Lost Pepper Adams?

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

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My June was dominated by proof-reading the first half of my Pepper Adams biography for publication.

It’s now leaner and in much better shape. I have another fifty pages of Chapter Three to proof. Then, I’m

putting it to bed until the end of the year, when I’ll read it once more before making it available.

One of my readers suggested that I cut some of my discussion of the Duke Pearson Big Band within

Chapter Six. That’s now been accomplished. For the same chapter, another reader asked me to explore

rock in the 1960s, and how that affected Thad/Mel and jazz at large. That will take me a little time, for sure.

My reader also suggested that I place my “Listener’s Guide, 1977-1986” within the text, not as an

appendix. So it’s likely going to be the new Chapter Five. Consistent with that, I’ll craft the “Listener’s

Guide, 1964-1977” as Chapter Seven. 

Thanks to the podcasts offered by the Author’s Guild, I’ve been researching mailing lists, contracts, and

(soon) piracy issues. I’ve yet to select an e-book vendor, but I’m edging closer and closer.

I may invite someone to write a foreword. That remains to be seen. Any suggestions? I’d love to get

Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea to write it, but they’re so hard to reach.

I’ve gotten through 17 of my remaining 50 interviews that I need to finish before I can turn to writing

Chapter Six, my final one.

Sometime in 2008 or so, I had lunch with an old New Jersey neighbor at Universal Music Group. After

hanging out and having lunch, he promised me that he would get from their Los Angeles vaults the

masters to Pepper’s four Motown tracks (arranged by Thad Jones) and the unreleased Motown date done

by Marcus Belgrave. He asked me to follow up. Follow up I did, about twenty times over the course of two

or three years. I never heard back. Now, the truth about Universal’s epic fire has final come to light, and I

can only suppose that this is why he never got back to me. The word among management was to keep news

of the fire a secret. See the article “The Day the Music Burned”:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage  

Although the master to these dates have likely been destroyed, fortunately this music survives:

Correction:

PEPPER ADAMS

631203

Recorded at Sanders Recording Studio. The correct title is “Azure-Te.”

This date is likely destroyed, due to the catastrophic Universal Music Group fire of June 1, 2008, where the master was stored.

See https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage 

What follows is a list of all of the now-believed lost or destroyed Pepper Adams recordings that recent

research has uncovered. These updates have been made to Discography Updates: 

https://www.pepperadams.com/JoyRoad/DiscoUpdates.pdf at https://www.pepperadams.com/. While a few of

these dates are known to be destroyed, others may still exists. Hopefully, bringing these sessions to the

attention of the public will increase any possibility of their eventual discovery.

New Entry (Broadcasts and Recordings That No Longer Survive):

10th SPECIAL SERVICES COMPANY

530400

cmid April 1953, audience recording, Korea: Pepper Adams bs; Al Gould accordion; other musicians.

According to Al Gould, a complete one-hour show of the band in performance was recorded sometime in April. “I believe what

was recorded,” says Gould, “was not a typical whole show with all of the specialty entertainers. It was more likely the Show

Band playing a blend of styles of a few well-known uptempo show tunes, plus ballads of the day, with an emcee (not Al Lamo).

Pepper would have been definitely featured on one or more songs. The original recording or the only known copy has been long

gone since the person who had it can longer be found.”

New Entry (Broadcasts and Recordings That No Longer Survive):

NEW MUSIC SOCIETY

550328

28 March 1955, Institute of Arts, Detroit: Sonny Stitt ts; Pepper Adams bs; Kenny Burrell g; Tommy
Flanagan p; Bill Burrell e-b; Hindal Butts dm. 

From http://gc-pepperadamsblog.blogspot.com: For years I’ve wondered about the eighth entry in Pepper Adams’ Joy Road.
I first learned about that mysterious 1955 live recording from a concert program I found in Pepper Adams' materials. Program
notes written by drummer Rudy Tucich referred to a live recording with a numbing array of Detroit's finest musicians. What
happened to it? Now, thanks to Tucich, I finally have some news.On 28 March 1955 the New Music Society produced a
spectacular concert at the Detroit Institute of Arts to showcase its members. Tucich and singer/vibist Oliver Shearer, co-officers
of the Society with Kenny Burrell, invited many of the greatest players then living in Detroit to participate in the concert,
including Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, Pepper Adams, Barry Harris, Curtis Fuller, Elvin Jones, Yusef Lateef, Bernard McKinney
and Sonny Red. Detroit elders Sonny Stitt and Milt Jackson, not Society members per se, were invited as very special guests.
“This concert,” wrote Tucich, “is being recorded and will be the first release on our own label, Free Arts Records. Your
cooperation in the recording will be greatly appreciated. We would also like to have you give us your suggestion for the
name of our first concert album.” In 1955 most of the musicians at the concert performed on Tuesday nights at the World Stage.
The World Stage was a theater above Paperback Unlimited at the northwest corner of Woodward Avenue and Davison. On
weekends, World Stage put on plays. Lily Tomlin was one of its actors. Early in the week, however, the theater was dark, so a
perfect venue for the New Music Society's members to have sessions.

The Society recorded the 28 March concert on three ten-inch reels. A quintet comprised of Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell,
Tommy Flanagan, Billy Burrell and Hindall Butts opened with a tune based on the changes of Undecided, then performed
Afternoon in Paris. After Flanagan's trio feature on Dancing in the Dark, the quintet returned to play Someday, If Not in Heaven
(with Kenny Burrell singing!) and Woody'n You. A local group, The Counterpoints, performed three numbers before Sonny
Stitt's quintet (with Curtis Fuller, Barry Harris, Alvin Jackson and Elvin Jones) performed Loose Walk, a ballad medley (I Can't
Get Started, If I Should Lose You, Embraceable You and Lover Man) and a closing blues.

After a likely intermission, Oliver Shearer gave a speech about the New Music Society, then Kenny Burrell introduced Yusef
Lateef's ensemble. Lateef, Bernard McKinney, Sonny Red, Barry Harris, Alvin Jackson and Elvin Jones played four tunes: Wee,
Three Storys, a ballad medley (This Love of Mine, But Not for Me and Darn that Dream) and a closing blues. 

After two tunes by pianist Jerry Harrison and three by pianist Bu Bu Turner, Sonny Stitt returned with Milt Jackson, Kenny
Burrell, Barry Harris, Alvin Jackson and Elvin Jones to finish out the show. They stretched out on Billie's Bounce, then did
Stardust and an ending blues. 

Oh, to hear this music! What happened to it? Tucich told me a week ago that he and Barry Harris decided to mail the tapes to a
guy in Los Angeles, who would edit the tapes and transfer them to LPs for release. Did they think to make a backup copy?
No. “It never occurred to us. We were naive,” admits Tucich. Woefully, the engineer went bankrupt and, after a concerted
attempt to track him down and rescue the tapes, Tucich and Harris finally admitted that the material was lost. “I've waited 60
years to find out about them,” said Tucich. “Hopefully, it will turn up. Weirder things have happened.”

New Entry (Broadcasts and Recordings That No Longer Survive):

PEPPER ADAMS

580803

3 August 1958, Great South Bay Jazz Festival, Great River NY: Pepper Adams bs; Kenny Burrell g; George
Duvivier b; Elvin Jones dm.

a Charlie Parker tune United Artists unissued

b Benny Golson tune

c Sonny Rollins tune

According to a 6 September 1958 article in Cash Box (see https://instagram.com/p/BNmrHlVBiBp/), United Artists recorded
this live date for the first of three releases for the new label. It remains unissued. Other tunes were likely recorded. The Golson
and Rollins tunes may be Stablemates and Oleo respectively.

According to Michael Cuscuna, “UA’s surviving tapes was very spotty. There was absolutely no trace of a live Pepper Adams
date nor any outtakes for the great live albums that they did do (Randy Weston, Al & Zoot etc). The only thing I can be sure of
is that there is absolutely no trace in the tape vaults.”

Correction:

MARCUS BELGRAVE

630620

This date is likely destroyed, due to the catastrophic Universal Music Group fire of June 1, 2008, where the master was stored.
See https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage 

Bennie Maupin, in a 2014 email to me and a subsequent interview, said: “For the record, please note that Pepper is absolutely
one of my many early Detroit influences. As a matter of fact, he was prominently featured on the very first professional recording
of my career. It took place in Detroit at a place known for presenting decades of great music: The Graystone Ballroom. The
featured artist was master/mentor trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. Others featured were pianist Kirk Lightsey, bassist Cecil McBee,
trombonist George Bohanon, and a great drummer who left us much to soon, George Goldsmith. It was just a wonderful moment
because we were right there recording everything on the ballroom floor. The Graystone Ballroom was quite beautiful. I heard a
lot of live music there, with Count Basie’s Orchestra, Dinah Washington, various bands that came through. . . It was great
moment for me to be in that circle of musicians.”

Correction (Broadcasts and Recordings That No Longer Survive):

MARCUS BELGRAVE

630626

This date is likely destroyed, due to the catastrophic Universal Music Group fire of June 1, 2008, where the master was stored.
See 630620.

Correction (Broadcasts and Recordings That No Longer Survive):

PEPPER ADAMS, page 511

790716

The August, 1982 recording date is in conflict with the session’s 790716 alphanumeric code. Although the drummer believes the date took place in August, 1982, Pepper’s chronology for that time makes that impossible. The original 16 July 1979 date is more likely because that’s the date when Pepper first wrote “Binary” that they recorded at that session. “Papamutt” is the nickname for the French drummer Philippe Briand.

Bird and Herbie

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.




I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and that you are anticipating a great Christmas season and new year. In the last few weeks one of my readers suggested that I open my Pepper Adams biography with the story of when Pepper heard Bird at Detroit's Mirror Ballroom in 1949. I end the opening section of Ch 1 with it, in a way building to it. He felt that, because it's about Bird, it would create far greater interest among readers than what I have now. Back to the drawing board, as they say.

I've been rereading the very fine biographical primer The Biographer's Art, written by Milton Lomask. One of the things he recommends is for an author to conceive of an ending well in advance, then work your way there as a destination. I'm toying with ending my biography with Pepper's appearance on the Grammy Awards telecast. It seems to me that the way the New York chapter of NARAS rallied behind Pepper when his appearance on the show was threatened with cancellation is a metaphor for much that occurred in New York when Adams got ill. Maybe I don't need to worry that much about the ending? The way the book is set up, the second section of the book (analysis) follows mine. Is it perhaps more appropriate to have John Vana's work summarize the entire book?

Over the last few weeks I also came across this great piece about Herbie Hancock: https://onmilwaukee.com/music/articles/herbie-hancock-curros-milwaukee.html#_
Hancock discusses how he joined the ByrdAdams Quintet. Here's his only mention of Pepper:

"In December of 1960, a couple of months after the Coleman Hawkins gig, I got a call from John Cort, the owner of the Birdhouse, a small club in a second-floor walkup on Dearborn Street, on the North Side. ‘Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams are playing in Milwaukee this weekend,’ he told me. ‘You want to play with them?’ "‘Are you kidding?’ I said. ‘Yeah, I want to play with them!’ I couldn’t believe it – I’d just been invited to gig with one of the best jazz trumpeters around. Donald Byrd was a veteran of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, and he’d earned a master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music. He’d performed with many of the jazz greats over the years, including John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk, and in 1958 he’d started a quintet with the baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams. That was the group I was being invited to play with."

This piece is the most in-depth one I've read about Hancock and his "discovery" by Donald Byrd. It turns out that John Cort deserves much of the credit for recommending Hancock to Byrd.


One thing that has always surprised me is how little Pepper Adams is mentioned by Hancock over the years. I know that Byrd is the one who met with Hancock's mother and assured her that young Herbie would be fine living with Byrd in New York once the band left Chicago. With that in mind, it seems likely that Pepper didn't have the same degree of responsibility for Hancock as Byrd. Still, you would think that Herbie would have absorbed some influences from Adams, perhaps his harmonic usage? It sure would be fascinating to know what kind of conversations the two of them had during the year that Herbie was in the Byrd-Adams Quintet.

Pepper Adams Film

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

I had a wonderful trip to Utah in late March, early April. It gave me another chance to spread the word about Pepper Adams. On my flight out, my wife and I had the fortunate experience of being able to switch our seats to an exit row and grab some extra legroom. Sitting next to us was Josh Cross, a documentary filmmaker and MIT trained engineer.  (See https://vimeo.com/84245876 and www.GoPlugBags.com.) His passion as a filmaker is exposing injustice, especially in U.S. public schools.

I can’t recall a faster four-hour flight. We chatted the entire time. By the time we landed in Salt Lake City, Josh was really intrigued about Pepper Adams. A few days later, after checking out pepperadams.com, he admitted to being a confirmed Adams fan. Now we’re discussing the possibility of doing a documentary film on Pepper Adams. How about that for serendipity?

Josh asked me about my vision for such a film. I’m curious what you suggest? What themes should an Adams documentary tackle? What’s the argument? What kind of obstacles should be added to the narrative to give it drama? Should it be a triumph? A tragedy? Perhaps both?

Surely, the vibrant Detroit scene of the early 1950s should be covered, just as surely as how Pepper and his gifted Detroit colleagues descended on New York City in the mid-1950s (“The Detroit Invasion”) and affected jazz history. (Dan Morgenstern would be the perfect person to comment on that!) How about Pepper’s time in the Army, on base with Tommy Flanagan and Bill Evans; his ill-fated gig with Charlie Parker; or touring the front lines in Korea with the Special Services Company? How about his place in the New York City loft scene and how it intersected with the Abstract Expressionist Movement? How about his contribution to the baritone classical literature (via David Amram), racial issues in general, his place specifically as the only white musician in Blue Note’s stable from 1957 until its dissolution, or his role in important bands led by Mingus, Thad Jones and others? How about Pepper’s early role in jazz education (at the Eastman School of Music, various band camps or Making Music Together (the forerunner of Jazzmobile)? Who should narrate, if anyone? Morgan Freeman, perhaps? Someone told me he’s a Pepper Adams fan. Wouldn’t that be something?

Maybe we should highlight bands that Adams was a part of that died prematurely?-- the Thad Jones/Pepper Adams Quintet; the Thelonious Monk Big Band; and, yes, even the Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams Quintet--then move to the triumph of his glorious six years (1977-1983) as an international soloist? Should some of the themes from earlier posts be explored?: His unglamorous appearance? The fact that he played a low-pitched instrument? The complexity of his playing style and compositions? Perhaps this is an opportunity to finally include those I haven’t had the chance to interview, such as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett and others? Who else should be interviewed? Readers, I need your input here. All ideas, outlines, etc will be shared in a future post.

                                             (Josh Cross)

Once on the ground, my first few days in Salt Lake City were spent visiting with family, doing some sightseeing, and acclimating to the high altitude, new time zone, and cold and rainy weather. I enjoyed visiting the Tracy Aviary and the Natural History Museum. Both really aren’t my thing, I thought, yet how often do you get stared at by owls and witness peacocks strutting around unfettered or with their plume fully extended? At the architecturally dazzling Natural History Museum we saw a rather creepy show on the history of poison, then toured other exhibits. They had a great section devoted to local Native American tribes, including some moving short films with interview material.

Outside, on a back terrace, and also by one of the front entrances, were warning signs about rattlesnakes. The museum is situated right up against the base of one of the mountain ranges surrounding the city. Some folks at the gift shop told me they’ve seen scorpions--or was it tarantulas?

--in the museum, and once a rattlesnake was spotted slithering around under one of the rattlesnake warning signs.

On my fourth day in Salt Lake, I began the first of a handful of scheduled Pepper Adams events. At Westminster College I spent two hours with saxophonist David Halliday’s Jazz Ensemble class. It gave me a chance to test some new ideas. David was a wonderful host and his class enjoyed the videos available at pepperadams.com. Similar to my experience lecturing at saxophonist Kirk MacDonald’s class at Humber College in Toronto and at trumpeter John D’Earth’s class at the University of Virginia, Halliday participated with me in the lecture, highlighting points I made to the students. In that way, the class became more didactic. In Halliday’s case, many of his students hadn’t taken a jazz survey, thus weren’t knowledgeable of many of the musicians I referenced.

Halliday really appreciated many of the musical points I made and didn’t hesitate to politely challenge something that he felt was off-base. About one point I made--regarding Adams’ sound and style being instantly recognizable, and an aesthetic that was once far more important in jazz--he felt my second point was incorrect. He said if you listen to Robert Glasper or Kurt Rosenwinkel, for example, they too have their own thing going, and that jazz musicians still strive to establish their own unique voice. Although my comment may have been heavy-handed, is there today, or in the last thirty years or so, less individuality among players, perhaps due to the legions of college jazz graduates from the ever expanding North American jazz history programs or due to other factors?

Halliday also found it interesting that in my discussion of bandleaders versus sidemen, I included touring as a “single” as one aspect of being a sideman. In thinking more about it, I’ve realized that traveling as a “single” is a kind of middle ground between the two camps. Although a touring soloist doesn't travel with his own group, nor as the leader of a band have the responsibility of running that kind of business, he is still nonetheless the leader of whatever rhythm section they join.

One Westminster student heard back-phrasing in Adams’ playing. When Halliday asked her to explain, she said it’s a common trait in singers, where they pull back the time, then catch up. I first heard the expression used about Pepper’s playing style by trumpeter/bandleader Denny Christianson. I thought he meant only playing behind the beat. What’s your sense of the term and how the practice is used by Pepper and among jazz players?

The following day I taped a 2.5 hour radio program with Steve Williams at KCPW. Williams is the voice of jazz in Utah. Until a few years ago, he was on the air five nights a week. Sometime after his show was cancelled by KUER (NPR Utah), it was scooped up by KCPW, who in turn licensed it back to NPR. Williams’ show first began in June, 1984, the same month I met Pepper Adams. Steve’s father, Murray Williams, was a lead alto saxophonist who, apart from playing with many bands in the 1930s and 40s, recorded with Charlie Parker at Carnegie Hall (opposite Mitch Miller with Strings).

Steve is an incredibly warm and gracious host. I can’t recall feeling more comfortable in a similar setting. He played a lot of early Pepper Adams, such as things with Chet Baker, Gene Ammons and Howard McGhee. I was struck by how great Pepper sounded, as if I was hearing them anew. In some ways I was, because I hadn’t heard them in many years. There’s just so much Pepper material! I’m reminded how I need to go back and hear many of these dates again. Williams also played a few things from Pepper’s great date, Encounter

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie3hWHklEG0&list=PLEE675BC1DD76B95E), and one thing each from my physical CDs released on Motema (http://motema.com/releases/joy-road-the-complete-works-of-pepper-adams-volumes-1-5-2/).

The next day I was a guest of trumpeter Craig Ferrin at one of the campuses of Salt Lake Community College. SLCC has 60,000 students spread throughout the region. Ferrin assembled a spirited group that really enjoyed Adams’ playing. As with Westminster, I had almost two hours to take my time and present many ideas I’m working on related to Adams' biography. Ferrin was a very warm host, just like Halliday and Williams.

We were assisted by percussionist Lynn Brown, also a professor there, who lent his laptop and assisted me throughout the lecture. At one point, after hearing Pepper’s extraordinary solo on “Straight, No Chaser” from a CBC broadcast from Expo ‘67 (at the 6:40 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvJ-WN-Bi3o), Brown asked if there was a transcription of that! He was acknowledging its complexity and just how difficult it would be to transcribe the solo. Taking Brown’s cue, a day or so after the lecture I corresponded with saxophonist Adam Schroeder, whose solo transcriptions posted at pepperadams.com have impressed students in Utah. Afterwards, I wrote Brown a thank you note:

“Thanks again for all your help navigating my website and participating in the lecture. You joked about whether there was a transcription of one of Pepper's more complicated solos. Thanks to you, that may actually come to pass. Adam Schroeder, the guy who did those transcriptions of commercially released recordings, has offered to do more.

Best wishes,

Gary Carner”

My exciting first week in Utah ended with a lecture for the amazing music students at Brigham Young University. I’ve rarely seen a more spirited group of 30-40 musicians. Saxophonist Ray Smith has a great program and he too was really moved by Pepper’s playing. I only had one hour, so had to pare down my comments to 25 minutes of prefatory remarks to contextualize why I was invited and why only 10% of the group had ever heard of Adams before the lecture was announced. That left 35 minutes for Pepper videos/audio on YouTube. I played the following:

1. Solo excerpt from Flying Home (Lionel Hampton, 1964)
2. In Love with Night (Montreal, 1978)
3. My Shining Hour (Grammy Awards, 1982)
4. Straight, No Chaser (Expo ‘67)
5. Straight, No Chaser (Sweden, with Clark Terry)

Next week I’ll write about my residency with Jon Gudmundson at Utah State. Again, I’m very grateful to David Halliday, Steve Williams, Craig Ferrin and Ray Smith for such a memorable week in Utah!

                      (Westminster College Jazz Ensemble. Photo c. David Halliday)