Product information :  Boogie Woogie Stomp

Personnel: Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson (piano); Herbert Marshall (bass).

Producers: Christopher I. Page, Robert G. Koester, Steve Wagner.

Recorded in 1938 & 1939. Includes liner notes by Christopher I. Page and Axel Zwingenberger.

BOOGIE WOOGIE STOMP, a collection of rare radio broadcasts by Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, and Pete Johnson, reveals how the spirit of the boogie woogie style became the basis for all popular music that followed. Ammons' rollicking and rolling on the keys foretells the coming of be-bop, R&B, and rock & roll all at once. Ammons, Lewis, and Johnson cut the majority of these sides at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago in 1939. What flowed forth was a tumult of raucous swing-part ragtime and part old-fashioned blues-that was unlike any other music.

STOMP bears all the authentic bravado that makes these musicians masters. Ammons is the most forceful of the bunch, while Lewis and Johnson opt for a gentler touch and a lilting swing. The last four cuts, somewhat less pristine studio recordings made by Frank Lyons in 1938, feature bassist Herbert Marshall and charismatic spoken commentary from Ammons and Lewis.