These were tough times for Gene Ammons. His 1960 release from prison had thrown him back onto the mean streets unprepared to battle his addiction, and the need for money and drugs had him working at a fever pitch, in the clubs and in the studio, to support his habit, with the law dogging his heels and finally, late in 1962, arresting him again--a frameup, according to Prestige producer Bob Porter.
Porter, in his important book Soul Jazz: Jazz in the Black Community 1945-1975, describes the arrest:
The arrest warrant charge this time was possession with intent to sell. The case against Ammons was built with all the subtlety of an inquisition. In today's judicial climate, the case would clearly be one of entrapment, but that didn't help Ammons in the Illinois of 1962. He spent more than seven years behind bars.
Ammons, for all the desperation of his private life, was playing wonderfully in those days, and his reputation was burgeoning. Bob Porter states that "Black people began to plan their vacation schedules around his personal appearances. In 1962 alone, he had 13 recording sessions, mostly for Prestige.
The exceptions were a February session for Verve with Sonny Stitt, and some curious recording dates in Chicago in late April and early May. There was a four-song session with Howard McGhee which yielded one 45 RPM single released on Winley, a New York doowop label, and two other songs which came out on Winley compilation albums.
Then there were a series of sessions recorded for Chess, but never released on Chess, because Ammons had an exclusive deal with Prestige, and Bob Weinstock sued and won the rights to the masters. The first of these, on April 27, featured Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson on organ, and unidentified personnel. The next, on May 3, featured Anderson, bassist Sylvester Hickman, and drummer Dorral Anderson. The next day, he recorded with Dodo Marmarosa (piano), Sam Jones (bass) and Marshall Thompson (drums). Some of these recordings were released by Prestige during the seven years of Ammons' incarceration, as Weinstock carefully spaced out releases to keep Ammons's name alive; others only came out in the early 1970s, after Prestige had been sold to Fantasy.
A 45 RPM single, with "I Can't Stop Loving You," recently featured on Ray Charles's Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, on one side, and "My Babe," a 1955 smash for Chess artist Little Walter, on the other, did get released on Chess subsidiary Argo Records, and later again on Prestige/Fantasy compilations. Also released on Argo, and later on Prestige, was a trio album Just Jug, with Eddie Buster on organ and Gerald Donovan on drums.
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