Pianist & Composer Albert Ammons (1907-1949)
SHOUT FOR JOY Albert Ammons (sheet music transcription)
Albert Ammons was a pianist and composer born in Chicago (Illinois, United States) on September 23, 1907. His parents were pianists, and at the age of ten they introduced him to the instrument.
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Shortly after World War I he began learning to play the blues, eventually listening to pianists such as Jimmy Yancey and Hersal Thomas, who were a great motivation for him. From the twenties he played in local clubs and worked as a taxi driver.
In 1934, he formed his own band, the Rhythm Kings, to play at De Lisa’s club and two years later he launched his recording career with the recording of ‘Boogie-Woogie Stomp’, one of the iconic boogie-woogie tunes.
His most successful period began thanks to his participation in the From Spiritual to Swing concert organized by John Hammond and held at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1938. Ammons, who would also perform in the version of the event held in 1939 accompanying Big Bill Broonzy would continue his recording career in New York and tour extensively, several of them in duet with Pete Johnson.
In the prime of his career he suffered paralysis of both hands, but in 1944, already recovered, he would reform his Rhythm Kings. His last years were spent in Chicago, where he died on December 2, 1949, a victim of alcohol.