Thursday, December 26, 2013

Pepper Adams Anthology

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



I've decided to edit an anthology of articles about Pepper. It would be a beautiful complement to my other two Pepper books (including the biography, which I've begun) and CDs. Anyone interested in contributing? It needs to be published by Fall, 2015, when another Pepper tour takes place. That means it would have to be finished by the end of 2014. Here's what I have so far:

1. Gary Carner, Rue Serpente (from Jazz Forschung)
2. Gary Carner, overview of Pepper's style from master's thesis
3. John Vana, Pepper Adams' Early Solo Style to 1960
4. Aaron Lington, excerpt from Pepper dissertation


5. Ken Kellett: "I Remember Pepper"
6. Frank Griffith: Reminiscences of Pepper and arranging Rue Serpente and Reflectory
7. Barry Wallenstein: Lyrics to Eight Adams Compositions.
8. Tony Faulkner: A Study of Pepper's Compositions
9. Jim Merod: Overview of Pepper's recordings
10. Bevan Manson: Compositional Aspects of Pepper's Tunes
11. Various previously published articles, interviews, and liner notes.


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Duke Ellington Gig in Rochester NY Discovered

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Thanks to a huge database of Ellington gigs available on-line, I was able to redefine when Pepper was befriended by Rex Stewart and where it took place. The site is

ellingtonweb.ca/Hotedpages/TDWAW/nextTDWAW.html/  

Here's a taste from my forthcoming Pepper biography:

The following March, after he purchased his first saxophone, Pepper attended all three performances of the Duke Ellington Orchestra at the Temple Theatre, a movie palace built in 1909 at 35 Clinton Avenue South in downtown Rochester. On March 5, 1944, the last night of the engagement, Ellington trumpeter Rex Stewart was curious about the enthusiastic, short-haired thirteen-year-old kid with horn-rimmed glasses he noticed sitting by himself in the balcony. Intrigued, Stewart made his way upstairs, introduced himself, then brought Adams backstage to meet Ellington's illustrious musicians.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Cleo Adams Burial Plot Discovered

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Thanks to Google, I somehow managed to find the appropriate site with a listing of those buried at cemetaries in Columbia City, Indiana. Sure enough, I discovered that Pepper's mother, Cleo, was buried at South Park Cemetery at 1500 South State Road 205 in Columbia City in Section 2, Row 26, Stone 1. Next to her is ostensibly her mother, Minnie B. Coyle. For me, this is just the beginning of discovering Pepper's maternal antecedents. I've sent emails to the Mayor's office and to the Genealogical Society of Whitley County asking for assistance in finding where Pepper lived with his mother's family c. 1931-1934.

Big Band CD Update

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



There's been some movement over the last week regarding the release of The Complete Pepper Adams, Volume 6. Motema is now proposing a October 8, 2014 release, to coincide with Pepper's 84th birthday, along with a tour to celebrate his music that would include events in Chicago, Virginia and North Carolina, New York City, and London. No decision has been made about whether the CD will be released physically or digitally, but the basic plan is to do college clinics and lectures (as on the previous two tours), but also concerts in Chicago, New York, and London. One idea is to get the University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band to play Chicago's Jazz Showcase, then fly them over to the London Jazz Festival in mid-November, along with a 3-bari group including Gary Smulyan. Between Adams' birthday and the London events, the intervening time could be filled with gigs hither and yon, including several in New York. Stay tuned!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Readers Appreciated

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Many thanks to all my friends who took the time to read the Prologue and Chapter 1 of my Pepper Adams biography in progress. Thanks too to those who commented on the proposed title of the book.
I've made some tweaks to the Prologue and I'm still reassessing Chapter 1.

It's a windy, rainy day here north of Atlanta, so I'm curling up with two books that are indispensable to would-be biographers: Milton Lomask's The Biographer's Craft and Leon Edel's Writing Lives: Pricipia Biographica.  There's so much wisdom in these works.

Kickstarter gifts in gratitude for donations to Volume 6 (big band date) of my Pepper Adams CD project and recent Pepper Adams book/concert tour will be mailed starting next week. Those expecting Tony Faulkner's arranging manuscript should expect a slight delay, as he's just now back in England working on it.  Those who are expecting Skype arranging lessons should hear from Faulkner soon to schedule them.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Aloneness

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Over the last week I've been developing the first chapter of my Pepper Adams biography. So far it's a short overview of how isolation and being on his own informed Pepper's life. I'm using the chapter to set a tone for the book, and as a bridge to the pivotal early moment in Adams' life, described at length in Chapter 2, when Adams first borrows a baritone sax from Grinnell's, the music store he was working at for only a few weeks as a Christmas extra in 1947. In Chapter 1 I've also written about trumpeter Rex Stewart, who became a very significant father figure to Pepper two years after Pepper's father died, when Pepper was nine years old.

The working title of my book is Pepper Adams: Jazz King of the Baritone Sax.  Any feedback on the title? My editor at Scarecrow thinks the subtitle is a logical way to market the book to a larger audience.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Pepper Biography Begun

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Throughout my recent book and concert tour, people asked me when they can expect to read my companion Pepper Adams biography. I joked that quality takes time, or that it would certainly take less time to do the biography than the nearly thirty years it took me to finish Joy Road. Privately, however, I wasn't sure when I'd start writing, and I knew that it would take many years to do a full-length biography worthy of him. 

Well, I'm really happy to report that, after being inspired last night by the beautifully crafted film The Book Thief, I've begun writing the biography. This morning I woke up early and starting sketching out out the Prologue and first two chapters.

I've had similar moments before. After the birth of my daughter, for example, I wrote what I thought was the opening chapter. But finding a narrative voice and the right way to begin has been difficult. Finding an argument and acknowledging that I've finally gotten to a place where I understand Pepper's achievements have been difficult too. Fortunately, the two lecture/book tours I've done this year and last have helped me to think long and hard about Pepper, to ascertain his place, and get some sense of perspective. Now I'm on my way. The book is contracted to Scarecrow. When will it be published? I'm shooting for 2020. I like the sound of 20-20.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

One More Week

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Looking back on this year's Pepper Adams book and concert tour, with only four days remaining before Tony Faulkner flies home to England, I'd say it's been an incredible ride! All that remains is the drive from Philadelphia to Atlanta, with stops in Williamsburg VA, Chapel Hill NC, and Winston-Salem NC to do college lectures. Still, the glow remains from some truly great moments.

Regarding live performances, the first great thing on the tour was the party at my place in Tony's honor, led by pianist Kevin Bales. Walking into the Iron Post in Urbana IL a few minutes late and hearing the UI Concert Jazz Band play Mean What You Say was really memorable too. The Humber College Jazz Band (with guest soloists Pat LaBarbera and Shirantha Beddage), led by Denny Christianson, was a great midday Toronto experience! One of the tunes will be released by Humber on their next sampler.  In Montreal, the Altsys Tentet played Faulkner's charts to a rousing audience, followed two days later by the recording of the charts at the Puffin Foundation in Teaneck NJ. Two night later, trumpeter Vinnie Cutro tore it up with Diane Moser's Composers Jazz Band at Trumpets in Montclair NJ. We've videotaped a lot of the gigs, so you can look forward to seeing clips at pepperadams.com.

I especially liked our experience at Wayne State University. The really good Wayne big band played two world premieres for us of entirely unexpected Pepper Adams arrangements. I also had a large and enthusiastic audience for my Pepper lecture, including some students that came in from Windsor, Ontario. Chris Collins was a very warm host to Tony and I and there's the possibility of returning sometime down the road. I especially enjoyed walking the same halls that Pepper walked in the late 1940s.

John Vana was an equally enthusiastic and warm host to us in Macomb IL. There and elsewhere it was fun to meet young, aspiring jazz musicians who dig Pepper Adams.

Some notable food moments took place too. We stumbled on a great coffee shop in Galesburg IL that makes terrific pastries. The Ann Arbor restaurant Grange was excellent, especially their Michigan white wine list. Who knew that Leelanau wines rival Oregon and the Finger Lakes? The French bistro L'Express in Montreal was also really superb, as was Blossom, the vegan restaurant in New York City. They have a terrific and quite affordable Alsatian Pinot Blanc on their list. Zafra and Cucharamama in Hoboken NJ were as good as ever!

The tour has some forward momentum. I've been invited to speak at Temple University and Montclair State University next year, plus it's possible that Tony and I will tour again in 2015, since some Midwestern schools are interested in having us return. Driving 4,500 miles in a month are kind of grueling, so we'll look forward to some longer residencies the next time around. Thanks again to all the Kickstarter donors who made this exciting tour possible!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Canadian Tour

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Tony Faulkner and I heard some terrific performances of his big band and tentet arrangements over the last few days.  Denny Christianson (with soloists Pat LaBarbera and Shirantha Beddage) led the superb Humber College Big Band in an hour's worth of big band charts of Pepper tunes, plus "A Pair of Threes," an Alf Clausen chart that Denny and Pepper did for JustinTime Records in 1986, just before Pepper's death. The band played brilliantly and at least one of the tunes (probably Doctor Deep) will be released by Humber on their next CD.

That night the Toronto Art Orchestra performed Faulkner's Canadian premiere of Park Frederick III, Tony's wonderful suite dedicated to Pepper, with Tony conducting. We will post the performance on YouTube and at pepperadams.com.

Last night in Montreal the Altsys Tentet, led by Jennifer Bell and Bill Mahar, played a scintillating set of Faulkner tentet charts. Mahar's plunger trumpet solo on Philson brought the house down! As a result of this performance, Tony has taken my advice and he'll be reducing his Suite down to ten pieces so it's more likely to get performed and recorded.

Tony is also doing new charts for tentet featuring transcribed Pepper solos.  We're calling it Super Pepper.  It will comprise the music for Volume 9 or 10, depending on when he can get it done and when I can raise the funds.

In the meantime, Volume 6 (big band) will be released, new Bevan Manson octet charts (with string quartet) will be commissioned, and a date for solo piano (with Adam Birnbaum) will be planned.

I hope we see you at Zeb's in New York City tonight and at Trumpet's in Montclair NJ this Wednesday for the last performances of Faulkner's spectacular charts on the tour.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Gary and Tony's Excellent Adventure

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



It's been an absolutely great tour so far! Two concerts at the Blue Wisp, one with the world premiere of Tony Faulkner's dedication to Pepper, took place in Cincinnati. After 33 years, it seems the club is on its last legs. Musicians are scooping up their music stands after the gig--not a good sign-- but the band sounded great, as always. Lectures and clinics in Champaign-Urbana were well received. The U. of Illinois Big Band sounded terrific playing "Mean What You Say" and Faulkner's Pepper Adams charts at the Iron Post and at Tony's clinic. Yesterday we did clinics and lectures in Macomb IL, which were enthusiastically embraced by John Cooper and John Vana; So much so that we're already discussing a return in 2015! At my lecture, Tony came upon the idea of a "Super Pepper" date, along the lines of Super Sax, for which he'd transcribe Pepper solos and arrange them for a nine piece band. Our 2015 tour would surely feature this music. We're off to Detroit, for the world premiere of Tony Faulkner's tentet charts at the Detroit Institute of Arts (Sunday, Nov 3, 1pm). We hope to see you there.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

In the Country with Tony

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Yesterday afternoon I picked up at the Atlanta airport UK arranger Tony Faukner.  This begins our 1-month tour of North America.  After a great meal in Decatur at 246 to kick things off, then watching a vintage 1982 video of the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra (with Tom Harrell, John Marshall, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Ed Neumeister), Tony went out like a light.

Today is a recovery day at my place in the Georgia countryside.  My pepperadams.com webmaster Dan Olson is flying in from Minneapolis. Tomorrow we're having a party in Tony's honor, and I've invited a brilliant quartet, led by pianist Kevin Bales, to perform for us.  I doubt they'll play any Pepper tunes from Kevin's CD I produced; probably standards, but that's just fine.  With Kevin is Mace Hibbard on alto sax, Neal Starkey on bass, and Justin Varnes on drums.  Tony will likely sit in.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Toronto radio interview

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Tonight, from 10-12 midnight Eastern, the interview I did a few days ago with Robert Fogle regarding my work on Pepper Adams will be aired.  The segment, on CHRY radio in Toronto, will likely start at 10:30. You can stream the show at http://www.chry.fm

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Meeting Tony Faulkner

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



In the Spring of 2012 my Pepper Adams book, Pepper Adams' Joy Road, was finally completed, after more than 25 years of research.  At that time, I was also finishing liner notes for Motema to get the 5-CD set of Pepper's music ready for release in the Fall.  The overarching strategy was to co-brand the book and CD series as "Joy Road," then release them at the same time and promote them with a book and CD tour.

I built an ambitious, four month, 40-city tour throughout the US and Canada (including one week at major clubs in New York), lecturing at colleges and book stores, and overseeing concerts of Pepper's music.  It was really a fantastic time--one of my life's highlights!  Most of the bands were small groups, but some were large aggregations that played big band arrangements of Pepper tunes that I had commissioned.  The commissions were started the preceding year in anticipation of the tour, and with an eye towards a big-band CD as Volume 6 of my Motema series.

One of the arrangers that provided big band charts is the esteemed Frank Griffith, an old friend who now lives in London. Griffith was only able to do two charts, but knew that I needed at least enough material to do a CD.  He recommended that I contact a colleague, Tony Faulkner, who lives in Leeds, England.  He thought Faulkner would enjoy participating in my project.  Griffith said, "I can not recommend him highly enough," and that was enough praise for me.

I emailed Faulkner, and he wrote back saying that he was delighted to get involved. Little did I know that he was retired and one of Thad Jones' greatest disciples.  In the ensuing 18 months, Faulkner would throw himself heart and soul into the project, doing 21 big band arrangements of Pepper's compositions; an original 20-minute suite (Park Frederick III) dedicated to Adams, built on themes from Pepper's tunes; as well as 11 tentet charts on Pepper's tunes.  For some, this is the output of an entire lifetime!  Faulkner's dedication and brilliant work was so inspiring that I produced Volume 6 entirely of his arrangements, then joined with drummer Tim Horner to produce a second CD of Faulkner's work for tentet, that will be recorded in a few weeks, live in New York and New Jersey.

This Saturday I'll go into more specifics about tunes, concerts, and the details of the upcoming tour.  Please see my post "Tony and Ernie" from 8/24/13, an amusing two-day travelogue about the recording of Volume 6.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Pepper Adams Archive?

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



It occurred to me today that I wrote a will many years ago, directing my heirs to donate all of my jazz and Pepper Adams materials to the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark NJ.  Over the years much of my work has benefited from the Institute. But in a few weeks I'll be touring the Thad Jones Archives at William Paterson University.  William Paterson has an extraordinary jazz studies program that Thad started. Doesn't it make a lot of sense to establish a Pepper Adams Archive to encourage future work on Pepper at the same place that houses the Thad Jones Archive?  There's so much overlap, and so much of my Pepper materials can help Thad Jones researchers.  Pepper and Thad, like Carney and Duke, should be together.  I'll be exploring this with William Paterson and I'll report back about it. Hopefully this meeting will set in motion not just a future home for Pepper Adams materials, but a place of activity about him and his great body of work.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

2013 Best Jazz Discography

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



I'm very pleased to announce that my book Pepper's Adams' Jazz Road has been awarded as the Best Discography in Jazz for 2013 by the Association of Recording Sound Collections. It's very gratifying to be recognized by my peers, that's for sure. The book is now out in paperback.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Pepper Adams' 83rd Birthday

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Tomorrow (October 8) is Pepper Adams' birthday.  He would've been 83 years old.  Please play his music in celebration.  Here's the listing from my Chronology at pepperadams.com:

October 8: Highland Park MI: Park Frederick Adams III is born at 8am at Highland Park General Hospital to Park Adams II and Cleo Marie Coyle of 4695 Courville Road, Grosse Pointe Village, Michigan in suburban Detroit.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Altsys Tentet

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



On Friday, November 6, 2013 at 8pm the Altsys Tentet will be performing at L'espace 64, 64 Rue Prince, Montreal. The ensemble will be performing the Canadian premiere of Tony Faulkner's new tentet charts of Pepper Adams compositions. Author Gary Carner will be signing copies of his book Pepper Adams' Joy Road.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Toronto Art Orchestra

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



On Wednesday, November 6, 2013 at 9pm the Toronto Art Orchestra, featuring guest soloist Pat LaBarbera, will be performing at Array Music, 155 Walnut Avenue, Toronto. General admission tickets are $25. Only 70 tickets will be sold. Doors open at 8:00. At 8:30 Pepper Adams author Gary Carner will interview arranger Tony Faulkner about his pioneering Pepper Adams work. The band will be performing the Canadian premiere of Tony Faulkner's 20-minute suite dedicated to Pepper Adams, "Park Frederick III." Rare video will be shown of Pepper Adams with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra during intermission. The author will sign copies of his book, Pepper Adams' Joy Road, after the conclusion of the concert.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

2013 Pepper Adams Tour

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Here's our upcoming concert and lecture schedule.  We hope to see you on the road!

T, 10/29: Cincinnati  8:30pm: Contemporary Jazz Orchestra performs Tony Faulkner charts, 
                including the world premiere of "Park Frederick III," at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club.

W, 10/30: Cincinnati  4:30pm: Tony Faulkner clinic at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Corbett 
                Center 1402.

Th, 10/31: Champaign IL  7pm: University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band performs Tony Faulkner big 
                 band charts at the Iron Post.

F, 11/1: Champaign IL  1pm: Gary Carner lecture at University of Illinois, Smith Hall, Rm. 25. 

Macomb IL  5:30pm: Tony Faulkner lecture at Western Illinois University, Salee 212.

Macomb IL  7pm: Gary Carner lecture/book signing at Western Illinois University, Salee 101. 

Sat, 11/2: Off
Su, 11/3: Detroit  1pm: Scott Gwinnell Dectet at the Institute of Arts, recorded for NPR broadcast. 
                World premiere of Tony Faulkner tentet charts. 

M, 11/4: Off
T, 11/5: Detroit  12:30pm: Tony Faulkner arranging clinic at Wayne State University.
Detroit   6pm: Gary Carner lecture at Wayne State University.

W, 11/6: Toronto  12:15pm: Humber College Jazz Band performs the arrangements of Tony 
                Faulkner, featuring Pat LaBarbera and Shirantha Beddage.

Toronto  8:30pm: Toronto Art Orchestra performs big band charts of Tony Faulkner at Array 
                Music, including the Canadian premiere of "Park Frederick III."

Th, 11/7: Toronto  11:30am: Tony Faulkner arranging clinic at Humber College.

Toronto  11:30am: Gary Carner lecture at Humber College.
F, 11/8: Montreal  Gary Carner lecture and Tony Faulkner arranging clinic at Concordia 
                University, time to be announced.

Montreal  8pm: Altsys Tentet performs Canadian premiere of Tony Faulkner tentet charts at 
                L'espace 64.
Sat, 11/9: New York  8pm: Tim Horner-Ron Horton Tentet recording live CD of Tony Faulkner 
                 arrangements at Zeb's. Emceed by Dan Morgenstern.

Su, 11/10: Teaneck NJ  4:30pm: Tim Horner-Ron Horton Tentet recording live CD of Tony Faulkner 
                  arrangements at Puffin Foundation.

M, 11/11: Paramus NJ  11am: Gary Carner lecture at Bergen Community College.
T, 11/12: Off
W, 11/13: Montclair NJ  8pm: Diane Moser Big Band performs Tony Faulkner arrangements at 
                Trumpets, including "Park Frederick III."

Th, 11/14:  To be determined

F, 11/15: Princeton NJ  11am: WPRB radio show with Jerry Gordon.

Sat, 11/16: To be determined

Su, 11/17: To be determined

M, 11/18: To be determined

T, 11/19: Williamsburg VA  6:30pm: Tony Faulkner-Gary Carner clinic at College of William & Mary, 
                Ewell Hall, 207.

W, 11/20: Chapel Hill NC  1pm: Tony Faulkner-Gary Carner clinic at University of North Carolina.

Winston-Salem NC  3:30pm: Tony Faulkner-Gary Carner clinic at University of North 
                Carolina School of the Arts.