Gene Ammons - Jug

with Richard Wyands, Doug Watkins, Ray Barretto, Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson, J.C. Heard

Gene Ammons spent most of the Fifties engaging in tenor battles or leading all-star groups through studio jam sessions; but he was never more eloquent than on those occasions when his soulful tenor sax was the lone horn riding a sympathetic rhythm section. Jug was part of a two-album project that had produced the ballad album Nice an’ Cool on the previous day, and can be heard as a follow-up to Ammons’s highly successful Boss Tenor, down to the inclusion of Ray Barretto’s conga drums. It features the saxophonist in the same powerhouse mix of blues, ballads, and relaxed swingers.