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.

The Complete Pepper Adams, Vol. 6

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

The first track, Bossallegro, has been mixed, for the upcoming Motema CD of Tony Faulkner arrangements.  The performance is by the University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band, with faculty as soloists and the rhythm section.  Solos on this track are by Jim Pugh and Glenn Wilson.  The superb rhythm section is Chip Stephens p; Larry Gray b; Joel Spencer dm.

Update on Pepper Adams Tour

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

It's been several months since I updated you on my Pepper Adams work. First, the great news is my Pepper Adams book is being reissued in paperback. That's very gratifying because it will be affordable and more people can learn about Pepper and his great music. Also, the book was just nominated by the ASRC for Best Historical Research in a Discography in 2013. It's wonderful to know that Adams is appreciated.

Hardcover owners please note that the paperback edition has an updated index. There were some issues with the original version, because my printer died when printing out the camera-ready copy, thereby changing pagination.

The 2012 book and CD tour was extraordinary! I visited and lectured in 40 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Notable concerts were Kevin Bales and Barry Greene in Atlanta, Pat LaBarbara in Toronto, Jill Townsend's Big Band in Vancouver, Jeremy Kahn in Chicago, Hod O'Brien in Charlottesville, and the entire week in New York. 

We had six nights of concerts in NYC celebrating Pepper Adams. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Alexis Cole, Lew Tabackin, and Bevan Manson's Octet with Gary Smulyan were the highlights. Having George Mraz on several of the shows was beyond belief! Many thanks to Don Friedman, David Amram, Jerry Dodgion, and Kenny Washington for participating.