Lost Pepper Adams?

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

READ BELOW!

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.

Detroit Cats and Clubs

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

Here's some random historical information about Detroit's jazz history that I've collected from my many Pepper Adams interviews. It pertains mosty to Detroit in the 1940s and '50s. Because it's not likely to be used in my Pepper Adams biography, I'm posting it here to make it available to researchers.

Elvin Jones:

"I used to peep in the window [at the Blue Bird] and watch him. I always used to tell him, 'Keep the curtain open so I can watch you and see what you're doing.' And he did. I was watching him because the drums were right there by the window. (Roy Brooks used to stand out there sometimes.) I think he was playing more then than he was later on in life. He didn't have more chops. He had more swing and more drive. He began to get it together there. Billy Mitchell told me that when Elvin came out of the Air Force, his right hand was weak. When he'd be playing the ride cymbal, instead of getting a clear ti-ti-TING, he'd get a ti-TING, ti-TING. So Billy Mitchell told him, 'Look, your right hand is weak. Fill in with your left hand.' And that's what he would do. Elvin, and all of the Jones', had an uncanny sense of time--like Thad. So, Elvin too, it seemed like he was playing in three a lot, but you don't know that because the four is there too! Elvin was dynamite!" - Frant Gant

Clubs/Regions:

"The Paradise Valley was a cluster of many clubs. . . A gorgeous place to be, safe, everybody had a ball going from place to place. It was downtown, about four or five blocks from the heart of town. All the entertainment was there. That's where all the big stars went. Hastings Street bordered it. It was between Hastings Street and Brush Street, bordered by Adams and St. Antoine and Gratiot Avenue, that whole area of six or eight blocks square." - Maurice King

The Valley was really buzzing before 1938, when Maurice King arrived in town. It stayed that way until 1943, when the riot broke out. After that, wealthy whites stopped visiting. Then, the clubs moved north, closer to Wayne University, such as the Flame Showbar, which looked like a Las Vegas club. Two others within a block or two were the Frolic Showbar and Chesterfield Lounge.

"In the early '40s, there were many clubs in The Valley: small clubs where there was music, all up and down Hastings Street, extended all the way to the north end, which became Oakland Avenue. Later on, the clubs started moving to the west side, like the Blue Bird, like Klein's on Twelfth Street. Hastings more or less died. In fact, there is no more Hastings now. It's the Chrysler Freeway. City planning changes the complexion of cities. That's what happened." - Yusef Lateef

“The Valley was only maybe two or three or four blocks long, from Hastings Street and Adams to, say, John R and Adams.” - Charles Boles

"There were many bars, all of which had live music. The first beginning of it was the Sportree's, a club. It started from The Valley, going up Hastings Street. The most famous place on Hastings Street was the Cozy Corner. That was the most plush nightclub. It had a Copa atmosphere. Just a place where people would go to dance. They had a cover charge and had dinner. It was a supper club." - Maurice King

Hastings Street had prostitution. “It had all the evils that any major city had.” - Charles Johnson

The Club Sudan was downtown. Kenny Burrell played there.

The Flame was on John R and Garfield.

The El Sino and The Three Sixes (666) were near each other in The Valley.

When Thad and Billy Mitchell had their band in 1949-1950 or so: "The jazz scene was hot during that time. The Blue Bird was going six nights a week and it was packed every night." - Bob Pierson

"I got into Bizerte and Royal Blue occasionally when underage. - Bob Pierson

The Pine Grove, the Black Hawk: little bars on the Near West Side; Clarence Beasley and Pepper Adams played at these clubs after 1948.

"We first began to hear Sonny Stitt when we were still going to dances as teenagers." -Clarence Beasley

Sonny Stitt's father was a minister and he allowed all these aspiring youngsters to jam at his church. At that time, Stitt played the Iragon Ballroom on Woodward, near the Mirror Ballroom (where Bird played). Beasley and his cohort hung out at the Iragon from their middle teens until around 19 years old, when they started branching out and getting their own gigs and moving away from the dance scene.

The Brady Bar was going on the East Side in 1955. Barry Harris played there, as did Pepper Adams.  Harris' nickname was "Little Bud."

Gigs in Detroit took place from 9-2. After the gig, all the musicians in town used to congregate across the street from the Bowl-o-Drome (12707 Dexter Blvd. near Davison or Burlingame) at the Esquire Restaurant for breakfast. Roland Hanna, Barry Harris and Harold McKinney, however, didn't hang out. They were very studious.

The Paradise Theater in Detroit: "They had the best black talent in the world. It was another Apollo. In fact, it might have been a couple degrees above it. You go see a movie and then you stay and see the stage show. You could stay as long as you wanted." - Oliver Shearer

Local musicians:

Eddie Jamison, a great local alto player, "had a distinctive sound," according to Clarence Beasley. "It was soulful."

Willie Anderson: "So many big names tried to get him out of Detroit and he would not go. He never had the confidence in himself because he never had the formal training, the building blocks that he could use. He simply refused to go out of town with these bands. He didn't want to be pigeonholed or whatnot, but, my God, did he have a reputation for being one of the finest pianists locally. He was a fantastic jazz player." - Clarence Beasley

"Hugh Lawson had a very fine, strong left hand." - Clarence Beasley

Tim Kennedy was a very fine Detroit drummer, about five years older. He played with Illinois Jacquet.

- Clarence Beasley

"Johnny Allen was a really good pianist on the scene and a fantastic arranger. He was from Chicago and went to school with Nat Cole but relocated in Detroit. He played the Silver Slipper with Tate Houston when Eckstine worked there."  - Clarence Beasley

Willie Wells dissipated with drugs, and was sad to see, but a great player on the scene.

Joe Brazil hosted jam sessions at his house that Wells and a lot of the youngsters played.

Jimmy Glover, a real good bass player out of Detroit. - Bob Pierson

"A lot of guys never made it. There was Will Davis, a real good piano player, and Bu Bu Turner, another good piano player. . . . There were some real good tenor players. Tommy Barnet, and Lefty Edwards--they were a little bit older, more mature." - Bob Pierson

Abe Woodley: "Abe was something! I'll tell ya, next to Milt, he had the best feel I ever heard on vibes and he could play some great bebop piano too!" - Bob Pierson

Bu Bu Turner: "Great player, great accompanist, too, for a horn player, and he could burn his ass off playing jazz." - Bob Pierson

Art Mardigan sound: "He had a great feel and you could hear the beat of the stick on the cymbal. He had the best sound out of the cymbal I've ever heard and I've heard them all. Art had that, and a lot of guys that played around Detroit got that from him. They all got the nice sound out of the cymbal." - Bob Pierson

Warren Hickey: "A tenor player. A wonderful player." - Bob Pierson

Other fine Detroit players, as per Bob Pierson: Leon Rice (dm), Willie Wells (before junk got to him), Gus Rosario.

Tate Houston had a nice sound.

Lefty Edwards was a good tenor player.

Claire Roquemore: “couldn’t stay out of jail.” - Charles Johnson

Roquemore: "He was a wonderful, young, Caucasian-looking trumpet player. He was very fair-skinned, blonde-haired. He probably had a white mother and a mixed father. He looked white but he wasn't white. He was mixed. Whenever Claire had a gig, he'd use Pepper." - Roland Hanna

“The great Claire Rocquemore? He could play anything. He’d wear Miles out. He’d wear anybody out. Donald didn’t want to get on the bandstand with him. He ended up being strung out. And he didn’t go anywhere. He would always be around, when he could keep it together, and kick everybody’s butt. He was at Barry’s house all the time.” - Charles Boles

"There was a guy named Benny Benjamin. He was a guy that went with Motown. He was a bad sucker! He could play in any kind of groove--bebop, or the blues. He had the feeling. He was a bitch! Wilbur Harden, this trumpet player [moved to Detroit in 57 and played with Yusef, was sick for four years then played with Curtis], and Teeter Ford [in Barry Harris' group in the early 50s, replacing Claire Roquemore, with Sonny Red.] - Frank Gant

                                              (Elvin Jones)