Albert Ammons Centennial: Long Live Boogie Woogie

While most jazz history courses and books deal with the many great stride piano players like James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, the practitioners of boogie-woogie often seem to get little coverage and tend to be linked more with blues than jazz.  That said, today we celebrate the centennial of Albert Ammons. Father of jazz saxophonist Gene "Jug" Ammons, Albert Ammons was one of the leading piano players and composers in the boogie-woogie style of the 1930's, along with folks like Jimmy Yancey and Meade "Lux" Lewis.  A centennial concert was held yesterday in his hometown of Chicago, and as we always do on birthdays, here are a video of Albert Ammons performing with another boogie-woogie legend, Pete Johnson.