Showing posts with label Wayne Andre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wayne Andre. Show all posts

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Genealogical Breakthroughs and Other Ephemera




© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved



What did the week bring about regarding Pepper Adams? Two significant developments and another possible one. First, was the receipt of an audience tape from Dave Schiff. It's a performance from June 21, 1974 of Pepper with Roland Hanna and several students at the Wilmington Music School in Wilmington, Delaware. (Another CD, from either 1968 or 1969 with Thad Jones, is forthcoming!) Adams and Hanna perform Thad Jones' "Quiet Lady" and Adams' "Civilization and Its Discontents" in a quartet and quintet format respectively to begin the concert. This is the only known time that Adams and Hanna performed these tunes apart from their recording of them on Adams' masterpiece LP, Ephemera, recorded the year before. "Civ" also has Schiff playing the melody on flute, which I believe was unknowingly a dry run for the Bill Perkins recording of the tune four years later. 

Two other tunes on the audience tape, "Straight, No Chaser" and "Royal Garden Blues," follow more of a jam session format, giving some the Camp's students a chance to show what they learned that week. It's possible that trombonist Wayne Andre was on the faculty and on the recording. I'll need to listen again, but not in my car, so I can finally make sense of some of these things.

I also had a email conversation with Schiff this week regarding his recording of "Civ" and my plans for the CD reissue of Ephemera. It turns out that Schiff recorded "Civ" as a tribute to Pepper, not knowing the title of the tune. His rendition will be added to pepperadams.com soon so you can hear his arrangement. 

As for the reissue, an engineer friend of mine in Los Angeles, Jim Merod, is about to do post-mastering work on the date to try to improve the sound of the piano and to increase the volume of Mel Lewis' drums-- especially his brushwork on "Quiet Lady," that remains virtually inaudible. For his part, Schiff is also considering whether he can produce the reissue on his label. We may decide to do a modest Kickstarter campaign to pay for the first round of CDs. I hope we can rely on you, my faithful readers, to help with this project. Although Ephemera is one of Pepper's greatest recorded achievements, it's never been issued on CD!

Otherwise, I've been working with Jocelyn Ireland, a librarian in Utica, New York, and a genealogist colleague of hers, Keith Gerland, to try to make some sense out of the allegation that Pepper lived in Utica from the Summer of 1935 until the Summer of 1937. I was first given an anonymous tip about it in an unsigned email. (Who was that "masked man?") So far, however, nothing has turned up in the 1935 Utica city directory or any census information. I'm awaiting word as to whether there were 1936 or 1937 directories for Utica and if anything turns up. 

This from Ireland: "You mentioned doing a search for the family in Rome. We don't have any of their directories but I think Ancestry.com may have some digitized. I'll have to check if they have Rome, NY around 1933-34. There is also the possibility the family stayed with Park F. Adams' parents in Oriskany, NY. I believe Oriskany may have been listed in Utica City Directories in the 1930s -- another thing I'll have to check. . . . I will check if there was any Adams in Oriskany, NY and if Rome's directory is on Ancestry.com."

Jocelyn has been great thus far. From what I gather, Pepper Adams and his mother moved to Rome in the Summer of 1934 to reunify with Pepper's father after a three-year separation due to the lack of work during the worst of the Great Depression. They lived in Rome at 806 Jerris or Jervis Avenue from that summer until the Christmas holiday, when they moved to Rochester. They may have lived briefly in Oriskany with family, a small town between Rome and Utica, while searching for a place to live.

Jocelyn also found these links for grave sites, two with obituary information:




Grave and obituary of Pepper's father, Park Frederick Adams:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12500616&ref=acom


Birth: 1898
Rome
Oneida County
New York, USA
Death: May 19, 1940
Rochester
Monroe County
New York, USA

Utica Daily Press
1940

Park Adams, 44, a native of Rome, died May 19, 1940 of a heart attack in his home in Rochester.

He was born in Rome, son of the late Nathaniel and Frances Adams. He married Cleo Coyle in Detroit, Michigan. He had lived in Rochester four years, where he was a manufacturer's representative. He went to Rochester from Detroit. He was a member of the Christian Science Church in Rochester, the Masonic Lodge and Knights of Templar in Detroit.

He leaves a daughter, Mrs. George Gifford, Rochester, a son, Park Adams Jr., Rochester, three sisters, Mrs. Fred Weaver and Mrs. Roy Johnson, both of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Rita Head, Oriskany, and a grandchild.

The funeral will be conducted in Rochester tomorrow with burial in New Union Cemetery in Verona Mills

Family links:
 Parents:
  Nathaniel Qunicy Adams (1858 - 1929)
  Frances Cleveland Adams (1863 - 1940)
Burial:
New Union Cemetery
Verona
Oneida County
New York, USA

Park Adams
Added by: Bea Lastowicka
Park Adams
Cemetery Photo
Added by: Tombstone Hunter
 
Photos may be scaled.
Click on image for full size.


REPOSE EN PAIX!
quebecoise
 Added: Oct. 9, 2006



Grave and obituary of Pepper's paternal grandmother, Frances Cleveland Adams:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12500616&ref=acom



Birth: 1863
Mohawk
Herkimer County
New York, USA
Death: Jan. 26, 1940
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California, USA



Rome Sentinel
January 27, 1940

Mrs. Frances Cleveland Adams, widow of Nathaniel Quicny Adams, a former resident of Rome and Oriskany, died Friday at a hospital in Los Angeles, California. She had gone to California a year ago last November to make her home with her daughters.

She was born in Mohawk, a daughter of Abel B. and Abbie J. Cleveland. About 62 years ago she was married to Mr. Adams who died about 10 years ago.

Her married life was spent in New London, Churchville and Rome before coming to Oriskany 25 years ago. For a number of years, the Adams operated the Temperance Hotel, S. James St., Rome.

Mrs. Adams was a member of First Methodist Church, Rome, and later of Waterbury Memorial Presbyterian Church, Oriskany. She was a member of Queen Esther Rebekah Lodge, Rome. She was also a member of the Maccabees and served through the offices, the organization later becoming the Women's Benefit Association. She was also a member of Oriskany Chapter 524, OES and had served as chaplain and in other offices.

Survivors are three daughters, Mrs. Fred R. Weaver and Mrs. Roy H. Johnston, both of West Los Angeles, California, and Mrs. Rita Head or Oriskany, a sister, Mrs. Emma Callahan, Rome, seven grandchildren, including Francis Head, Rome and Mrs. Lee Kite, Lowell, and five great-grandchildren. 



Birth: 1899
Death: 1971
Burial:
South Park Cemetery
Columbia City
Whitley County
Indiana, USA
Plot: 2-26-1

Created by: Jim Cox
Record added: Jun 17, 2008
Find A Grave Memorial# 27629332
Cleo <i>Coyle</i> Adams
Added by: Just Dave
Cleo <i>Coyle</i> Adams
Cemetery Photo
Added by: vcrusaderfan
 
Photos may be scaled.
Click on image for full size.




Obviously, I now have a whole new world of research to pursue regarding Pepper's ancestors. I'll let you know of my progress. I did do a search regarding the Coyles. So far, it seems that Pepper's mother is the only child of Charles (1869-1916) and Minnie B Coyle (1872-1941). I'm trying to determine if/how Eloise Coyle was related. She lived in Columbia City, Indiana (in Whitley County) in 1935 (just after Adams and his mother left for New York), and was married, as of the 1940 U.S. Census, to Carl Banning (born c. 1920). Her age makes her a possible first-cousin.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Thad, Etc.

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.


Here's a really nice note I received this week, completely out of the blue:

Hi, my name is Dave Schiff. My father had a jazz workshop in Wilmington, Delaware that he put together in the late 1960s to the mid '70s. In the early years he had many of the members of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra come down and work with the students (including myself) for a week. Pepper Adams and I became pretty close friends during that time. I had the opportunity to study with him and hang out with him. I have some cassette tapes of some of the clinic concerts with Pepper Adams performing. They are some of my most cherished things. I am in the middle of reading your book and find myself hearing his voice as I am reading the quotes of his. I would be interested in sharing the tapes if you would be interested. Pepper was a great influence in my playing and a good friend. Thank you for your time and consideration, and, most of all, bringing attention to this wonderful musician and human being.
Dave Schiff

Of course, when someone like that reaches out for me, I follow up. I'll be speaking with Schiff tomorrow by phone. I've already learned that at least one tape exists of Pepper with Roland Hanna, Wayne Andre and a few student musicians. (See photo below.) Schiff is looking for other tapes. I also asked if he knew whether Pepper taught at his dad's Wilmington Music School in 1971, 1972 and 1973. So far, there's no record of it in Pepper's materials. Also, Schiff's father was responsible for producing Thad-Mel at The Playhouse in Wilmington, 1967. I'm trying to see if that was recorded.

Speaking of Thad Jones, this week I posted a large update to the Thaddeus chronology (1965-1977) at pepperadams.com. The thrust of my research was to identify those tunes in Thad-Mel's baritone book in which Pepper would have been asked to play either clarinet or bass clarinet parts. I was motivated by the recent YouTube video posting of Central Park North (1969). Pepper is seen playing clarinet in one part of the performance. 

Here's a link to the new section of the pepperadams.com chronology and the link to the video of Three and One from the same 1969 concert as Central Park North, with dazzling solos by Thad and Pepper:

http://www.pepperadams.com/Chronology/Thaddeus.pdf

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WaCfDeZJPIU

While working my way through YouTube today I discovered a few videos of the band that are new to me. First, is a performance of Thad-Mel in Nice, at the picturesque setting of Les Jardin des Arenes de Cimiez. Recorded by RF TV on 15 July 1977, what a magnificent television production of the band!; clearly the finest video quality of any film that exists of the band to date. Tunes: Evol Deklaw Ni, It Only Happens Every Time, 61st and Richard, and Ambiance.

The second video is this dazzling vocal chart by Thad Jones, Route 66: 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLxyax9Wgh_JwhNJR10yDsuCRrZitkm3VI&v=ECv8fQcA0Pw. 

Can you believe how harmonically adventurous it is? It was recorded in Denmark in very late July or early August, 1977, Pepper's last tour with the band.

While we're on the topic of vocal charts--often overlooked in Thad's oeuvre--check out this brilliant performance by Dee Dee Bridgewater and the band doing Bye Bye Blackbird from a TV brodcast from Tokyo on 26 February 1974:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLxyax9Wgh_JwhNJR10yDsuCRrZitkm3VI&v=R31s5We3JmQ

Also discovered today on YouTube are three performances by the band at Montreux on 5 July 1974:


I Love You: https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLxyax9Wgh_JwhNJR10yDsuCRrZitkm3VI&v=Ylt8g4dlfOk 

Blues in a Minute: https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLxyax9Wgh_JwhNJR10yDsuCRrZitkm3VI&v=QNL4FTPjyjA 

Sorry if they're not showing up as links. I'm still struggling with that. Please paste them into your browser and enjoy. They'll also be included in the next update of "Thaddeus."





                       Photo (c) Dave Schiff, 20 June 1974. Left to right: Roland Hanna p; Don
                     Schiff b; Wayne Andre tb; Dave Schiff ts; unknown dm; Pepper Adams bs.