(Soul-Jazz, Hard Bop) Gene Ammons - Late Hour Special - 1962, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

t is our good luck that Gene Ammons recorded enough material before misfortune befell him to insure that new and fresh . albums featuring his famous horn can still be released from time to time. Gene's great popularity made him one of the most prolific recording artists of the Fifties and early Sixties-it seems as if his fans can never get enough of that warm, big-toned, sweet and swinging horn. Here the tenorman is featured in two prime settings: with a first-rate quartet, and with a crack studio orchestra arranged and conducted by the gifted Oliver Nelson.
The quartet leads off with "The Party's Over," a selection that takes on ironic overtones in the light of the sad happenings. Gene opens with three muscular, straightforward choruses and is followed by Miss Patti Bown in a fine solo. (Patti, a big girl who plays a lot of piano, has a style of her own and should be much better known.) George Duvivier (alias the rock of Gibraltar) and Walter Perkins lay down a fine beat, in that medium-bounce territory where Gene best likes to dwell.
"I Want to Be Loved" was pretty Savannah Churchill's big number. I used to hear it at least once a night on the radio - Willie Bryant featured it quite a lot - and it brings back memories. This was around the time I picked up a Mercury record of "Hiroshima" by Albert Ammons and wondered who the fine tenorman who sounded so much like Prez and Dexter Gordon could be. Albert's boy sings this number in his best declamatory ballad style - in this kind of groove, he brings to mind Illinois Jacquet, which means Herschel Evans and that big, moaning sound. The band backs him discreetly.
Mercer Ellington penned "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," a perennial favorite. Appropriately, ex-Ellingtonian Clark Terry brings this one.on, plunger in hand, with two choruses of his own brand of blues trumpet. He says a lot. Jug follows with three from his best blues bag, and then the band takes over. Hobart Dotson's clean lead trumpet can be heard for four bars near the end, before Gene's closing break.
"Lascivious" is defined by Mr. Webster (that's Noah, not Ben) as "wanton, lewd, lustful... tending to produce lewd emotions." Well, it isn't really that bad - just a happy blues which quickly sheds the Latin accents of the first chorus and settles down to some flatfooted swing. Patti Bown again comes up with a very original chorus - she has a left hand, too.
"Makin' Whoopee" is one of those standards that don't seem to be much on the surface but are awfully good to play on. This is, to me, the best track on the set for Jug... he creates with flowing ease at a relaxed tempo, with friendly assistance from the band. Nelson's score is simple but effective, using reeds under the tenor in the first chorus, having the horns lay out in favor of the rhythm section in the second, bringing out the brass in the third, and having Gene split the fourth with Richard Wyands's piano.
Benny Goodman's Sextet, featuring Charlie Christian, put "Soft Winds" on the map. It's a catchy blues riff, and Gene digs in after Patti and George's tasty introduction. Miss Bown again is musical and constructive in her solo. And
Walter Perkins, a young drummer with subtlety as well as drive, trades some fours with Jug.
"Lullaby of the Leaves" has long been a favorite of mine, and Jug does it justice. He trots out his biggest tone here, and bends his notes to the mournful accents of the melody. Nelson's backing is unobtrusive but helpful, and there is a passionate coda by Gene, who really tells a story on this one.. .in his younger days, he might have become sentimental in handling this kind of material, but in maturity he has learned how to be moving without theatricality.
Listening to this album makes one think about the secret of Gene Ammons's great and lasting popularity. Part of it no doubt is his talent for picking the right tempos; surely his big sound plays a key role, as does his natural swing. But it might also be a matter of content: of his ability to be rough without getting raucous, brusque without being bitter, tender without turning treacly, acerb without getting angry. No "great innovator" or character of new paths, Gene Ammons tells a straightforward story of and for our times. I'd like to bet that he will be telling it - and that people will listen - long after today's latest innovation has become old hat, and the vaunted new paths have turned out to be blind alleys. Whenever Gene Ammons comes back - and let us hope against expectations that it will be soon - his music will still be wanted. Meanwhile, pick up on what he left behind.

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 11. April 2009, 8:32
Gene Ammons / Late Hour Special
Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-112D Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 320 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : Yes
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:47.12 | 0 | 26036
2 | 5:47.12 | 4:02.08 | 26037 | 44194
3 | 9:49.20 | 4:32.35 | 44195 | 64629
4 | 14:21.55 | 4:31.05 | 64630 | 84959
5 | 18:52.60 | 5:05.27 | 84960 | 107861
6 | 23:58.12 | 5:52.33 | 107862 | 134294
7 | 29:50.45 | 5:34.67 | 134295 | 159411
Track 1
Filename D:\music\rip\Gene Ammons - Late Hour Special (1962) {Russian print}\01 - The Party's Over.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 93.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F8F6336C
Copy CRC F8F6336C
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename D:\music\rip\Gene Ammons - Late Hour Special (1962) {Russian print}\02 - I Want To Be Loved (But By Only You).wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:04.09
Peak level 69.2 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 29D960C9
Copy CRC 29D960C9
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename D:\music\rip\Gene Ammons - Late Hour Special (1962) {Russian print}\03 - Things Ain't What They Used To Be.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:04.80
Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 9124624E
Copy CRC 9124624E
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename D:\music\rip\Gene Ammons - Late Hour Special (1962) {Russian print}\04 - Lascivious.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:04.30
Peak level 98.1 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC E2C2B302
Copy CRC E2C2B302
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename D:\music\rip\Gene Ammons - Late Hour Special (1962) {Russian print}\05 - Makin' Whoopee.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:03.37
Peak level 82.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C24C9D64
Copy CRC C24C9D64
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename D:\music\rip\Gene Ammons - Late Hour Special (1962) {Russian print}\06 - Soft Winds.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:04.76
Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 71EECB18
Copy CRC 71EECB18
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename D:\music\rip\Gene Ammons - Late Hour Special (1962) {Russian print}\07 - Lullaby Of The Leaves.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:04.26
Peak level 89.1 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 8C3715A5
Copy CRC 8C3715A5
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report

REM GENRE Jazz
REM DATE 1962
REM DISCID 57084D07
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.99pb4"
PERFORMER "Gene Ammons"
TITLE "Late Hour Special"
FILE "01 - The Party's Over.wav" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "The Party's Over"
PERFORMER "Gene Ammons"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "I Want To Be Loved (But By Only You)"
PERFORMER "Gene Ammons"
INDEX 00 05:43:05
FILE "02 - I Want To Be Loved (But By Only You).wav" WAVE
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 03 AUDIO
TITLE "Things Ain't What They Used To Be"
PERFORMER "Gene Ammons"
INDEX 00 03:57:23
FILE "03 - Things Ain't What They Used To Be.wav" WAVE
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 04 AUDIO
TITLE "Lascivious"
PERFORMER "Gene Ammons"
INDEX 00 04:28:12
FILE "04 - Lascivious.wav" WAVE
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Makin' Whoopee"
PERFORMER "Gene Ammons"
INDEX 00 04:27:52
FILE "05 - Makin' Whoopee.wav" WAVE
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 06 AUDIO
TITLE "Soft Winds"
PERFORMER "Gene Ammons"
INDEX 00 05:00:45
FILE "06 - Soft Winds.wav" WAVE
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 07 AUDIO
TITLE "Lullaby Of The Leaves"
PERFORMER "Gene Ammons"
INDEX 00 05:48:13
FILE "07 - Lullaby Of The Leaves.wav" WAVE
INDEX 01 00:00:00