Tony and Ernie

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

This past Thursday I drove into midtown Manhattan in the rain to get Tony and Ernie.  British arranger Tony Faulkner and British percussionist Ernie Jackson were waiting for me at 2:30 outside their hotel on Eighth Avenue and 44th Street.

The New York theater district was abuzz with traffic and construction.  Summer tourists were dodging the downpour.  I was steering away from taxi cabs and amped-up, inattentive drivers. Uptown, the Yankees game was piling up traffic, and, across the Hudson, the Barclays golf tournament was adding another dimension to the congested urban landscape.

Tony and Ernie had flown into JFK from England on Wednesday. Their visit was scheduled to coincide with the mixing session I'd booked at Skyline Studios in Warren, New Jersey.  It also kicked off their two-week vacation in New York.  After more than a year of working together via email and Skype, this was Tony and my first time together, and we had considerable work to do, mixing our big band date.

Back over the George Washington Bridge, the rain had slackened and the sun was beginning to peek out from behind the clouds. The three of us drove to drummer Tim Horner's house in nearby Teaneck, New Jersey, where we met Tim and trumpeter Ron Horton.  Along the way, it was interesting to hear Tony and Ernie comment about the area's jazz history, things I take for granted, such as the road sign for "Hackensack."  

The reason for the meeting was to give Tony a chance to meet Tim and Ron and discuss our upcoming live recording. Over wine, Kentucky bourbon, and snacks, we explored the various aspects of the project.  Tim is one of the nicest people I've met in the industry, so it's always a pleasure being involved with him in any capacity.  

Our live tentet recording (Volume 7 of my Motema series) will be taped on November 9-10 in New York and Teaneck.  The esteemed jazz historian Dan Morgenstern will function as emcee.  Tony is writing new Pepper charts for the ensemble, though some will be adapted from his unrecorded big band Pepper arrangements.  Apart from the co-leaders, the band will include multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson, bassist Martin Wind, and guitarist John Hart.

At about 5:30, Tony, Ernie, and I left Tim's place and drove to Little Falls, New Jersey to meet pianist and bandleader Diane Moser.  Diane had recommended a small Italian bistro, Bivio, that's owned by alto saxophonist Tommy Colao. Before Diane arrived for dinner, I took Tony and Ernie to a local pub, so they could get a pint of their beloved Guinness.  (Not deliberately a contrarian, I got the last bottle of my beloved Leffe.)  

On our walk to and from the pub, I noticed several Art Deco structures in town, one a small diner with a zig-zag roofline motif that had been converted into a pizzeria,  It was one of four pizzerias we saw on our short walk.  We also walked by a Chevrolet dealer.  This is the way it used to be in New Jersey in the sixties, before more and more car dealerships were built near malls or on major highways.

We all met Diane for the first time and she was an engaging dinner companion. Our meeting gave us a chance to discuss the November 13 concert of Tony's big band Pepper charts that's taking place at Trumpets in Montclair, New Jersey.  Since Diane is a regular at Bivio, she ordered for us.  The food at Bivio is superb and we had a great time!  Please support Tommy, if you're in the area.

After dinner, I drove Tony and Ernie to our hotel in Parsippany, formerly the "Sheraton Tara." The design of the building is modeled after an English castle.  Tony and Ernie were amused, since they know a thing or two about castles.  I left Tony and Ernie at the bar, with their pints of Guinness and a newfound compatriot from England.

On the Road

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

I'm in coastal Maine, licking my wounds after the grueling Kickstarter campign to raise funds for the big band CD of Pepper Adams compositions.  The funds settled on Sunday, 12 August--just about a week ago--and it almost seems a distant memory.  That's the point of a vacation, of course.  Get some distance and heal the mind and body.  That's been the agenda.

I've been with my family in Boston, Quebec, and Southern Maine, enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery, eating some great food, and taking a break from all things related to Pepper Adams.  But next week, on my long drive back home to Atlanta, I'm back at it.  I'll be at long last meeting Tony Faulkner in New York City and we'll be mixing his big band arrangements for our forthoming CD.  

Tony and I have had many Skype calls, and we've exchanged countless emails, since we began working together over a year ago.  We're already pretty good buddies, but it will be great to be with him in the U.S, especially in anticipation of our month-long Pepper Adams tour, starting in late October.  Here's our Fall schedule thus far.  We hope to see you on the road:

T, 10/29: Cincinnati  8:30: Contemporary Jazz Orchestra at the Blue Wisp.

W, 10/30: Cincinnati  4:30: Faulkner clinic at Cincinnati Conservatory.  

Th, 10/31: Champaign IL   8:00?: Concert Jazz Band at the Iron Post.

F, 11/1: Champaign IL  1-2: Carner lecture at U of Illinois, Smith Hall, Rm. 25.  

Macomb IL  5:30-6:30: Faulkner clinic at Western Illinois U, Salee 212; 

7-9: Carner lecture/book signing at Western Illinois U, Salee 101.  

Sat, 11/2: Travel day.

Su, 11/3: Detroit   1-4: Scott Gwinnell Dectet at the Institute of Arts.  NPR taping.

M, 11/4:  Off

T, 11/5: Detroit  12:30-2:40: Faulkner arranging clinic at Wayne State University.

6-8: Carner lecture at Wayne State.  

W, 11/6: Toronto   12:15-1:15: Humber College Jazz Band concert.

Th, 11/7: Toronto  11:30-1: Faulkner arranging clinic at Humber; 

11:30-1: Carner lecture at Humber. 

F, 11/8: Montreal   Afternoon: Concordia University lecture and arranging clinic.

Sat, 11/9: New York   8-11: Tim Horner-Ron Horton live Tentet recording at Zeb's, 223 West 28 St.

Su, 11/10: Teaneck NJ  4:30-7:30: Tim Horner-Ron Horton Tentet recording at Puffin Foundation.

M, 11/11: TBD

T, 11/12: TBD

W, 11/13: TBD

Th, 11/14: TBD

F, 11/15: Princeton  11-1: WPRB radio show with Jerry Gordon.

Sat, 11/16: TBD

Su, 11/17: TBD

M, 11/18: TBD

T, 11/19: Williamsburg VA    6:30-8: Faulkner-Carner clinic at College of William & Mary.

W, 11/20: TBD

Th, 11/21: TBD

One More Day

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

About 2 hours remain in the Kickstarter campaign to fund my new Pepper Adams CD.  Just after I posted last week, much to my delight, I exceeded the $7,000 funding goal.  Again, many thanks to the 100 donors who believe in the project and believe in Pepper Adams.

Last week I was somewhat delirious from the fatigue of the fundraising campaign. Plus, I was having trouble with my iPad browser and the way it interfaces with Blogspot and Google.  I'm taking steps to correct that, so thanks for your patience.

The great Thad Jones disciple, arranger Tony Faulkner, is working furiously on finishing a new set of tenet charts that he can bring with him to New York City in a few weeks to show drummer Tim Horner.  Tim is co-leading the band (with trumpeter Ron Horton) that is recording live at Zeb's in New York on 9 November and again on 10 November at the Puffin Foundation in Teaneck, New Jersey.  This recording, produced by Tim Horner, will be Volume 7 of my Complete Works of Pepper Adams series of recordings for Motema.  I hope some of you can make the shows!  It's great to have an knowledgeable audience!

We're premiering the tentet material in Detroit, with Scott Gwinnell's Dectet, at a concert at the Institute of Arts on 2 November.  The instrumentation, replacing guitar with another trombone, is only slightly different from what we are recording a week later.  I'm pleased that the Detroit concert is being recording for broadcast on NPR.  I'll be sure to post the details, once known.

I'm meeting Tony Faulkner in New York on 22 August. He's flying in from England for two weeks.  After meeting Tim for coffee, and the bandleader Diane Moser for pizza, the following day we're driving out to Skyline Studios in Warren, New Jersey, about an hour west of Manhattan, to mix and master the big band date.  We'll be working with the very accomplished engineer Paul Wickliffe, who recorded the Mel Lewis Orchestra at the Village Vanguard, among his many accomplishments.  Wickliffe feels that we may have a Grammy contender.  Because of his vast experience, Tony and I are following his lead on how to make the best possible CD to achieve a nomination.

94%

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

I woke up this morning, as I have every morning for the last three weeks, hoping to see a Kickstarter pledge posted from somewhere east of here.  With just a little more than seven days left in my challenging Kickstarter campaign (to raise enough capital to produce my new big band CD of Pepper Adams compositions), nothing came in overnight.  With 94% of the campaign funded, I sit and wait; my celebration postponed yet another day?

Gary Smulyan, Neil Tesser, and others have told me that this is to be expected.  The normal rhythm for crowdfunding is that they successfully conclude in the last week of the campaign.  I had emailed Tesser several weeks ago to ask him if he would post an email to his readers in Chicago.  My CD features an all-Illinois based band, so it made sense to get local fans informed, with the hope that some might pledge their support.  He told me to wait.  In his experience, things always happen in the last week.  Smulyan said much the same thing to me a few days ago.

So I wait.  I wasn't too surprised when I looked at my Kickstarter page this morning--while trying to focus after a reasonably good night's sleep--because Saturdays in the summer haven't been good days for receiving pledges.  Sundays have been better.  Based on my experience, I'd deduce that no one should even bother with Kickstarter in the summer.  People are just too distracted.  Steve Cerra told me that a few weeks ago.

Noal Cohen was the first to articulate what I was starting to believe: that success on Kickstarter is predicated on an extensive social media network.  Kickstarter, you could say, is a young person's game.  I'm neither young, nor flush with "friends."  Neither are many of my colleagues, and some of Pepper's generation barely use a computer.  I'm a baby boomer, someone who grew up with LPs, the Beatles and the blues, not a laptop and gangsta rap.  For me, my first foray into Kickstarter was an intense game of catch-up.  I now understand Facebook and Twitter much better, but I wait.  7 more days.

94% in school was a pretty good grade. It was something you could be proud of, knowing that you did a good job.  94% at Kickstarter has the same resonance, because, like a 94 grade, it means a lot of work has paid off.  But anything less than 100% in Kickstarter is a failing grade, because you lose all the money.  So I wait.

Pepper Adams Big Band CD Kickstarter Campaign

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

Does anyone know who's responsible for YouTube's Pepper Adams Channel?  Contrary to popular belief, it isn't me!  If that person would come forward, I'd like to post an announcement there about the Pepper Adams big band Kickstarter campaign (now in it's final two weeks), to reach it's substantial subscriber base.

Speaking of Kickstarter, we're now 52% funded, with 15 days to go.  It's been a nail-biter, each day with it's emotional ups and downs.  Somehow, I've managed to aggregate just barely enough family, friends, musicians, and Pepper fan donations to keep pace with the grinding daily need for $234 of pledges a day.  

We started off well, but then hit a wall, and donations were flat for almost a week, leading me to alternating feelings of hopefulness and despair.  I started thinking of the campaign in medical terms, such as "flat-lining" and "life support."  Then, suddenly, on Friday, July 20, a bunch of baritone saxophonists started pledging, the entire campaign was lifted, and we've had wind at our sails ever since.  

That's not to gloat, or to say that this is done.  Every day continues to be an emotional roller-coaster.  As I write this, no new donations have come in.  Usually by 4 or 5pm, on a less than adequate funding day, I'm thinking about red wine and when I'll pour my first glass.  That hasn't happened yet today, but my bottle of Super Tuscan, opened and in the fridge, comes out shortly to get near room temperature, just in case.

Some very notable people have contributed thus far, and I'm very gratified!  Pepper's close friend Lew Tabackin has donated.  So has pianist/writer/broadcaster Ben Sidran, who conducted probably the greatest interview with Pepper that was ever done in Pepper's lifetime.  You can listen to it in the Interviews section of pepperadams.com.  Pepper was very ill at the time.  It was only ten months before his death. 

Thanks to Ben, the great bassist Richard Davis has also contributed.  Talk about coming full circle! Arranger Tony Faulkner is one of Thad Jones' greatest disciples, and Richard Davis was, with Mel Lewis and Roland Hanna, part of that spectacular Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra rhythm section.  The charts that Faulkner wrote for our new CD (Volume 6 in Motema's Pepper Adams Complete Compositions series) surrounds Pepper's music with Thad Jones phrases and textures, and now Richard Davis is supporting the release of that work with his pledge?  

Faulkner is stunned, particularly because one of Davis' pledge awards is to receive an arranging lesson from him.  Tony might not feel worthy, but I told him, "This is your moment.  Enjoy the next few months."  I was referring to more than the Skype tutorial with Davis.  I was thinking mostly of the upcoming book-CD-concert tour--with world premieres, a live recording, an NPR broadcast, and clinics and lectures--that he and I are doing throughout the U.S. and Canada, starting in late October.  We hope to see you there!

Sixth CD

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

I'm very excited to let you know that I've recorded a fantastic new CD of big band charts of Pepper Adams compositions for Motema Music.  This is the sixth CD in my series, and it's the first recording of its kind ever undertaken.  It will be released in January, 2014.  It wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for the esteemed British arranger Tony Faulkner, who wrote all the charts.  Faulkner is little known outside of England, but this project should change that in a hurry.

Ten superb performances that were done over Easter weekend by the Concert Jazz Band at the University of Illinois, with solos by their superb faculty.  I need to raise $7,000 to pay the arranger for all his great work, to pay the engineer to mix and master the date, and to pay for Faulkner's flight to the US so we can promote this great music with concerts, lectures, and radio shows throughout the US and Canada.

In order to release the recording, and subsidize the CD marketing tour to promote this great music in advance of its commercial release, I'm asking for your help. Kickstarter is a project-driven, crowd-funding website that allows the Pepper Adams world community to work together in a grassroots way to make this happen and perpetuate Pepper Adams' legacy.  But it's an all-or-nothing deal.  If I don't meet or exceed my goal of $7,000 by the 30-day deadline, no money changes hands, no rewards are given, the new recording stays on the shelf, and the tour is in jeopardy.  Can you please help? Can you work with me to bring this exciting project to fruition?

Please use one of these urls and donate whatever you can.  No donation is too small and all is very much appreciated!  For your generosity, some great gifts await you!  You'll see them at my Kickstarter page.

http://kck.st/12JDNVI   

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/333143376/the-compositions-of-pepper-adams-big-band-cd-and-t 

This is a 30-day sprint, so please spread the word.  I'm looking forward to sharing this music with you. Long live Pepper Adams!

Thank you,

Gary Carner

pepperadams.com

2013 Pepper Adams Tour

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

This Fall's four-week Pepper Adams tour is shaping up beautifully.  The esteemed arranger Tony Faulkner arrives in Atlanta from the UK on October 25, and, after a few days of fun, we hit the road for gigs, clinics, lectures, and recordings in Cincinnati, Champaign IL, Macomb IL, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, and Willamsburg VA.  Other locations are still pending.  The world premiere of Tony's dedication to Pepper Adams, "Park Frederick III," will be performed at Cincinnati's Blue Wisp Jazz Club by the Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, led by Scott Belck.  Both Tony and I have lectures and clinics at the University of Illinois and Western Illinois University, then we hope to travel directly to Detroit and Toldeo for tentet and big band gigs before returning to Chicago to hear the U. of Illinois Concert Jazz Band play Tony's Pepper charts that they recently recorded for Motema. In Teaneck NJ on Sunday, Nov. 10, the Tim Horner-Ron Horton Tentet will be playing at the Puffin Foundation new charts of Pepper tunes, written by Faulkner for the band.  We hope to record the band in New York sometime that week.  In Montclair NJ the Diane Moser Big Band is performing Tony's suite and several of his Pepper charts at Trumpet's on Nov. 13.  Our last clinic is at William and Mary.  Once the entire tour falls into place, I'll post it.