Circular Breathing and Pepper's Greatest Hits

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

First, my apologies for any repetitive posts. I was doing an overhaul of the blog today and some inadvertent errors occurred. 

Going forward I'll be posting on Friday night. I've got a new day gig and I work on Saturdays.

So, what about that nine-second, beautifully arched, dramatic-as-hell long note that Pepper plays in the opening theme of "I've Just Seen Her?" For those of you who don't know, it's on his great Encounter date for Prestige, with Zoot Sims, Tommy Flanagan, Ron Carter and Elvin Jones. Perhaps this is the only recorded example of Adams employing circular breathing? Can anyone confirm this and tell me if Pepper uses the technique at any other time in his recorded history?

On Pepper's birthday this past Wednesday (8 October), I listened to my "Greatest Hits" CD. In 2012 Motema Music actually asked me to put together a CD of Pepper's greatest commercial recordings for a possible release. You can believe it took me a great deal of time! Below is what I put together, in order of appearance. I tried to get a workable mix of tempos and formats that would showcase his solos and also cohere as a CD. Let me know what you think of the choices.

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 Metropol Orkest (+ strings)
10. Salt Peanuts  (Pony Poindexter)
11. Moanin'  (Charles Mingus)
12. Sophisticated Lady  (Donald Byrd)
13. That's All   (Pepper Adams)