Pepper Adams

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Pepper Adams
Birth name Park Frederick Adams III
Born October 8, 1930(1930-10-08)
Origin Highland Park, Michigan
Died September 10, 1986(1986-09-10) (aged 55)
Genres Jazz
Instruments Baritone saxophone
Labels Savoy, Prestige, Blue Note, Warwick, Riverside, Enja, Muse, Uptown
Associated acts Wardell Gray, Lucky Thompson, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, Barry Harris, Billy Mitchell, Lionel Hampton, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, Elvin Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Charles Mingus, Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, Frank Foster, George Mraz

Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III (October 8, 1930 – September 10, 1986)[1] was a jazz baritone saxophonist and composer. He composed 43 pieces, was the leader on twenty albums, and participated in 600 sessions as a sideman.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Pepper Adams was born in Highland Park, Michigan.[1] His family moved to Rochester, New York, when he was young, and in that city he began his musical efforts on tenor sax and clarinet. At age 16, Adams moved to Detroit and switched to baritone sax; this proved to be successful, as by 1947 he was playing in Lucky Thompson's band.[2] In Detroit, Adams also met several jazz musicians who would become future partners, including trumpeter Donald Byrd. Adams now became interested in Wardell Gray's approach to the saxophone, later naming Gray and Harry Carney as his influences. He also spent time in a United States Army band, and briefly had a tour of duty in Korea.[3]

He later moved to New York City, where he played on the album Dakar with John Coltrane, played with Lee Morgan on The Cooker, and briefly worked with Benny Goodman's band in 1958. During this time, Adams also began working with Charles Mingus, performing on one of Mingus's most acclaimed albums from the period, Blues & Roots. Thereafter, he recorded with Mingus sporadically until the latter's death in 1979. He later became a founding member[2] of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, with whom he played from 1965 to 1976, and thereafter continued to record Jones's compositions on many of his own albums.[4] Adams also co-led a quintet with Donald Byrd from 1958 to 1962, with whom he recorded a live date, 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot, featuring Elvin Jones,[5] and a sequence of albums for Blue Note.

In later years, Adams toured England and Continental Europe several times, performing there with local rhythm sections, and he performed with a Count Basie tribute band at the Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice.[2] He died of lung cancer in Brooklyn, New York, on September 10, 1986.[6]

[edit] Style

Pepper Adams was in many ways the antithesis of giants of the baritone saxophone Gerry Mulligan and Serge Chaloff. Adams managed to bring the cumbersome baritone into the blisteringly fast speeds of hard bop like no others had before.[7] Gary Carner, Adams's biographer, described his style as having "very long, tumbling, double-time melodic lines. And that raw, piercing, bark-like timbre."[2]

[edit] Awards & Honors

Adams was nominated three times for a Grammy Award. In the 1975 Playboy Magazine annual music poll, he was named an All Star's All-Star. He won Down Beat's New Star award in 1957 and was named baritone soloist of the year for 1980.[6]

[edit] Discography

[edit] As leader

  • Pepper Adams Quintet (1957)
  • Critic's Choice (1957)
  • Pepper-Knepper Quintet - MetroJazz Records (1958)
  • 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot (1958), Riverside Records, with Donald Byrd and Elvin Jones
  • Motor City Scene (1960), with Donald Byrd
  • Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams, Out of This World: The Complete Warwick Sessions (1961), with pianist Herbie Hancock
  • Pepper Adams plays Charlie Mingus (1963)
  • Encounter! (1968)
  • Ephemera (1973)
  • Julian (1975)
  • Twelfth and Pingree (1975)
  • Live in Europe (1977) - Disques Futura et Marge - Impro 02 - [1]
  • Live Jazz By the Sea (1977), live in California
  • Reflectory (1978)
  • Be-Bop (1979) Musica Records
  • The Master (1980)
  • Urban Dreams (1981), quartet with pianist Jimmy Rowles
  • Conjuration: Fat Tuesday's Session (1983), live with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler
  • The Adams Effect (1989, posthumously)

[edit] As sideman

With Donald Byrd

With John Coltrane

With Hank Mobley

With Elvin Jones

With Thad Jones

With The Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra

With Charles Mingus

With Blue Mitchell

With Lee Morgan

With Oliver Nelson

With Duke Pearson

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Randel, Don Michael, ed. (1996). "Adams, Pepper". The Harvard biographical dictionary of music. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. pp. 4. ISBN 0674372999. 
  2. ^ a b c d Feather, Leonard and Ira Gitler. Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, 1999. p.5-6
  3. ^ A dissertation on Adams
  4. ^ All Music
  5. ^ All About Jazz
  6. ^ a b "Pepper Adams Dead; Baritone Saxophonist", New York Times, 11 September 1986
  7. ^ Cook, Richard and Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. Penguin Books, 2004. Page 10
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