March and April Madness

 

March slipped away without a blog post and this one is late.

I had started a new day job in late February that was a

distraction, and now I’m involved in a move. Packing is no

fun at any age, but especially this time around.

No news yet on the release date for Pepper Adams:

Saxophone Trailblazer. Fall is still the projected date. Again,

it’s the abridged paperback version of

Reflectory: The Life and Music of Pepper Adams,but devoid of music links and many photographs. Reflectory

will remain in print, is likely $5 cheaper, and far more

authoritative. The music links are incredible! 250 solos you’ve

never heard!

https://www.pepperadams.com/Reflectory/index.html

The Pepper Adams Archive is now available for study at William

Paterson University. It’s becoming more likely that the last two

deliveries of my Adams stuff will get there by summer. Most of it,

still sitting at my sister-in laws, includes Adams’s charts for his

Charles Mingus tribute date for Motown, numerous photos, and

various ephemera.

The February 26 Adams panel discussion was a tremendous

success. It should be posted at pepperadams.com in a few weeks.

The delay is due to our opening speaker, Paul Tynan, who had

Zoom issues when demonstrating on trumpet Pepper’s licks and

phrases. Once he repairs his music examples, you’ll be delighted

with the new ground that he and all the participants broke. Here’s

the roster: 

Paul Tynan: “Clarion Calls” (1959)

Joseph Trahan: “‘Tis” (1958)

Ben Sidran: “Little Rootie Tootie” (1959)

Aaron Lington: “Each Time I Think of You” (1961)

Andrew Hadro: “Incarnation” (1963)

John Vana: "Azure-Te" (1963)

Logan Ivancik: “Once Around” (1966)

Frank Basile: “Currents/Pollen” (1973) and “Wind from the Indies” (1977)

Adam Schroeder: “Three and One” (1975)

Courtney Wright: “It Could Happen to You” (1980)

Noah Pettibon: “Three Little Words” (1981)

Heaven Was Detroit

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

Several weeks ago, an anthology of articles mostly about Detroit's popular music culture was published in paperback by Wayne State University Press. Edited by poet and long-time Wayne professor M.L. Liebler, the collection covers a lot of terrain as suggested by its subtitle From Jazz to Hip-Hop and Beyond. The nearly 500 page book--the first of its kind to address the great breadth of Detroit's jazz and vernacular music history--is divided into nine chapters. Eight articles in Chapter 1 are about Detroit jazz. Chapter 2 covers Detroit blues; 3 and 4: Early Soul and Motown; 5 and 6: Rock and Punk; 7 and 8: Hip-Hop and Country; 9 is "Detroit Music Miscellanea." Despite the book's breadth, there are surprising jazz anecdotes sprinkled throughout the collection. That's because Detroit's versatile jazz musicians played in jump bands, worked at Motown Records, and cross-pollinated in other ways.

The anthology is beautifully packaged, with a groovy cover and very attractive typesetting. Black and white photos grace the work instead of color ones, keeping the book affordable. The book weighs a ton, giving it an even more commanding authority that belies its $34.95 list price. "And, if you act now" . . . Yes, you can even save 40%! Buy the book before January 14, 2017 and use the order code here: http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/heaven-was-detroit

Dave Marsh's foreword lays the groundwork, integrating Detroit's disparate musical genres in a compelling way. I especially like his evocative opening two paragraphs about Detroit's auto industry. In the way he describes its many tentacles, his piece provides a welcome context for all that follows. Marsh even elicited a sense of nostalgic longing in me when he mentions hearing the J. Geils Band for the first time at the Eastown Theatre. (Hailing from Worcester, Massachusetts, the ensemble nonetheless considered Detroit their second home.) I heard them nearly steal the show from the Allman Brothers at the Fillmore East in New York City when I was a kid.

Heaven Was Detroit's opening article is poet Al Young's memoir of his days growing up in Detroit. As a teenage friend of drummer Louis Hayes, Young was first getting involved with jazz in the 1950s. At fifteen, the author was underage, not able to experience the extraordinarily vibrant Detroit club scene. Instead, he had the good fortune of attending Sunday matinees at the World Stage.Young  then got involved  with the production of the venue's periodical. This allowed him to write about many of his local heroes--Sonny Stitt, Tommy Flanagan, Pepper Adams and so many others--that were jamming weekly there on Woodward Avenue and who went on to international prominence.

The anthology's second piece, "Bebop in Detroit: Nights at the Blue Bird Inn," is written by Lars Bjorn and Jim Gallert. This overview of the jazz club's history is written by the noted authors who in 2001 published the pioneering study Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-1960. Their contribution provides a real sense of place, something invaluable to me as Adams' biographer.

Although the Blue Bird presented jazz intermittently from the 1930s until after the war, it didn't become a haven for bebop until 1948, when pianist Phil Hill organized a house band with vibist Abe Woodley and drummer Art Mardigan. Typically, Hill's group supported soloists such as tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray who were passing through town. A few years later, the Hill band was replaced by the Billy Mitchell Quintet. That superb group included both Thad and Elvin Jones. Obviously, the level of musicianship remained just as intense. The custom of supporting itinerant guest soloists also remained in place.

"The Blue Bird Inn," write Bjorn and Gallert, "was the hippest modern jazz nightspot during the city's bebop heyday."

It was a neighborhood bar that welcomed jazz lovers. The late Detroit baritone    
       saxophonist Pepper Adams once recalled its "great atmosphere": "Nothing phony
about it in any way. . . no pretensions and great swinging music." Musicians not
only graced the bandstand, they were an important part of the audience. As
bassist James "Beans" Richardson points out, "The majority of people in there
played an instrument, so, musicwise, they were very 'up,' you know? When
there was a lousy record on the jukebox, even the bartenders would say, 'Get
that record off!'"

Part of the appeal of playing at the Blue Bird was the ability within the idiom to play whatever one cared to play. As Tommy Flanagan noted about the club, "It had all the support a jazz club needed. Everyone who loved jazz in Detroit came. We were always able to play what we wanted to play and the people liked what they heard." Part of the appeal of the club was its atmosphere. Marketed as "the West Side's most beautiful and exclusive bar," said the authors,

it attracted a mainly black audience from both the immediate neighborhood
and the city at large. Those who visited the place were first struck by its
distinctive exterior--a pure blue facade accented with a New York City-style
awning that ran across the sidewalk and right up to the curb. It was just as
attractive inside. The acoustics were excellent, and the small, understated
semicircular bandstand could hold a quintet with something close to comfort. . .
Besides its music policy, the Blue Bird became nationally known for its friendly
but fierce jam sessions and its penchant for attracting visits from national stars
when they were in town for concerts at larger venues.

In 1953, before he was a household name, Miles Davis lived in Detroit and often played with Mitchell's band at the Blue Bird. In the summer of '54, Miles returned to the Blue Bird as a guest soloist. By then, the house band included Pepper Adams.

Next week I'll continue my review of Heaven Was Detroit, revealing still more Detroit jazz lore.

Now Hear This

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

I heard back from Pug Horton. It turns out that she and Bob Wilber have a son that lives in Atlanta. They expect to visit him sometime in 2016. It looks like my interview with Wilber will be put off until that time. Apparently, he prefers to do it in person. Something to look forward to, for sure!

I just found Pepper Adams' very first 8-track jazz "olio" that he put together. (See https://instagram.com/p/6-7Bfzpnmp/?taken-by=pepperadamsblog.) Adams assembled about 40 of these collections to enjoy while motoring around to gigs, etc. Since this first one includes Dedication and Consummation from the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis date Consummation, I figure that Pepper started making these particular sets sometime in late 1971, when the LP was likely released. If these were the first things Pepper made on 8-track, then he would have purchased his Wollensak-3M 8-track (see https://instagram.com/p/rm4zHfpnj3/?taken-by=pepperadamsblog) recorder sometime that year--that is, if he didn't make a bunch of 8-track classical recordings beforehand. What's interesting about this first selection of tunes is the titles he chose. Here's the roster:

1. Duke Ellington: Fade Up

2. Tony Coe: Regrets

3. Pepper Adams: One Mint Julep

4. Thad Jones-Mel Lewis: Dedication

5. Yusef Lateef: Ma, He's Makin' Eyes at Me

6. Barrry Harris: Like This

7. Duke Pearson: Tones for Joan's Bones  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vICb0Lggdnc

8. Billy Mitchell: A Little Juicy

9. Bud Powell: Dusk in Sandi

10. Duke Ellington: All Day Long

11. Pepper Adams: Port of Rico

12. Blue Mitchell: Smooth as the Wind

13. Thad Jones-Pepper Adams: Bossa Nova Ova  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CPmhYbMdt5s

14. Thad Jones-Mel Lewis: Consummation

15. Joe Henderson: Without a Song

16. Pepper Adams: Azurete

17. Duke Ellington: Rock Skippin' at the Blue Note

18. Music, Inc (Charles Tolliver/Stanley Cowell): Ruthie's Heart

19. Pepper Adams: Moten Swing

What can we make of this? Of the 19 cuts, 1 (#18) was previously unknown to me, 3 are Ellington, 5 are Pepper's dates as a leader or co-leader, 7 are recordings he appears on (it would have been 9 had he not missed most of the Consummation recording), and 12 are led or co-led by Detroiters. I'm especially taken that Pepper would include the four unissued Motown cuts that he did in 1963. Those wonderful tracks, with arrangements by Thad Jones, remain unissued to this day. I've been trying to get Universal to release them.

Adams made his second 8-track jazz tape with these tunes (see https://instagram.com/p/6-pNA9JnhE/?taken-by=pepperadamsblog):

1. Hank Jones: Fugue Tune

2. Joe Henderson: Invitation

3. Charlie Parker: Repitition

4. Yusef Lateef: Quarantine

5. Duke Ellington: Just Scratching the Surface

6. Tommy Flanagan: Solacium  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iUeuB7K8PCc.

7. Billy Eckstine: Air Mail Special  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Lq4h9Hhaw

8. Tony Coe: Together

9. Dizzy Gillespie: Serenade to Sweden

10. Ben Webster: Did You Call Her Today

11. Mike Westbrook: Portrait

12. Rubberlegs Williams: What's the Matter Now

13. Duke Ellington: Mr. Gentle and Mr. Cool

14. John Coltrane: Time After Time

What can we make of these cuts, especially as compared to #1? More Ellington and Coe, and, to be sure, a bunch of Detroiters again, plus another surprise cut for me by Rubberlegs Williams. Thank goodness for YouTube, here's the tune: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CvGNw9xKp70. It's a Charlie Parker feature from 1945. Flanagan's Solacium (whatever does that mean?) is new to me too. It features early solos by the leader, Coltrane, Idrees Sulieman and Kenny Burrell. The Eckstine tune has Leo Parker on baritone (on the studio version), though I'm not sure if he's audible. This is one of the first great bop bands. This a smoking live version, possibly not what Pepper chose, but presumably with a fantastic Fats Navarro solo and Budd Johnson on tenor. What a great chart. Did Johnson write it?

Shall we check out one more? Here's Pepper's sixth 8-track olio:

1. Duke Ellington: Perdido

2. Freddie Hubbard: Latina

3. Rex Stewart: Georgia on My Mind

4. Bud Powell: Hallelujah

5. Duke Ellington: Primpin' for the Prom

6. Herbie Hancock: The Prisoner  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NiCsgkhTp7Y

7. Rex Stewart: Alphonse and Gaston  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PRWg53dOWpw

8. Duke Ellington: Tootin' Through the Roof

9. John Surman: Episode  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3sdfwks9Ad4

10. Thad Jones: Let's Play One

11. Elvin Jones: Tergiversation  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtg_GPKZrJg

12. Pepper Adams : Carolyn  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTVldpGemsg

13. Bud Powell: I Want to Be Happy

14. Duke Ellington: Boy Meets Horn

15. Louie Bellson: The Jeep is Jumpin'

16. Ben Webster: The Days of Wine and Roses

How about that exchange on #7 between Cootie Williams and Rex Stewart? #9 surprised me: Quite free, and with no Surman bari solo. 

What fun it's been getting into the heart and mind of Pepper Adams! I hope you've enjoyed the ride.