Albert Ammons & His Rhythm Kings

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Albert Ammons & His Rhythm Kings · Albert Ammons was born in 1907 in Chicago, the son of two pianists. At ten he could already play. His interest in boogie-woogie, a blues style on the piano, arose through his friendship with Meade Lux Lewis and through his father's fondness for that style. In the 1920s he worked as a taxi driver, like Lewis, and the two played together at parties in clubs. In 1934 he started a group of his own at Club DeLisa, where he stayed for two years.

Music and breakthrough

In 1936 he recorded for Decca as Albert Ammons's Rhythm Kings, a five-piece group. Swanee River Boogie became a million-seller with the Rhythm Kings. His recording of Boogie Woogie Stomp from the same year has been described as the first twelve-bar piano record. He then moved to New York and played with pianist Pete Johnson at Café Society. In December 1938 Ammons, Johnson and Lewis appeared at Carnegie Hall in From Spirituals to Swing, a concert by John Hammond that helped start the boogie-woogie craze. Alfred Lion, who was in the hall, started Blue Note Records shortly afterwards and recorded nine solo pieces by Ammons.

Influence

His playing rests on a pulsing left hand that repeats a fixed pattern, while the right hand plays and improvises above it. Ammons died in 1949, aged 42. His influence can be heard in pianists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Dr. John and Erroll Garner, and so a line runs from the Chicago clubs to rock and roll.

Listening

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  Boogie Woogie Stomp · Albert Ammons & His Rhythm Kings, 1936
  Apple Music ↗