Saturday, September 26, 2015

Pepper Tour Revised




© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.


Some of you may have seen my Facebook posting a few days ago of the historic Pepper Adams performance from the Grammy Awards television broadcast on February 24, 1982. Although I've had a copy of it in my collection since around 1988, it's remained very rare, only traded by collectors. Unfortunately, until this week's YouTube posting, very few had seen it. Finally, I got it digitized and here's the link: https://youtu.be/4PWTkf6MsZ0

Also, I posted this flyer. What a night of music!:



Below is an updated itinerary of my Pepper Adams tour in October. As of now, I'm doing five university lectures, plus functioning as an emcee for a concert in Rochester of Pepper Adams tunes. I'm still trying to fit in something on the 22nd or 23rd, but I'm running out of options:

M, Oct. 19: 12:30-1:45: Wayne NJ: Lecture at William Paterson University.
M, Oct. 19: 7-8:30: Poughkeepsie NY: Lecture at Vassar College.
T, Oct. 20: Travel.
W, Oct. 21: 3-4:30: Rochester NY: Lecture ("Pepper Adams in Rochester, 1935-1947"), Rochester  Institute of Technology, Liberal Arts Hall A-201. Book signing to follow.
W, Oct. 21, 8:30-10: Rochester NY: Book talk/signing, then concert of Pepper's music by the Mike Melito Trio (Doug Stone ts; unknown b; Mike Melito dm) at the Bop Shop.
Th, Oct. 22: Travel.
F, Oct. 23: Off.
Sat, Oct. 24: Off.
Sun, Oct. 25: Travel.
M, Oct. 26: 5:30-7: Boone NC: Lecture at Appalachian State University.
T, Oct. 27: 2-3:15: Charlotte NC: Lecture at University of North Carolina.

As I mentioned last week, due to exigencies (that I can not explain at this time), I will need to take a break from this blog for the foreseeable future. The same goes for my Facebook account. I hope to update readers before too long, but no worries about my work on the Pepper biography. That will definitely continue unabated. Please continue to consult pepperadams.com for updates and all things Pepper Adams. Lastly, don't forget that October 8 is Pepper's birthday.



Sunday, September 20, 2015

Upcoming Pepper Adams Lectures/Concerts



© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.


I've read that the Chet Baker biopic, Born to Be Blue, starring Ethan Hawke, has opened at the Toronto Film Festival. I've also heard that Don Cheadle's portrait of Miles Davis (Miles Ahead) is forthcoming at the New York Film Festival. Quite a bevy of trumpeter films. Who do you think should play Pepper Adams, if that film were ever made, and who do you think should make it, if anyone?

As for my exploits, I'll be doing a series of lectures about Pepper Adams starting the week of October 19. Here's my schedule. I hope to see you.

M, Oct. 19: 12:30-1:45: Wayne NJ: Lecture at William Paterson U.
M, Oct. 19: 7-8:30: Poughkeepsie NY: Lecture at Vassar College
T, Oct. 20: Travel.
W, Oct. 21: 3-4:30: Rochester NY: Lecture ("Pepper Adams in Rochester, 1935-1947"), Rochester 
                               Institute of Technology, Liberal Arts Hall A-201. Book signing to follow.
W, Oct. 21, 8:30-10: Rochester NY: Book talk/signing, then concert of Pepper's music by the Mike 
                                 Melito Trio (with Doug Stone) at the Bop Shop.
Th, Oct. 22: 12:10-1: Pittsford NY: Possible lecture at Nazareth College.
F, Oct. 23: 12:30-2: Cambridge MA: Possible lecture at Longy School of Music.
Sat, Oct. 24: Travel.
Sun, Oct. 25: Travel.
M, Oct. 26: 5:30-7: Boone NC: Lecture at Appalachian State U.
T, Oct. 27: ______: Charlotte NC: Possible lecture at University of North Carolina.

I'll update my itinerary next week. There's a possibility that next week's blog post might be the last one for a while. If that's the case, I'll elaborate.














Saturday, September 12, 2015

New Pepper!



© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



PEPPER ADAMS BIG BAND UPDATE:
I'm very happy to report that Armored Records will be releasing the Pepper Adams CD that some of you so kindly contributed to some two years ago. Again, thanks for your generosity and your continued patience while mastering was concluded and a label was finally procured. I haven't been given a release date, but I think it's likely it will be out by this Christmas. Once I receive the stack of CDs, I'll let everyone know so I can reconfirm shipping addresses before mailing them out to all those who contributed at that price level and above.

This will be added to the date's liner notes:

We gratefully acknowledge those who contributed to the Kickstarter campaign that helped make this recording possible. Special thanks go to Ben Sidran, Richard Davis, Ed Xiques, Ellen Rowe, Dan Morgenstern,  Kurt Eherenman, Nils Erik Hagstrom, Colin Mills, Gilberto Munoz, Andrew Layton, Pat Collins, Joe Lex, Peter Jason Riley, Andrew Homzy, Steven Cerra, Ken Kellett, Claire Daly, Flavius Cucu, Jon Gudmundson, Jonathan Nathan, Frank and Carol Bubel, Joie Gifford, Larry Miller and Ernie Jackson. Very special thanks go to Nat and Cindy Charatan, who functioned as Executive Producer.

The following tunes will be on the new recording:

University of Illinois (all Tony Faulkner charts)
Ephemera
Bossallegro
Claudette's Way
Doctor Deep
Jirge
Mary's Blues
Lovers of Their Time
Julian
Etude Diabolique

Also, in a few weeks we'll have another 16 videos of Pepper tunes uploaded to YouTube from four concerts that Tony Faulkner videotaped (at the Blue Wisp, in Montreal, at the Puffin Foundation in Teaneck NJ, and at Trumpets in Montclair NJ) as follows:

Puffin (all Faulkner tentet charts):
Ad Astra
Dobbin'
Valse Celtique
In Love with Night
Freddie Froo

Montreal (Faulkner tentet charts):
Conjuration
Dobbin'
Urban Dreams
Ad Astra
Freddie Froo
Philson
Diabolique II (chart by Bill Mahar)

Trumpets (Faulkner charts for big band):
Dobbin'
Philson
Freddie Froo
Park Frederick III

Blue Wisp (big band, charts by Larry Dickson)
Bossa Nouveau
Twelfth and Pingree 

Aside from these, Glenn Wilson's new CD release has two Pepper tunes.

Apart from all the good news, this past September 10 marked the 29th anniversary of Pepper's death. It's always a solemn day for me, commemorated by burning a candle in his honor.





                             (Chip McNeill)



                                                     (Glenn Wilson)



                                      (Glenn Wilson's new release)

Saturday, September 5, 2015

View From the Bridge



© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.


A new video from Nice has just been posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XU-7kC--ws. It's Dick Hyman's New York Jazz Repertory Company in the summer of 1978. They're playing a tribute to Count Basie. This is the last video in which Pepper and Bob Wilber are seen playing together and both have solos. Wilber plays a great clarinet solo beginning at 3:02 and Pepper's only solo is at the 24:18 mark on "Broadway."

Also posted is this great Dick Hyman tribute to Duke Ellington, done the summer before, with Wilber and Pepper also in the band together: https://youtu.be/wwHwyAgSMiM  Be sure to check out Pepper's amazing solo on "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo," the first of the concert. After Pepper's first few notes, you'll notice Eddie Daniels and Bob Wilber's delight in Pepper's solo--how harmonically daring it is in the context of a 1920s Ellington piece. Another equally great moment is Wilber and then Pepper's back-to-back eight-bar statements in "Blue Goose." Tenor saxophonist and Detroit compatriot Billy Mitchell is so utterly impressed with Pepper's articulation of the passage that he gives Pepper a round of applause, much to Pepper's delight.

It's been quite a week for me listening to Pepper and performances of Pepper's music. Other than the above videos, just a few days ago I found the set of DVDs that Tony Faulkner (http://tonyfaulkner.net) filmed while we were touring throughout North America in the Fall of 2013. This is the first time I'm seeing these! I've only made my way thus far through the Altsys Orchestra's tentet performance from Montreal in November, 2013. (See http://mountainlake.org/blogs/gens-delights/the-segal-centre-proudly-presents-the-altsys-jazz-orchestra-/) I'm eager to get these posted on YouTube soon. This very fine, hard swinging ensemble, led by alto saxophonist Jennifer Bell and trumpeter Bill Mahar (https://www.mcgill.ca/music/about-us/bio/bill-mahar), did a wonderful concert of Tony Faulkner charts (except for Diabolique II, arranged by Mahar). A heartfelt thanks to Andrew Homzy for helping make this concert happen. Here are the tunes they performed:

1. Conjuration
2. Dobbin'
3. Urban Dreams
4. Ad Astra
5. Freddie Froo
6. Philson
7. Diabolique II
8. Unknown encore



                      (Jennifer Bell)



                            (Bill Mahar)




                            (Tony Faulkner)