The First Day http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Music/First-Day-Albert-Ammons/0077779845026

Artist: Albert Ammons

• Includes all 19 songs from Blue Note's first recording session: 8 piano solos from Meade Lux Lewis, 9 from Albert Ammons and 2 duets.
  
• Personnel: Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis (piano).
  
• Producer: Alfred Lion.
  
• Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna.
  
• Recorded in New York, New York on January 6, 1939. Includes liner notes by Dan Morgenstern.
  
• This is a historically significant meeting between stalwart boogie woogie pianists Ammons and Lewis. Not only does THE FIRST DAY capture these two lions practicing their art for all posterity, but it is also the first-ever recording made for Alfred Lion's fledgling Blue Note label. Thus, the session marks the first instance of the label's unique process. Lion always made sure artists recording for Blue Note were comfortable and prepared, and they often rewarded his attention by producing at the peak of their abilities.
  
• On THE FIRST DAY, Ammons and Lewis do indeed produce some of the most pristine blues and boogie woogie that had ever been or would ever be recorded. The two pianists were at the top of their craft on that day in January of 1939. Ammons and Lewis were, far and away, the greatest practitioners of their Chicagoan style. Although the mono recording and less-than-crystal quality of the sound may not be near the standards Lion was able to achieve only a few years later, the swinging blues Ammons and Lewis put down confidently transcends the limitations of the medium. Their sheer musicality and bravado makes this session a classic to this day.