Great jazz tenor saxophonist born in Chicago 4/14/1925. He played in
Billy Eckstein and
Woody Hermann's swing bands in the 40's, before starting his own combo with another tenor sax player,
Sonny Stitt in 1950. That combo lasted a few years, and Ammons played with variations on the members of that combo (less Stitt who struck out on a solo career) throughout the rest of 50's.
In 1962 Ammons was arrested on a narcotics charge and spent the next seven years at the infamous Statesville prison in Illinois (which later held serial killer Richard Speck).
Ammons returned to recording and gigging shortly after his release and released several albums on Prestige Records before his untimely death from cancer in 1974.