Friday, January 13, 2012

Dale Fielder to Perform the Entire Adams Songbook

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.


Saxophonist Dale Fielder will be the first musician to ever play the entire oeuvre of Pepper Adams--all 43 compositions--in four concerts, tentatively scheduled for October 18-21 in Los Angeles.  Much like hearing the cycle of Shostakovich's string quartets over a few days, Fielder will perform, with a local rhythm section, Adams' challenging tunes, likely at three different clubs, though  probably not in chronological order.  These performances will give listeners a chance to hear the totality of Adams' compositional output and to buy the 6-CD box set Pepper Adams: Complete Compositions.  Signed copies of my newly published Pepper Adams' Joy Road: An Annotated Discography, at 40% off retail, will also for sale.  Stay tuned for more details on this historic event and on my North American and European book/CD tour.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Incomparable Pepper Adams

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



As part of my 6-CD box set project, here are the tunes I've proposed for a "Best of Pepper Adams" anthology.  My apologies to any triskaidekephobics out there, but it does fill up 80 full minutes  What do you think? 

1. Lotus Blossom   (Jimmy Witherspoon)
2. Chant   Donald Byrd (studio version, with Herbie and Doug Watkins)
3. Bossa Nova Ova  (Thad Jones-Pepper Adams)
4. East of the Sun  (Toots Thielemans)
5. Day Dream  (Pepper Adams-Donald Byrd)
6. Baptismal  (Stanley Turrentine)
7. Three and One  (Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra)
8. I've Just Seen Her  (Pepper Adams)
9. Gone With the Wind  (unreleased: Pepper Adams with strings)
10. Salt Peanuts  (Pony Poindexter)
11. Moanin'  (Charles Mingus)
12. Sophisticated Lady  (Donald Byrd)
13. That's All   (Pepper Adams)

Monday, January 2, 2012

Pepper Adams discography update

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



After 27 years, I've finally finished my discography of Pepper Adams. The manuscript, Pepper Adams' Joy Road: An Annotated Discography, has been submitted to Scarecrow Press for publication this summer.  Dan Morgenstern is writing the foreword, and I've asked Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Sonny Rollins, Phil Woods, and Quincy Jones to write endorsements.  The work, dedicated to Lewis Porter, is approximately 600 pages, covering the period 1947-1986.  Transcribed interview material is appended to many entries, and a centerfold of various media will be included.