Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Michael Steinman Review and Discovery

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Michael Steinman gave me a terrific review in his influential blog Jazz Lives (http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/author/jazzlives/, see below). At the end of his August 5, 2014 post he tantalized me with the discovery of an audience recording he made on July 19, 1972 at the Half Note in New York. Ruby Braff was leading a quartet with Dill Jones, George Mraz and Dottie Dodgion. Toward the end of the evening Pepper sat in on a blues. It's not known why Pepper traveled in from Brooklyn on a Wednesday.

PEPPER ADAMS’ JOY ROAD: AN ANNOTATED DISCOGRAPHY by GARY CARNER

I had not known much about baritone saxophonist / composer Pepper Adams before a friend lent me a copy of Gary Carner’s book on him (now in paperback from Scarecrow Press) but I commend both Pepper and the book to you.
JOY ROAD 2
First, some music — an excerpt from an uptempo STRAIGHT, NO CHASER with Clark Terry, recorded in 1978:

The book is well-researched, rather than opinion.  Not only did its author speak with Pepper and JOY ROAD is introduced by the eminent Dan Morgenstern, but no other book I know has enthusiastic blurbs from both Phil Woods (alto) and Philip Levine (poetry).
JOY ROAD is an annotated discography.  To those not deeply involved in the music, such a work may seem a collection of marginally-useful pieces of arcane information, suitable only to those strange creatures, “record collectors,” concerned with whether that Charlie Parker solo recorded on a cardboard disc was issued on a Bolivian compact disc. I am exaggerating, but not that much.
But as an annotated bibliography would tell us a great deal about the artistic life of a writer and her relations with the marketplace, an annotated listing of a musician’s recordings would map an artistic journey. The book does not purport to be a biography — Carner is working on one now and hopes it will be finished by Adams’ centennial — but it is full of information about Adams’ life and music from 1947 to his death in 1986.  And that information is more than listings of songs, original compositions, recording data, issued or unissued performances. What makes Carner’s book more than a useful reference work is the interviews he conducted with Pepper and the people who knew and worked with him.
When I received a copy of JOY ROAD, I opened it at random, out of curiosity. I had not been terribly involved in Adams’ work — coming from a long immersion in Harry Carney and Ernie Caceres, among others.  But I stood in the middle of the living room, reading eagerly for a half hour, before remembering that a) I could sit down, and b) other tasks had to be taken care of.  If a book can “stop me in my tracks,” it is one I will read, keep, and value.
Many jazz musicians, so eloquent as creators, grow reticent when asked to speak about their art and their colleagues.  Much of what is published as treasured narrative is frankly insubstantial: “Oh, she liked her drink after the set was through!” “Did I ever tell you the story of X at the diner and what he said to the waiter?” “Y couldn’t stand Z, and always called Z names, but when they got on the stand, they blew!” If we didn’t feel that our heroes were so precious that any scrap of anecdotage, no matter how thin, brought us a step closer, no one would retell such stories. But JOY ROAD is not a collection of shards and detritus important only because they connect with someone we value. Carner’s musicians have been unsually articulate, and their stories have shape and heft.
We read about a bizarre and satisfying gig (even televised) where Pepper, David Amram, and Elvin Jones played at a Horn and Hardart automat in midtown Manhattan; Hank Jones tells Carner, “I never felt I was up to his standards, to tell you the truth.  I was reaching to play along with him”; we learn of Adams’ early work with Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman; encounters with Alfred Lion, Joihn Hammond, and Rudy Van Gelder; concert performances with Mingus and Monk; encounters with younger European musicians and elders of the tribe including Fess Williams, Cozy Cole, Joe Wilder, Benny Carter, Milt Hinton; the birth and development of the Thad Jones – Mel Lewis Orchestra; an informal session in Eugene H. Smith’s loft with Adams playing piano to Zoot Sims’ tenor; recordings with Donald Byrd, Oliver Nelson, Duke Pearson, Blue Mitchell, Jimmy Rowles, Joshua Breakstone, and a hundred other notables.
Equally intriguing are glimpses into the life of a valued New York session player, for Adams was understandably in-demand for pop recordings, often as an uncredited member of the ensemble, with Aretha Franklin, Dakota Staton, Sonny and Cher, The Cowsills, The Nice, The Rascals, Brook Benton, Jon Lucien, Esther Phillips, film soundtracks, industrial films, and more.
Ultimately, JOY ROAD did a number of things for me, even though my first reading of this 550-plus page book was of necessity quick rather than deep. I found recordings I’d known nothing about — Carner has had access to Adams’ personal appointment book, and has spoken with more than a hundred musicians. But more than that, I have a sense of Adams as an individual — reading Dostoevsky, listening to Berg, encouraging younger musicians, fierce when he felt unjustly treated — and I look forward to the biography, which Carner is tentatively calling In Love with Night.
I will close with my single Pepper Adams sighting. In 1972, several friends and I followed Ruby Braff to gigs.  Although Ruby was unpredictable and unreasonably given to rage, he was always pleasant to us and allowed us to tape-record him. On July 19 of that year, my friend Stu and I came to the Half Note to record Ruby with the Welsh pianist Dill Jones, bassist George Mraz (then working with Pepper in the Thad Jones – Mel Lewis ensemble, and Dottie Dodgion on drums.  About two -thirds through the evening, where the music had been very sweet, with Ruby’s characteristic leaps through the repertoire of Louis, Duke, and Billie, a tall man ascended the stand with a baritone saxophone, was greeted warmly by the players, and the quintet launched into an extended blues in Ab.  I remember Dottie Dodgion being particularly enthusiastic about the unnamed musician’s playing, who packed his horn and went off into the warm Greenwich Village night.  Who was that unmasked man?  The subject of Carner’s book, and yes, the tape exists, although not in my possession.
To learn more about Adams, JOY ROAD, and Carner, visit his Pepper Adams website and his Pepper Adams blog, THE MASTER 

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Pacific Jazz Puzzles Solved


© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.


I'm excited to report that jazz researcher James Harrod has discovered the actual recording dates of the James Dean Story and Critics' Choice, Pepper Adams' second date as leader. Harrod confirmed the new information by obtaining copies of AFM contracts. It turns out Pepper did three separate August, 1957 dates for Pacific Jazz, all done at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. On August 13, from 2:00 to 6:30 p.m., Bud Shank led the first James Dean Story session with the following personnel: Charlie Mariano, Herbie Steward as; Bill Holman, Richie Kamuca ts; Pepper Adams bs; Claude Williamson p; Monty Budwig b; Mel Lewis dm; Mike Pacheco bongos; FEATURED SOLOISTS: Chet Baker tp, voc; Bud Shank as, fl.

On August 14, at almost the same time, Bud Shank was again noted as leader for a follow-up date. Its personnel was the same, but augmented with three additional brass: Ray Linn, Don Fagerquist tp: Milton Bernhart tb.

For both Shank sessions there's no listing in the AFM logs of what titles were recorded on either date. If anyone has the recording and can help me identify what tunes have the added brass, please comment below. That will help me make corrections that I'll post at pepperadams.com.


With respect to Critics Choice, Harrod wrote the following in his blog:

"Pepper Adams' other appearance on Pacific Jazz was as leader for his album, CRITIC'S CHOICE, PJM-407. Both Jepsen and Bruyninckx list the correct date of this recording session for Dick Bock, August 23, 1957. The session was at Radio Recorders from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m."

Regarding Bill Holman and Johnny Mandel's participation, Harrod emailed me this:

"The contracts just list the musicians. Holman might have retained the charts that he arranged. I believe that he has placed most of his archive with the LOC. He received arranger credit on the 14th only. Mandel is not listed as arranger on the 13th. He might have had a direct agreement with Dick Bock for his services. The back liner of P-2005 notes that Mandel arranged The SearchJimmy's Theme, and Success; with Holman arranging the other selections. Mandel might have retained his charts as well."     

Harrod also told me that Chet Baker was listed as co-leader merely as a marketing strategy to boost sales. Also, Johnny Mandel likely functioned as a conductor at both sessions.

You can read all about it at Harrod's blog Jazz West Coast Research: http://jazzwestcoastresearch.blogspot.com/2014/07/bud-shank-chet-baker-theme-music-from.html


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Ephemera

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



I'm happy to report that Glenn Wilson at the University of Illinois is currently working with engineer Paul Wickliffe to reinstate a few solos, edit one extra track (Doctor Deep) and master the big band date recorded last year of Adams' tunes. Once this is complete and the tunes are reordered, UI will be shopping it around to labels, now that Motema has suspended their Pepper Adams series. I'll update you as I learn more. As a fall-back plan, UI has their own label and can release it that way. Again, to all of you who contributed to the 2013 Kickstarter campaign, thanks so much for your support and patience. 

In case you were worried, Motema's five-volume digital set of Pepper's music and their physical Volume 5 CD (Alexis Cole Sings Pepper Adams) and Sampler (of the other four dates) are still in print and available. It's just that they will not continue building the series with new volumes.

A few other things are going on. Yesterday (Friday, July 25, 2014) Steve Cerra reprinted his lengthy profile of Pepper Adams in his important blog Jazz Profiles. His piece includes a transcript of Ben Sidran's marvelous 1986 interview with Pepper for NPR. You can listen to the interview at pepperadams.com. Along with the Pepper profile, Cerra also was very kind to reprint Dan Morgenstern's foreword and my preface to Pepper Adams' Joy Road. I'm very grateful to Steve for all the support he's given me and I look forward to his forthcoming review/interview.

Also forthcoming, Bert Vuijsje in The Netherlands will be reviewing my Pepper book in either Dutch or Flemish. Michael Steinman has also agreed to review it on his blog Jazz Lives.

I'm excited that in the next month or so the Greenville Jazz Collective Big Band, led by trombonist Brad Jepson, will be performing some Pepper charts I've commissioned. That's worth the three-hour roundtrip drive from Georgia! Also, Aaron Lington's big band chart on Pepper's sumptuous ballad Now in Our Lives has been completed and he's looking to get it recorded so it can be posted at pepperadams.com. Any takers?

Lastly, I've been invited to contribute a piece on Pepper Adams and Detroit for a collection of pieces on Detroit's musical history. It's being assembled by ML Liebler for Wayne State University Press, Pepper's alma mater.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Further Definitions: Pepper Adams with the Per Husby Trio, 1979


© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Thanks to drummer Espun Rud, who located his 1979 appointment book, I now have definitive information on Pepper Adams' 1979 tour of Norway with pianist Per Husby. Thanks too to Husby for forwarding me the data. Gaps below indicate venues that still remain unknown. It's also not known if the gigs of 23-24 March were done at the same place. A photo of the band is linked from the Chronology at pepperadams.com and can be seen at pepperadams.com's Photos section.

Mar 12: Queens NY: Adams flies to Norway by way of Stockholm. 
Mar 13: Stavanger, Norway: Per Husby gig at __________with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 14: Stord, Norway: Per Husby gig at the Jazzforum, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 15: Bergen, Norway: Per Husby gig, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 16-18: Voss, Norway: Per Husby gig at the Voss Jazz Festival, with Atle Hammer, Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 19: Gjovik, Norway: Per Husby gig at Torvetten, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 20: Lillehammer, Norway: Per Husby gig at the Blue Note, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 21: Oslo: Per Husby gig at Club 7, with Atle Hammer, Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 22: Bodo: Per Husby gig at ____________, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 23: Tromso: Per Husby gig at ____________, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 24: Tromso: Per Husby gig at ____________, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 25: Trondheim, Norway: Per Husby gig at the Trubadur, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 26: Trondheim: Off day.
Mar 27: Kristiansund, Norway: Per Husby gig at _________, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud.
Mar 28: Molde, Norway: Per Husby gig at Storyville, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. 
Mar 29: Orsta: Per Husby gig at Porse Jazzklubb, with Bjorn Alterhaug and Espen Rud. (Photo from Orsta)
Mar 30: Bergen, Norway: Travel day. Adams flies to Stockholm.
Mar 31: Stockholm: Unknown event or off day.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

What's New: The Latest on Pepper Adams' Joy Road

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



I got my annual royalty statement from Scarecrow Press. It covers the period through December 31, 2013. Even though 600 copies of Pepper Adams' Joy Road have been sold and the hardcover is nearly sold out, I still owe $500 to the publisher for outsourcing the index. That means that everything I've "earned" has gone to the indexer. 

I also learned that sales have completely flattened out in 2014. I could certainly use your help to get the word out about the book, keep it in the public eye, and get the balance paid off. Can you please post something on your Facebook and Twitter pages? How about a link on your website? Google+, bulletin boards such as Organissimo, or other social media avenues would be most appreciated. Anything that directs others to pepperadams.com would invariably help too since the book is prominently displayed on the homepage. If you come up with a cool way to let people know about it, do let me know below in the form of a comment. That would give others options they might not have considered. 

Here's two links you can use. First, from pepperadams.com, is the description on the book's back cover, with a link to Dan Morgenstern's foreword:


Next is the link to the book at amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Pepper-Adams-Joy-Road-Discography/dp/0810882566/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335114523&sr=1-5

For my part, I'm pleased to let you know that a bunch of new reviews will be coming out. Steven Cerra will be writing a review and interviewing me for his esteemed blog Jazz Profiles: http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/. Michael Steinman, admittedly not a fan of post-war baritone playing, has agreed to review my book, assuming he likes it, for his very popular blog Jazz Lives: http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/allaboutjazz.com will be publishing an excerpt of my book, then doing a review. Matt Vashlishan is likely publishing an excerpt in The Note, the magazine produced by the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection at East Stroudsburg University. I'm also promised by Cyril Moshkow a review in Jazz.Ru, the Russian jazz magazine. Thanks to all for keeping Pepper Adams alive!

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Road to Ruin

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Happy Independence Day everyone! Yesterday, on the Fourth of July, I conducted a groundbreaking interview with Al Gould, the author of Boots on the Ground with Music in My Hands. I wrote about his book in last week's post and first on May 24 but I finally had the good fortune of speaking with him. Gould's insights into that time are extraordinary! As luck would have it, Gould was in the same traveling platoon (Platoon #2) as Pepper and much new information about that period was discovered in our one hour conversation.  First, here's a link to Gould's memoir:
Gould wrote a very good overview of the history of the 10th Special Service Company, not fully included in his book, that I'll post here:
"The original concept of establishing highly trained entertainers for completely mobile shows under very adverse conditions was the idea of Captain Josh Logan, who had served in Germany during World War II. The 10th Special Service Company was started in Guam in 1944 and Josh was joined a year later by a Department of the Army Civilian (DAC), Margaret "Skippy" Lynn. Both had excellent backgrounds in the entertainment field. Logan went on to write and direct the Broadway musicals Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, Fanny and others, working with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Lynn, a dancer and Dance Captain with the Radio City Rockettes in New York, appeared on Broadway in the musicals Oklahoma, Carousel and as the ingenue lead with Ethel Merman in Something for the Boys. 
The headquarters of the 10th Special Service Company moved from Guam to Hawaii, then Japan and, finally, in April 1951, to Korea. Because of extremely difficult combat conditions, travel by civilian entertainers in Korea was limited. On the other hand, fine entertainment was eagerly sought by troops as an essential morale booster. These two factors combined to generate the development of touring soldiers of superior quality. In order to do the job, these traveling units needed to be self-contained and capable of performing under the most adverse circumstances while maintaining professional stage presence and soldierly conduct.
When a member of one of the top dance bands of the day (Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, etc) during the Korean War was drafted or enlisted, he would end up with the 10th Special. This also included celebrity singers, such as Eddie Fisher, comedians, and specialty entertainers. 
The 10th Special Service Company had four platoons. Three were show platoons on the road, plus a Headquarters Platoon. The three show platoons each had about thirty members. The shows were trained in Japan and entered Korea at different times. I was a member of the 2nd Platoon. The 2nd entered Korea in October 1951 and was called "Take 10." It became the "Road to Ruin" Show in October 1952, which I became a part of in early January 1953. 
The 10th was deactivated in July 1955. Skippy Lynn remained a DAC until 1978, continuing shows that were called Army Showmobile Units. They serviced the Berlin and Cuban crises, plus she produced Army competitions worldwide to obtain members for the Showmobile units."
Besides his history of the 10th Special Service Company, Gould also sent me several photographs. One is a shot of the USS Walker, the troop ship that both he and Pepper Adams took from San Francisco to Japan on their way to Korea. Gould pointed out in our interview that he left for Japan on October 25 and Pepper would've left very early that October. 
A second photo he sent me was of Kim Byung Joo, the sixteen-year-old house boy who worked at the Headquarters of the 10th Special Service Company in Seoul. Gould said that Joo was extremely intelligent and spoke perfect English. All attempts so far to locate Joo have been unsucessful, in part because his name is incredibly common. Joo is an important figure because Pepper addressed to Joo a very long letter in the form of a diary while returning to the US from Korea after his tour of duty concluded. It's the longest document I've found written by Pepper and it will be discussed in my forthcoming biography. Pepper had very strong paternal feelings for Joo, as I think most of the 2nd Platoon also felt.
Another photo shows some of the performers of the 2nd Platoon in their costumes and with a caption identifying their names: Jerry Lehmeier, Alfred (Mack) Sanders, Frank Horner, Al Lamo, Al Gould, Duke Duberry, Bob Weiss, Harry Fallon, Park (Pepper) Adams, Neal Brodie, Al Masco, Kenneth Barner and Fred Haney.
A fourth photograph is a spectacular color photograph of the band in performance in Korea in 1953 that I'll be including in the biography. Some of the entertainers in this photo, in Army fatigues, are different from the one above in their show costumes. Nevertheless, this amazing photo captures in vivid detail exactly what the 2nd Platoon was all about: performing at a makeshift stage in a rugged terrain straight out of a Hollywood Western, surrounded by trucks that transported the troop and gear.
Next week I'll discuss the contents of my interview with Gould and I'll be updating Pepper's chronology from that period. Among other things, Gould mentioned that the 2nd Platoon did a command performance for the President of Korea at the Presidential Palace and they also did a recording. Lots to report!

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Pepper Adams in the U.S. Army

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



While reconstructing the contours of Pepper Adams' life, I've found that researching his time in the U.S. Army has been one of my biggest challenges. When I interviewed him at length in 1984 he didn't want to discuss his war experiences at all. They were simply too painful for him to retell. The fact that Army records from the 1950s burned in a fire a number of years ago hasn't made things any easier. Pepper did tell me that he enlisted to get preferential treatment, knowing that he was about to get drafted. But other than a few interviews I've done with Marv Holladay and Norb Grey, and a few documents I've found in Pepper's materials, I really don't know too much about that time.

The framework of Pepper's Army experience, as I've pieced together at pepperadams.com and updated from my previous post of 24 May 2014 is as follows:
1951
July 12: Detroit: Adams enlists in the U.S. Army. He was hoping to fail the induction physical and be found unfit for service.

cJuly 15: Waynesville MO: Basic Training at Ft. Leonard Wood.
cSept 1: Waynesville MO: Five months with the 6th Armored Division Band at Ft. Leonard Wood. Bill Evans and Tommy Flanagan were both at the post in other units.
1952 
Feb: Waynesville MO: Adams organizes a Special Services band at Ft. Leonard Wood for future performances in Korea.
Spring: Waynesville MO: A
s a ruse engineered by Charlie Parker (posing as Adams' mother's doctor), Adams receives an emergency furlough from Ft. Leonard Wood so that Adams could visit Parker in Kansas City. When Adams arrives at the club and learns that Parker is missing from his gig, Adams sees a movie, stays at the Y, then returns to the base the following day.
July: Ann Arbor MI: Hugh Jackson private recording with Bu Bu Turner, et al. Adams likely on 'Terminal Leave.'July-Aug: Pontiac MI: While on "Terminal Leave," Adams goes to Thad Jones' parent's house for a jam session, soon after meeting Thad for the first time. Adams and Jones spend some additional time together during the last days of Adams' leave.
cOct 10: San Francisco: Adams is shipped off to Korea, possibly on the USS General Walker,
a ship that transported 5,000 troops plus materiel to the staging area of Camp Drake.
cOct 29: Asaka, Japan: Adams is stationed at Camp Drake, awaiting re-assignment in Korea.

bearly Nov: Inchon, Korea: Adams arrives in Korea.
cNov 15: Korea: Adams first performance in the Eighth Army's 10th Special Services band.

1953
Apr 5: near Kunsan, Korea: Tommy Flanagan trio, plus altoist Jerry Lehmeier, recorded on Easter, presumably at Base K-8. Adams was in the audience.
Apr 12: near Kunsan, Korea: Tommy Flanagan trio, plus altoist Jerry Lehmeier, recorded at Base K-8. Adams was in the audience.
May 17: Pusan, Korea: Adams boards the Marine Phoenix troopship for his return home.
cMay 23: Pacific Ocean: Adams performs on alto sax for returning troops in a quintet with Marv Holladay.
cJune 2: Seattle: Arrives at Ft. Lott.
June 5: Detroit: Receives honorable release from active duty.
June 6: Ft. Custer MI: Files discharge papers and is transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve.
With this scanty chronology as a backdrop, imagine my excitement when I learned of a memoir written by someone who was in the Army with Pepper. Al Gould's slender memoir, Boots on the Ground with Music in My Hands, (Gilbert AZ: Acadia Publishing, 2011) definitely helps me understand that time. The author provides very useful background information, such as the history and purpose of the 10th Special Services Company. He also includes some fascinating vignettes that give a taste of Adams' military experience. 

The 10th, established in Honolulu in 1944, was first stationed in Guam, then Japan and Korea. Essentially a kind of Bob Hope USO touring troupe without the pretty girls, musicially speaking it was far more accomplished. According to Gould,

     It was the only Special Services Company in the whole armed forces made up of professional 
     entertainers, most of them drafted, who automatically would be sent to this company after receiving 
     basic training. These men were the top musicians from the major dance and swing bands of the 
     day such as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton and others. The 10th Special Services 
     Company also included celebrity vocalists, comedians, magicians and other entertainers. 

According to the author, members of the 10th "gave up their musical professional lives in order to bring uplifting entertainment to all UN forces during the Korean Conflict." The Army's entertainment units were organized by Margaret "Skippy" Lynn. Lynn, a professional dancer, had the job since 1945, right after the conclusion of World War II.

According to Gould, USO tours in Korea by civilians were difficult--presumably due to the rugged terrain, weather, war conditions, or other factors, though Gould doesn't say--hence the need for the 10th: 

     Live entertainment was eagerly sought by the troops as an essential morale booster. Thus, the       
     touring all-soldier shows were conceived. Self contained units became capable of performing under 
     the most diverse circumstances while maintaining top professional stage presence and strict military 
     conduct. . . . Each platoon produced a theatrical musical program, which would tour and play for all 
     UN and MASH [Mobile Army Surgical Hospital] military personnel in South Korea, sometimes under 
     artillery fire.

As the book's Amazon.com blurb states, the author "spent nearly a year of his three year tour of duty as an accordionist in the 2nd Platoon of the 10th Special Services Company . . . . His unit broke all previous records, zig-zagging over 7,000 miles across South Korea and playing over 250 shows for military personnel and other UN troops." Pepper, for his part, was in the 10th Special Services Band in Korea for only six months--from c. 15 November 1952 through his return home on the Marine Phoenix troopship in late May 1953. To what degree did Gould's unit intersect with Pepper's? Until I interview Gould, that will be hard to know. Gould joined the 10th in January 1953, two months after Pepper. 

There were three separate 10th platoons (subdivisions of the Eighth United States Army) traveling "the road" in Korea. Gould's 2nd platoon consisted of 33 men yet all three platoons had an accordian player. I don't know yet which platoon Pepper was in but Gould's master roster of all 10th platoon members lists 102 soldiers, including Adams, alto saxophonist/bassist Jerry Lehmeier and baritone saxophonist Marv Holladay. 

Gould's first performances were in January 1953. He describes it in rich detail:

     This was January, and it was bone rattling cold. Our shows were played out of doors--anywhere we 
     could set up a stage, generators, sound equipment, musical instruments, including an upright 
     piano, and props off our truck. We carried our own 12-man tents for catching a quick night's sleep, 
     so at each stop it was physically unpacking, setting up tents and all our equipment, playing at least 
     two shows a day, often moving to a second location in between. The cold weather often brought 
     lips frozen to the horn mouthpieces, and fingers so stiff it was almost impossible to play the keys. . .

As of Christmas 1952 no one in the history of the 10th Special Services had been killed in combat. Gould recounts an amusing anecdote in which someone from the 3rd Platoon risked his life amid snipper fire to chop down a small Christmas Tree so he could affix it to his troop's truck. Members of his company adorned it with makeshift ornaments and it was a huge morale booster.

The author points out that soon after his arrival in Korea bands were reducing their size and transferring some of the musicians to different outfits, some with infantry. This, says Gould, "resulted in us moving more often, and we were dead tired, being booked for two shows a day for ten days straight." Again, how this might've affected Pepper is not known.

In February 1953 Gould's platoon was accused by a commanding officer of missing inspection. The 2nd 10th had arrived at the 25th Division Headquarters very early in the morning. While on the road, they had permission to sleep until 10:30am, unlike most soldiers, but the Division's officer was unaware of this. When the commander burst into the platoon's tent and demanded an explanation for why they weren't with the other troops at inspection, a member of Gould's platoon responded, "We are Special Service, Sir--and will you please turn up the stove on your way out?" Normally, such snarkiness would be grounds for court martial, but Special Service outfits were elite groups with "passes" signed by General Taylor that they be granted preferential treatment.

General Maxwell Taylor had assumed direction of the Eighth U.S. Army when General Matthew Ridgway replaced General Dwight Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in May 1952. According to Pepper's friend Len Dobbin, Taylor is someone for whom Pepper had enormous respect.

Another amusing Gould anecdote describes the enemy enjoying the 2nd 10th's show. After the conclusion of one of their performances near the MLR (Main Line of Resistance), a few dud mortars were lobbed over with notes affixed, written in English saying, "We enjoyed the show too."

By April 1953 there were rumors that the 10th was going to be disbanded. Changes were certainly afoot. The war was winding down, perhaps part of why Pepper was sent home a few months later? Soon the 10th would be waking up at 6am and would be reassigned to one of three Army Corps units that would be doing mundane tasks, such as overseeing movies, libraries and sporting equipment. It's a good thing Pepper left for home!