" Williams blast with atomic power as Milburn happily grunts along with his pounding boogie piano solo). In 1957, he left Aladdin for good.
Milburn contributed a fine offering to the R&B Yuletide canon in 1960 with his swinging "Christmas (Comes but Once a Year)" for King. Berry Gordy gave him a comeback forum in 1962, issuing an album on Motown predominated by remakes of his old hits that doesn't deserve its extreme rarity today (even Little Stevie Wonder pitched in on harp for the sessions).
Nothing could jump start the pianist's fading career by then, though. His health deteriorated to the point where a string of strokes limited his mobility and his left leg was eventually amputated. Not too long after, one of the greatest pioneers in the history of R&B was dead.

Source: All Music.com.