Gene Ammons - Gentle Jug, Volume 3 (2000)

Anyone who has even the most basic knowledge of Gene "Jug" Ammons will tell you how marvelous a ballad player he was. When the tenor titan played ballads, there was nothing superficial going on -- Ammons dug deep and showed the world what soulful, smoky, ultra-expressive playing was all about. Assembled in 2000, Gentle Jug, Vol. 3 marked the third time that Fantasy put together a ballad-oriented collection by the saxophone master. For those who don't know anything about Ammons, three Gentle Jug collections might seem excessive, but it isn't. Spanning 1961-1970, Gentle Jug, Vol. 3 draws on Ammons' Prestige years and -- like the two previous Gentle Jug collections -- shows why his lyrical ballad playing was so revered. Whether he is interpreting "Blue Velvet," "The Masquerade Is Over" or Mel Tormé's "Born to Be Blue," this 61-minute, 11-song CD paints a consistently attractive picture of Jug's romantic side. His haunting 1960 performance of "Angel Eyes" is among the most captivating versions of that great, if overdone, standard -- and when Ammons pours his heart into "Lush Life," it is obvious that he has no problem relating to Billy Strayhorn's world-weary outlook. While some of these performances feature pianists, others find Jug leading organ combos. Surprisingly, Jug was not a big fan of organists; he complained that they "didn't know changes" -- nonetheless, he did some of his best (and most popular) work in their presence. Like the previous Gentle Jug collections, this hard bop/soul-jazz CD is well worth obtaining if you are searching for an album of smoky mood music.~Alex Henderson