Chapter Five of the Bio

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

My apologies for missing the February post. My work schedule has shifted since
December. I now work all day Friday through Sunday. I’m just too beat to write
over the weekend. Mondays will now be the new posting day.

It’s been a very productive few months of 2019. Chapter Five of the biography is
mostly done. Currently, I’m working through my last fifty or so interviews,
tweaking things here and there. The interviews will take me through the summer.
Then I can wrap up the chapter and move on to the Listener’s Guide, 1963-1977.
Hearing all of that music, and writing about Pepper’s best solos from the period,
will take the rest of the year to complete. Once done, I can move on to the final
chapter, covering the period 1956-1963. I’m expecting the finish line to be
Christmas, 2020.

Here’s an amusing excerpt from Chapter Five, spoken by the writer Albert
Goldman:

“At that time,” said Goldman, “I always had a 4th of July party.”

I always had a lot of jazz musicians to it, because those guys don’t go out of town on that day and they don’t
know what to do with themselves. I’d always have Zoot, and I’d always have Elvin, and I’d always have them
at my apartment. This year, I did it bigger. I took the whole restaurant. A lot of weird people came: Buddy
Rich. . . . I had this friend at the time who was a real hardcore drug criminal, a wonderful character. He said,
“Al, let me cater the drugs for the party.” I said, “O.K., man, go ahead.” So, they had all these drugs out on
bronze platters that they were passing around, the [chargers] that they put down before they serve you the
meal, then they remove it and put down the plates. They filled all those up with drugs. Some of the Indian
waiters are going around, saying, “Hashish! Hashish!” This is the atmosphere of the party in the afternoon.

The guy who ran the restaurant was a weird cat named Samsher Wadud, who claimed to be a nephew of the
Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He went over to the U.N. that day to demonstrate. He said, “I’m going to leave
you in charge of the restaurant, O.K?” I said, “Fine, don’t worry about it. These are all my people. We have no
problem. If anybody else comes, I’ll just take care of them.” In the course of the afternoon, I think only one
couple turned up who weren’t from the party. It was some big, blonde, buxom English lady and her spinster
daughter, or niece, or something, and they didn’t know what was going on. They just walked into this
restaurant for an Indian meal and people are passing these plates of drugs. I remember they reached into a pile
of marijuana and just put it in their mouths, like it was some seeds they were going to eat, like alfalfa. When
they got through, they asked for the bill. I said, “Oh, no, it’s all on the house. You’re here for the first time,
aren’t you?” And they said, “Oh, you’re so gracious! We’ll have to tell everyone in England when we get
home. . . .”

All my crazy friends were there. Drug dealers. Of course Bob [Gold] was there with his old lady at the
time, and Zoot and Elvin. I remember Zoot passed out completely. He never even got to play. Pepper played
this great musical afternoon — we were going to make an album of it, actually. What it was was mostly a lot
of Duke Ellington stuff in a very icy, cool mode, like the frost on a bucket of champagne. It was so beautiful!
I would love to hear him in that mode. I told him, “Play all that cool Ellington stuff.” It’s an afternoon party.
We’re up in the penthouse there, all high as a kite. I said, “Let’s really do it. Do all those Billy Strayhorn
tunes.” It was a very cool, frosted-champagne afternoon.

That afternoon always stuck out in my mind as the kind of thing that Pepper should have been doing a lot
because he loved it. He was just functioning as a musician. He wasn’t an assertive guy. He didn’t want to be a
star. He just wanted to do his own thing, but he wanted to do it under the right auspices. He didn’t want to be
in some shithouse with a bunch of nitwits. And this was a very cool audience. I remember there was a very
hip Brazilian guy who came up with his girlfriend, who was just in from Rio. (I know a lot of people, and the
kind of audience he loved, who could really dig him.) Jack Kroll of Newsweek was there. I remember Jack just
sat there, with his drink, in front of Pepper for about an hour and dug him.

I thought to myself, “This is the kind of gig that guys should always be playing.” But nobody knew
he existed! That’s the tragedy of it. This great talent. I’m telling you, after years and years in the
jazz scene, I’ve heard all the famous, so-called “underground” stars. There’s a lot of these people.
One of them is Zoot’s brother, who played trombone for years in bands in Vegas. He’s a very good
trombone player. There are a number of people; they dropped out of the business because they had
to make a living, they had to put their kids through college, they lived in some weird town, or
something. But over the course of years, you get to hear them all, and, believe me, none of them
were in a league with Pepper. None of them. There wasn’t anybody. Pepper “walked away” from
all these people. He was the hippest, he was the coolest, he was the greatest technician, he was the
most sophisticated, the one who integrated more references.

Because my co-author, John Vana, is teaching a graduate level course this Spring at Western Illinois
about “the big three” (Bird, Trane, Pepper), it seemed like a great time to visit with his students, and
organize a few college lectures in the Midwest around the trip. Accordingly, I’ll be lecturing this coming
April at the University of Wisconsin- Lacrosse, Winona State University, Beloit College, and the
University of Northern Iowa. I’m also taking some vacation time in the Twin Cities.

The baritone saxophonist Anders Svanoe invited me to speak to his students at Beloit. Ultimately, we
decided to put on a concert of Pepper’s music in Madison, Wisconsin. His quartet will perform, and I’ll
read a few passages from Joy Road. It takes place on Wednesday, April 17 at 8pm. Here’s the
announcement:

https://artlitlab.org/events/the-life-and-music-of-pepper-adams-reading-and-concert

Biography Update

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.











I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Year’s. Hopefully, no one caught the flu or a headcold. My apologies for the delay in posting this. I started a new gig that has me working during the weekends.

December was a great month for me. I finished Chapter Four of the Adams biography, leaving only two more to do, and I began Chapter Five. As of this writing, I’ve written twenty pages of Chapter Five, plus the opening page of Chapter Six. It’s so exciting that the blueprint for the bio’s conclusion is now in place. The end of this colossal project is now visible. I can’t begin to tell you how much this journey has meant to me, and how happy I am that I’m almost finished with the biography. That said, there’s still plenty of work to do. Besides the writing, there’s a ton of tapes and LPs to heard anew.

Chapter Four is 43 pages, by far my shortest. Then again, it has associated with it a 34-page Listener’s Guide as an appendix. Put together, it’s about the same length as the other chapters. There will be three Listener’s Guides in the book: 1977-1986 for Chapter Four, 1964-1977 for Chapter Five and 1956-1964 for Chapter Six. Each will discuss my favorite Pepper Adams performances during each of those timespans, and each cut that I discuss will be linked to samples so you can hear the music as you read along. Other music links, too, will be sprinkled throughout the main text. The aim is to make the book interactive.

Here’s outlines to Chapter Four and Chapter Five (in progress):

Chapter Four: Now in Our Lives

Last concert in Montreal
Cancer diagnosis and last recordings
Benefit for Pepper Adams, cancer treatments
Final gigs and last days
Marriage separation, alcoholism, car accident
Courtship and wedding
Pepper at a crossroads with Thad/Mel
Great recordings as a soloist, 1977-1984
Pepper as a beloved figure

Chapter Five: Civilization and Its Discontents


The Thad Jones-Pepper Adams Quintet
New York in the Mid-1960s
Pepper in Europe, 1969-1977
The Inception of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra


Adam Schroeder has completed six more Pepper Adams solo transcriptions. They have been posted at http://www.pepperadams.com/Transcriptions/index.html

I’ve been in touch recently with the baritone saxophonist Anders Svanoe. He’s done a great deal of pioneering work regarding the Detroit alto saxophonist Sonny Red. See http://sonnyredmusic.com/ Svanoe has invited me to speak about Pepper to his class at Beloit College this coming April. I’m looking forward to it in part because I came very close to attending Beloit many years ago. I’m curious what it looks and feels like there.

My lecture at Beloit is one of five scheduled for that tour. I’m also giving talks at Western Illinois University, Northern Iowa University, Winona State University, and the University of Wisconsin (Lacrosse). A few more lectures are likely to be added in the coming weeks. I’ll be sure to fill you in soon, in case any of you wish to attend. Additionally, there’s a chance that Svanoe might schedule a concert at an arts center in Madison, Wisconsin, in which he would play some Pepper’s tunes, then I’d give an abbreviated talk. More about that, should it come to pass.

I’m expecting to make the first three chapters of the book available as an e-book sometime before the summer of 2019. Furthermore, I’m hoping to get Chapter Five done this year and Chapter Six done in 2020. Lastly, there’s been tangible progress with the big band date I produced of Pepper Adams arrangements. I’ll let you know when I have more progress to report.

Thank You, Pepper

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Dec 2018 blog

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

I hope all the Americans who are reading this had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Every day, either overtly or implicitly, I give my thanks to Pepper Adams, who so generously brought me into his life and, by doing, set the course of mine forever. 

I traveled out to Salt Lake City on Thanksgiving Day to visit with my daughter. Fortunately, no hiccups with the weather, either going or coming. I stayed for a week, taking side trips to Robert Redford’s Sundance resort and to the college town of Logan.

While in Salt Lake, I had the opportunity to appear on Steve Williams’ radio show “Jazz Time.” It’s being aired today at 4pm Eastern Time (New York) at https://kcpw.org/stream/. I had a chance to play some Pepper material for an hour (in the second hour of his show), and chat a little bit about my upcoming Adams biography, etc.

By the way, one of the most iconic restaurants in SLC is Red Iguana. If you like big portions of tasty Mexican food, I recommend it. Terrific mole! It’s easier to get in to Red Iguana II, just around the corner, than the original spot.

While in Logan, I gave a lecture at Utah State University about some of the things I’ve discovered about Pepper Adams since I began writing the biography. Since I only had 75 minutes, and some of that time needed to be relinquished to show a few videos at http://www.pepperadams.com/ and play a music example, I focused on three subjects: Pepper’s paternal genealogy, his military experience, and his abiding sense of isolation in the world. For the genealogy, I discussed his sixth great-grandfather, James Adams. James Adams was captured at the Battle of Durham and in 1650 transported to the Massachusetts Bay Colony as an indentured servant. His will to survive his many travails to become a free man, including seven years of hard labor, I wrote, is embedded within the Pepper Adams DNA.

As for Pepper’s military time, I discussed how he, in his six months on Korean soil, traveled from battlefield to battlefield, and just how dangerous a time it was for him. More than that, though, I pointed out how much he hated his army experience, and how he was able to get his way with his superiors, if he felt that their orders were inappropriate.

Lastly, I discussed Pepper’s sense of isolation in the world. His family was mostly prosthetic, comprised of fans and musicians around the world, and he lived mostly alone. I go into great detail about it in the biography.

As for the upcoming e-book, it looks like I will be selling halves of the biography in two chunks at $9.99 each. Both sections will be embedded with music links so that the reader can instantly listen to all the music that’s referenced.  I hope to get the first half up for sale at www.pepperadams.com by April, 2019.

Chapter Four -- the first of three chapters that comprise Part Two of the biography -- is at around seventy pages now, and it doesn’t yet include all my notes about some of Pepper’s greatest performances, nor a concluding section about why he was beloved by his colleagues. I hope to get all that done in the next thirty to sixty days. Then I can move on to Chapter Five, all about Pepper’s time with Thad Jones, roughly 1964-1977. Have a great December! 

Pepper Adams Biography Release Date

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.




The exciting news this month is that I’ve decided to release the first three chapters of my Adams biography as e-books. Once John Vana and I came to the conclusion that we are better off releasing the book digitally, it became obvious that there’s no reason to wait any longer. Getting the chapters out in early 2019 will help bridge the gap between then, the near future when I release Chapters 4-6, and some eight or so years from now when Vana starts publishing his musicological analysis.

The plan at this point is to release the chapters individually at $4.95, or the first half of the book for $9.99. I’d love some feedback on whether this approach makes sense, and especially if you have any advice about what vendors to choose, how I should go about it, etc. I’ve heard good things about iUniverse, and I’m aware of CD Baby and Amazon as two other options.

This week I’ll be sending to the Jazz History Database three large reel-to-reel tapes that contain the entire contents of all of my interviews with Pepper Adams. I started interviewing him in June, 1984, and only some of the material was excerpted by Cadence in their four-part series in 1986. The idea, of course, is to make all of this material available, and to link it to pepperadams.com.

I’ve spent most of my free time this month listening to Pepper Adams solos, trying to find some more of those incredible gems that reside within the many audience recordings I’ve catalogued in Joy Road. I’ve been focused mostly on the period 1983-1986. There’s so much great material, and I did find a few things that are truly special (see below). Before I started listening a few weeks back, I was under the impression that Adams, because of his bizarre car accident in December, 1983, had lost some of his facility due to his long layoff. I was led to believe that principally because of the way he sounded on a gig or two in New Jersey and elsewhere. After listening to his first gig back (at the Detroit Institute of Arts in June, 1984) once ambulatory again, and to other dates later that year and afterwards, however, I realized that there was no diminution of his playing at all. If his playing suffered at any time, it was toward the very end of his life, when he was very deep into his cancer, battling secondary infections, and physically quite weak.

Below is a roster of the samples you can expect to hear in the coming months at pepperadams.com that I discuss in Chapter 4 of my Pepper biography. While some are obscure audience recordings, others are landmark commercial releases. Have a great month and Happy Thanksgiving!


Chapter 4:
Pepper Adams, Montreal Jazz Festival (1986)
[“Dobbin’”]
Denny Christianson, Suite Mingus (1986)
[“Lookin’ for the Back Door, “My Funny Valentine,” “Fables of Faubus”]
Pepper Adams, Plays the Music of Charlie Mingus (1963)
[See Chapter 6]
Joshua Breakstone, Echoes (1986)
[“It’s Easy to Remember,” “Bird Song,” “My Heart Stood Still”]
Pepper Adams, The Adams Effect (1985)
[“Binary”]
Pepper Adams, Encounter (1968)
[See Chapter 5]
Pepper Adams Live (1977)
             [“How Long Has This Been Going On?”]
Nick Brignola, Baritone Madness (1977)
[“Donna Lee”]
Pepper Adams at Gulliver’s (1978)
            [“Half Nelson,” “Time on My Hands,” “Three Little Words,” “Chelsea Bridge,” “‘Tis,”    
            “Apothegm,” “A Blue Time,” “Body and Soul,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “‘Tis,” “I’ve Just
            Seen Her,” “What Is This Thing Called Love,” “I Love You”]
Pepper Adams, Eastman Theater (1978)
             [“Body and Soul”]
Pepper Adams, Reflectory (1978)
[“Reflectory,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “Etude Diabolique,” Claudette’s Way,” “I Carry Your
Heart,” “That’s All”]
Walter Bishop Jr, Cubicle (1978)
            [“My Little Suede Shoes,” “Summertime,” “Cubicle,” “Now, Now That You’ve Left Me”]
Sture Nordin (1978)
[“Straight, No Chaser” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5jQMY4dbU4  “Day Dream”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHXa-WrFw98]
Curtis Fuller (1978)
            [“Four on the Outside”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rsx8oN2HRE
            “Suite-Kathy” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xVwaCW7Dj4
             “Hello Young Lovers” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNf0I_o2SIg
             “Little Dreams” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoD4yPwp0BI
              “Ballad for Gabe-Wells” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAm2zUS2uek
              “Corrida del Torro” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpB71ceky4M]
Pepper Adams in Montreal (1978)
  [“Dylan’s Delight,” A Child Is Born,” Mean What You Say,” I Carry Your Heart,” “Bossa
  Nouveau,” “In Love with Night,” Three Little Words,” “Claudette’s Way,” “Oleo”]
Bill Perkins (1978)
  [“La Costa,” “Dylan’s Delight, “Civilization and Its Discontents”]
Dick Salzman (1978)
  [“Mean to Me,” “Love Walked In,” “My Little Suede Shoes”]
Helen Merrill, Chasin’ the Bird/Gershwin (1979)
               [“Summertime,” “Embraceable You/Quasimodo”]
Pepper Adams at the Pizza Express (1979)
  [“Bye, Bye Blackbird,” “Civilization and Its Discontents,” “Oleo,” “’Tis”]
Oliver Nelson, More Blues and the Abstract Truth (1964)
  [See Chapter 6]
Jimmy Witherspoon, Blues for Easy Livers (1966)
  [See Chapter 6]
Pepper Adams at the Jazz Forum (1979)
  [“I Carry Your Heart”]
Pepper Adams, The Master (1980)
[The entire date, plus alternates]
Pepper Adams at Far and Away (1980)
[Falling in Love With Love, “How Long Has This Been Going On,” “What Is This Thing
            Called Love,”  “Three and One,” “A Child Is Born,” Mean What You Say, “Urban
            Dreams,” “Happy Birthday,” “I Carry Your Heart,” “I’ll Remember April”]
Pepper Adams at Far and Away (1981)
[“In a Mellow Tone,” “Confirmation”]
Pepper Adams at Far and Away (1982)
[“What Is This Thing Called Love,” “Shuffle”]
Pepper Adams at Far and Away (1983)
[4/16: “Times Have Changed,” “The Days of Wine and Roses,” “Rue Serpente”]
[9/30: “That’s All”]
[10/1: “Time on My Hands,” “Times Have Changed,” “Witchcraft”]
[11/19: “Falling in Love with Love,” “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams,” “Bye, Bye
            Blackbird”]
Noreen Grey at the University of Bridgeport (1984)
[“A Woman Is a Sometime Thing”]
Pepper Adams at Far and Away (1984)
            [“Three and One”]
Pepper Adams at Far and Away (1985)
            [850112: “Witchcraft”]
            [850413: “In Love with Night”]
Pepper Adams at the Downtown Athletic Club (1980)
[“My Funny Valentine,” “Blues in the Closet”]
Pepper Adams with the Skymasters Big Band (1981)
[“The Preacher”]
Pepper Adams at The Flags (1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na-jnzMTQpQ
Pepper Adams, Urban Dreams (1981)
[“Urban Dreams”]
Pepper Adams at the Bull’s Head (1982)
[“Isn’t It Romantic,” “Witchcraft”]
Pepper Adams at Nick’s (April 1, 1982)
[“I Carry Your Heart”]
Pepper Adams at DeFemio’s (1982)
[“If You Could See Me Now”]
Hank Jones at the International Jazz Festival (1982)
[“Urban Dreams”]
Nobby Totah in Westport (1982)
[“Get Happy,” “Urban Dreams,” “Take the ‘A’ Train”]
Pepper Adams with the Metropole Orchestra (1982)
[“Urban Dreams,” “Linger Awhile,” “I’m All Smiles,” “Witchcraft,” “Gone with the Wind”]
Pepper Adams at Nick’s (December 10, 1982)
[“My Little Suede Shoes,” “Reflectory,” “No Refill”]
Pepper Adams at Struggle’s (1983)
[“Chelsea Bridge,” “Pent-Up House”]
Pepper Adams at the OCC Jazz Festival (1983)
[“Oleo” (solo only)]
Pepper Adams at the Four Queens Hotel (1983)
[“A Child Is Born”]
Elvin Jones at the Village Vanguard (1983)
[“Island Birdie”]
Hank Jones at the Stockholm Jazz and Blues Festival (1983)
[“Doctor Deep”]
Pepper Adams at the Ottawa Jazz Festival (1983)
[“What Is This Thing Called Love,” “Bossallegro”]
Pepper Adams at DeFemio’s (1983)
[“Alone Together”]
Danny D’Imperio at Eddie Condon’s (1983)
[“Have You Met Miss Jones” (with D’Imperio’s intro), “Scrapple from the Apple,” “My
            Ideal,” “Hellure,” “Star Eyes,” “Minority,” “Just You, Just Me,” “Blues for Philly Joe” (full
            take)
Ray Alexander at Eddie Condon’s (1983)
[“Green Dolphin Street,” “In a Sentimental Mood,” “Bernie’s Tune,” “Witchcraft”]
Pepper Adams, Live at Fat Tuesday’s (1983)
[“Doctor Deep” (8/20: track -w, p. 436 of Joy Road]
Denny Christianson at the CBC Radio Studios (1984)
[‘Autumn Leaves,” “A Pair of Threes,” “Reflectory,” “Claudette’s Way”]
Pepper Adams at the Singapore International Jazz Festival (1984)
[“What Is This Thing Called Love,” “Bossa Nouveau,” the concluding half-chorus (directly
            after the bass solo) and cadenza to “Body and Soul”]
Pepper Adams at the Bull’s Head (February 5, 1985)
[“Isn’t It Romantic”]
Pepper Adams at the Bull’s Head (February 18, 1985)
[“My Shining Hour”]
Pepper Adams at the Ship Hotel (1985)
[“Lady Luck”]
Michael Weiss at the Angry Squire (1985)
(“If You Could See Me Now,” “Milestones”]
Pepper Adams at the San Remo Jazz Festival (1985)
[“Doctor Deep”]
Pepper Adams at the Pellerina Bar (1985)
[“Bye, Bye Blackbird”]
Pepper Adams at the Artists’ Quarter (January 15, 1986)
[“Three Little Words,” “Quiet Lady,” “The Days of Wine and Roses,” “Pent-Up House,”
“’Tis,” “Hellure,” “Bossallegro”]
Pepper Adams at the Artists’ Quarter (January 16, 1986)
[“How Long Has This Been Going On”]
Pepper Adams at the Artists’ Quarter (January 18, 1986)
[“Three and One”]

Pepper Adams Doings

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.





I'm very pleased with the way Chapter 4, "Now in Our Lives," is moving along. I'm at 65 pages and currently listening to all of Pepper's music, issued and otherwise, from 1977-1986 to make sense out of it. There so much material, especially cassettes, so it will take me at least another month or two to work through it all. So far, I'm most impressed with an August 24, 1979 gig with Pepper and the great pianist Roger Kellaway done at the Pizza Express in London. As I wrote, "With Adams and Kellaway feeding off of each other, it's a meeting of two colossal intellects, in some way reminiscent of Monk and Coltrane at the Five Spot in 1958." The greatest performances that night were on "Bye, Bye Blackbird," Adams' ballad "Civilization and Its Discontents," a super-fast version of "Oleo," and a zany, incredibly slow version of Thad Jones' out-theme "'Tis." Just remarkable! Woefully, a record producer didn't hear the two of them together and rush them into the studio.

Once I get through and write about all this music, I only have one more section to write before the chapter is finished and I can get it out to my readers. That section will be about why Pepper was so beloved by his colleagues. I'll talk about his work with the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), his amazing Grammy Awards telecast performance, and other issues. Since there's no more interviews to audition for Chapter 4, the end is in sight.

As for Pepper's materials getting to William Paterson, there's been a delay in delivering the first batch of them. It looks like I won't get them to New Jersey until 2019. I have posted on Instagram a number of documents recently that will be donated to WPU. Check out instagram.com/pepperadamsblog/

I'm very pleased to report that I've begun submitting materials to Rich Falco at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, who oversees the Jazz History Database. See jazzhistorydatabase.com. A Gary Carner Collection is currently being built to digitize much of my materials for posterity. It will be organized in a similar fashion to Gene Perla's collection: jazzhistorydatabase.com/archives/gene-perla/index.php In this way, researchers will only need a computer with an Internet connection to access it. A new batch of stuff goes out tomorrow, including a rare performance of Tommy Flanagan in Korea, 1953, and a Rudy Tucich radio interview with Billy Mitchell. Ultimately, all of my interviews about Pepper Adams will be made available. Please spread the word. Falco is looking to preserve and protect collections throughout the world.  Those of you who are sitting on important material should take a good look at this.

In the last few weeks Georgia State University in Atlanta received my entire book and periodical collection as a donation. They took everything except my JazzTimes and Down Beat mags, which I plan to donate elsewhere. A list of the book materials is below. I'll post the periodicals at GSU in next month's post. Have a great October.

Tomorrow, October 8, is Pepper's birthday!


All paperback unless noted.

Ruppli, Michel. Prestige Label HARD
Ruppli, Michel. Savoy Label HARD
Japanese ed: Complete Blue Note Book
Priestley, Brian. Mingus: A Critical Biography. HARD
Hodeir, Andre. Toward Jazz.
Stokes, W. Royal. The Jazz Scene. HARD
Williams, Martin. Changes. HARD
Lee’s, Gene. Waiting for Dizzy. HARD
Young, Al. Kinda of Blue.
Collier, James Lincoln. Duke Ellington. HARD
Kirchner, Bill. A Miles Davis Reader.
Chambers, Jack. Milestones 2. HARD
Lehman, Jan. Miles Davis Discography. HARD
Tucker, Mark. The Early Years of Duke Ellington. (Dissertation)
Jewel, Derek. Duke.
Tucker, Mark. The Duke Ellington Reader. HARD
Gammond, Peter. Duke Ellington.
Jewel, Derek. A Pietrait if Duke Ellington.
Ulanov, Barry. Duke Ellington. HARD
Dance, Stanley. The World of Duke Ellington.
Simosko, Vladimir. Eric Dolphy.
Chilton, John. McKinney’s Music.
Ruppli, Michel. Charles Mingus Discography.
Reinhardt, Uwe. Like a Human Voice.
Stahl, Tilman. Sun Ra Materials.
Nisenson, Eric. ‘Round About Midnight.
McRae, Barry. Miles Davis.
Mosbrook, Joe. Cleveland Jazz History.
Buerkle; Barker. Bourbon Street Black.
Carr, Ian. Music Outside. HARD
Miller, Mark. Jazz in Canada. HARD
Litchfield, Jack. Canadian Jazz Discography. HARD
Zwerin, Mike. Jazz Writings of Boris Vian.
Zwerin, Mike. Jazz Writings of Boris Vian HARD (2nd copy)
Berton, Ralph. Remembering Bix. HARD
George, Don. The Real Duke Ellington HARD
Gammond, Peter. Duke Ellington. HARD
Jones, Max; John Chilton. Louis. HARD
Abersold, Jamie. Charlie Parker Omnibook.
Iwamoto, Shin-Ichi. Hank Jones Discography.
Frohne, Michael. Lee Konitz Discography.
Weir, Bob. Clifford Brown Discography.
Ingram, Adrian. Wes Montgomery.
Gonzales, Babs. Movin on Down the Line
Murray, Albert. Basie Autobiography. HARD
Ellington, Duke. Music is My Mistress. HARD
Pendold, Mike. Louis Armstrong.
Titon, Jeff. Early Downhome Blues.
Walker, Leo. Big Band Almanac.
Longstreet. Stephen. Jazz From A to Z.
Dial, Harry. Autobiography. HARD
Chilton, John. Bob Crosby.
Hentoff, Nat. Jazz Is. Hard
Friedwald, Will. Jazz Singing. HARD
Korall, Burt. Drummin’ Men. HARD
Erlich, Lillian. What Jazz Is All About. HARD
Clayton, Peter; Peter Gammond. 14 Miles on a Clear Night. HARD
Larkin, Philip. All What Jazz.
McRae, Barry. Jazz Handbook. HARD
Cerchiari Luca. Jazz Degli Anni Settanta.
Leonard, Neil. Jazz Myth and Religion. HARD
Pleasants, Henry. Serious Music — and All That Jazz. HARD
Gelly, David. Lester Young. HARD
Freeman, Bud. You Don’t Look Like a Musician. HARD
Voce, Steve. Woody Herman.
Taylor, Arthur. Notes and Tones.
Ogren, Kathy. The Jazz Revolution.
Rusch, Robert. Jazz Talk. HARD
Gioia, Ted. Imperfect Art. HARD
Wilmer, Valerie. Jazz People. HARD
Turner, Frederick. Remembering Song. HARD
Williams, Martin. Where’s the Melody? HARD
Feather, Leonard. From Satchmo to Miles.
Russo, William. Composing for the Jazz Orchestra.
Course, Leslie. Louis’ Children.
Balliett, Whitney. Goodbyes and Other Messages. HARD
Williams, Martin. Jazz in Its Time. HARD
Kirkeby, Ed. Ain’t Misbehavin’
Shacter, James. Piano Man. HARD
Turner, Bruce. Hot Air: Cool Music.
Shaw, Arnold. The Jazz Age. HARD
Jones, Max. Talking Jazz. HARD
Williams, Martin. The Art of Jazz
Lindsay, Martin. Teach Yourself Jazz. HARD
Davis, Francis. Bebop and Nothingness. HARD
Wilmer, Valerie. Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This. HARD
Gourse, Leslie. Story of Joe Williams. HARD
Porter, Lewis. Lester Young. HARD
Hentoff, Nat. Jazz.
Rich, Alan. Simon & Schuster Listener’s Guide to Jazz.
Kaminsky, Max. My Life in Jazz. HARD
Newton, Francis. The Jazz Scene. HARD
Abe, K. Jazz Giants. HARD
Coryell, Julie; Lara Friedman. Jazz-Rock Fusion. HARD
Smith, Willie “The Lion.” Music on My Mind. HARD
Anon. Jazz history in cyrillic.
Headlock, Richard. Jazz Masters of the Twenties. HARD
Rockwell, John. All American Music. HARD
Schiller, Gunther. Musings. HARD
Giddins, Gary. Rhythm-A-Ning. HARD
Hammond, John. On Record. HARD
Blesh, Rudi. Combo USA. HARD
Blesh, Rudi. Shining Trumpets.
Radano, Ronald. New Musical Figurations.
Keepnews, Orrin. The View From Within. HARD
Hartman, Charles. Jazz Text. HARD
Gleason, Ralph J. Celebrating the Duke.
Persip, Charli. How Not to Play the Drums.
Simon, George T. The Big Bands.
Simon, George T. The Big Bands (2nd copy)
Murray, Albert. Stomping the Blues.
Chevigny, Paul. Gigs. HARD
Lyttelton, Humphrey. Jazz. HARD
Lyttelton, Humphrey. Jazz II.
Lyttelton, Humphrey. Jazz II. (2nd copy)
Lyttelton, Humphrey. Jazz II. (3rd copy)
Hodeir, Andre. Jazz: It’s Evolution and Essence.
Hodeir, Andre. Jazz: It’s Evolution and Essence. (2nd copy)
Hentoff, Nat; Albert J. McCarthy. Jazz.
Shapiro, Nat; May Hentoff The Jazz Makers. HARD
Hodeir, Andre. The World of Jazz.
Feather, Leonard; Jack Tracy Laughter from the Hip.
Rogelio, Pauline; Robert Levin. Giants of. Black Music.
Dance, Stanley. The World of Swing.
Feather, Leonard. The Jazz Years.
Sidran, Ben. Black Talk.
Feather, Leonard. From Satchmo to Miles.
Lees, Gene. Meet Me at Jim and Andy’s. HARD.
Budds, Michael. Jazz in the Sixties.
Gitler, Ira. Jazz Masters of the Forties.
Gitler, Ira. Jazz Masters of the Forties. (2d copy)
Goldberg, Joe. Jazz Masters of the Fifties. HARD
Jones, LeRoi. Blues People.
Buchmann-Moller, Frank. ThecStory of Lester Young.
Laubich, Arnold; Ray Spencer. Art Tatum. HARD
Porter, Lewis. Lester Young Reader.
Kofsky, Frank. Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music.
Williams, Martin. Jazz Masters of New Orleans.
Feather, Leonard. The Pleasures of Jazz.
Jones, LeRoi. Black Music.
Feather, Leonard. Inside Jazz.
Ullman, Michael. Jazz Lives.
Korall, Burt. Drummin’ Men. (2nd copy) HARD
Waters, Benny. The Key to a Jazzy Life.
Sonnier, Austin. Bunk Johnson.
Chilton, John. A Jazz Nursery.
Priestley, Brian. Charlie Parker.
Papo, Alfredo. El Jazz a Catalunya.
Bechet, Sidney. Great It Gentle.
Zinsser, William. Willie and Dwike. HARD
Berendt, Joachim-Ernst. Jazz: A Photo History. HARD
Brask, Ole; Dan Morgenstern. Jazz People. HARD
Baron, Stanley. Benny: King of Swing. HARD
Cerulli, Dom; et al. The Jazz Word.
Cotterell, Roger; Barry Tepperman. Joe Harriott.
Schlouch, Claude. Bud Powell on Record.
Suzuki, Naoki. Herbie Hancock.
Giddins, Gary. Celebrating Bird.
Wild, David; Michael Cuscuna. Ornette Coleman.
Astrup, Arne. Zoot Sims Discography.
Knox, Keith. Jazz Amour Affair.
Delauney, Charles. Django Reinhardt.
Kukla, Barbara. Swing City. HARD
Dance, Stanley. The World of Earl Hines.
White, John. Billie Holiday. HARD
O’Mealy, Robert. Last Day.
Reisner, Robert. Bird.
Calloway, Cab. Of Minnie the Moocher and Me. HARD
Marquis, Donald. In Search of Buddy Bolden. HARD
Bigard, Barney. With Louis and the Duke. HARD
Horricks, Raymond. Stephane Grappelli.
Bookspan, Martin. Andre Previn. HARD
Haskins, Jim. Dinah Washington. HARD
Machlin, Paul. Stride. HARD
Palmer, Richard. Oscar Peterson. HARD
Davis, Francis. History of the Blues. HARD.
Carner, Gary. Miles Davis Companion.
Schafer, William. Brass Bands and New Orleans Jazz.
Barnet, Charlie; Stanley Dance. Those Swinging Years. HARD
Bernhardt, Clyde. I Remember.
Ruttencutter, Helen. Previn. HARD
Hawes, Hampton. Raise Up Off Me.
Page, Drew. Drew’s Blues. HARD
Lees, Gene. Oscar Peterson. HARD
Pepper, Art. Straight Life. HARD
O’Day, Anita. High Times, Hard Times. HARD
Wright, Laurie. King Oliver. HARD
Claghorn, Charles. Biographical Dictionary. HARD
Horn, Paul. Inside Paul Horn. HARD
Meryman, Richard. Louis Armstrong. HARD
Biagioni, Egino. Herb Fleming.
Colin, Sid. Ella. HARD
Jepsen, Jorgen. Dizzy Gillespie.
Armstrong, Louis. My Life in New Orleans.
Clarke, Donald. Wishing on the Moon. HARD
Gilmore. John. Who’s Who of Jazz in Montreal.
Pearson, Nathan. Goin’ to Kansas City. HARD.
Sallis, James. The Guitar in Jazz. HARD
Miller, Mark. Boogie, Pete and the Senator.
Carr, Ian. Keith Jarrett. HARD
Charters, Samuel. Jazz New Orleans.
Davis, Miles; Quicey Troupe. Miles. HARD
Calendar, Red; Elaine Cohen. Unfinished Dream. HARD
Balliett, Whitney. Barney, Bradley and Max. HARD
Reisner, Robert. Bird. HARD (2nd copy)
Crowther, Bruce. Gene Krupa. HARD
Charters, Samuel B; Leonard Feather. History of the New York Scene.
Horricks, Raymond. Gil Evans. HARD
Horricks, Raymond. Dizzy Gillespie. HARD
Dexter, Dave. The Jazz Story.
Allen, Walter C. Hendersonia. HARD
Mezzrow, Mezz. Really the Blues. HARD
Clancy, William; Audree Coke Kenton. Woody Herman. HARD
Zwerin, Mike. Jazz Under the Nazis. HARD
Bisset, Andrew. History of Jazz in Australia.
Herman, Woody; Stuart Troup. Woodchopper’s Ball. HARD
Gillespie, Dizzy; Al Fraser. To Be or Not to Bop. HARD
Brown, Nat; Cyril Brown. Nat Gonella Story. HARD
Freeman, Bud. Crazeology. HARD
Simon, George T. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. HARD
Balliett, Whitney. Night Creature. HARD
Balliett, Whitney. Night Creature. HARD (2nd copy)
Balliett, Whitney. American Singers.
Balliett, Whitney. New York Notes. HARD
Balliett, Whitney. New York Notes. (2nd copy)
Panassie, Hugues. Louis Armstrong.
Lomax, Alan. Mister Jelly Roll.
Goodman, Benny; Irving Kolodin. The Kingdom of Swing.
Panassie, Hugues; Madeleine Gautier. Guide to Jazz. HARD
de Valk, Jeroen. Chet Baker. HARD
Noglik, Bert. Jazz-Werkstatt. HARD
Holiday, Billie; William Duffy. Lady Sings the Blues.
Spellman, A.B. Four Lives in the Bebop Business.
Britt, Stan. Dexter Gordon
Mingus, Charles. Beneath the Underdog.
Mingus, Charles. Beneath the Underdog (2nd copy)
Chilton, John. Billie’s Blues.
Gonzales, Babs. I, Paid My Dues.
James, Burnett. Coleman Hawkins. HARD
James, Burnett. Billie Holiday. HARD
Mellers, Wilfrid. Music in a New Found Land.
Placksin, Sally. Jazzwomen.
Westerberg, Hans. Boy from New Orleans.
Villetard, Jean-Francois. Coleman Hawkins. Vol I.
Villetard, Jean-Francois. Coleman Hawkins. Vol II.
Jepsen, Jorgen. Miles Davis.
Spellman, A.B. Four Lives in the Bebop Business. (2nd copy)
James, Michael. Dizzy Gillespie.
Balliett, Whitney. Goodbyes and Other Messages.
Litweiler, John. The Freedom Principle. HARD
Chamberlain, Dorothy; Robert Wilson. The Oris Ferguson Reader.
Sjogren, Thorbjorn. Long Tall Dexter.
McPartland, Marian. All in Good Time. HARD
Ramsey, Frederick; Charles Edward Smith. Jazzmen.
Davis, Francis. Outcast. HARD
Harrison, Max. A Jazz Retrospect.
Hentoff, Nat. The Jazz Life. HARD
Davis, Francis. In the Moment.
Hentoff, Nat. Hear Zane Talkin’ to Ya.
Young, Al. Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.
Giddins, Gary. Riding on a Blue Note.
Gordon, Robert. Jazz. HARD
Williams, Martin. Jazz Heritage.
Williams, Martin. Jazz Tradition.
Gitler, Ira. Swing to Bop.
Carr, Peter George Winfield’s Story.
Morgan, Alun. Count Basie. HARD
Ojakaar, Valter. Jazz. HARD
Ulanov, Barry. A History of Jazz in America. HARD
Ostransky, Leroy. Understanding Jazz.
deToledano, Ralph. Frontiers of Jazz. HARD
Martin, Henry. Enjoying Jazz.
Sales, Grover. Jazz.
Stearns, Marshall. The Story of Jazz.
Allen, Daniel. Bibliography of Discographies. HARD
Gridley, Mark. Jazz Styles and Analysis.
Chilton, John. Jazz.
Britt, Stan. The Jazz Guitarists.
Gold, Robert. Jazz Talk.
Balliett, Whitney. American Musicians. HARD
McCarthy, Albert. Big Band Jazz. HARD
Dale, Rodney. Jazz HARD
Keepnews, Orrin. Pictorial History of Jazz. HARD
Krivin, Joan. Jazz Studies.
Gottlieb, William. Golden Age ofJazz. HARD
Stewart, Chuck. Jazz Files.
McCarthy, Albert. Dance Band Era. HARD
Driggs, Frank. Black Beauty, White Heat. HARD
Wilmer, Valerie. Face of Black Music.
Collier, James Lincoln. The Making of Jazz.
Summerfield, Maurice. Jazz Guitar. HARD
Anon. Greek jazz history I
Anon. Greek jazz history II
Sallis, James. Jazz Guitars.
Nisenson, Eric. Open Sky.
Palmer, Richard. Sonny Rollins.
Noal Cohen; Michael Fitzgerald. Rat Race Blues.
Kinkle, Roger. Complete Encyclopedia. HARD
Feather, Leonard. Book of Jazz. HARD
Poindexter, Pony. Pony Express.
Berger, Morroe; et al. Benny Carter Vol I
Berger, Morroe; et al. Benny Carter Vol II
Tirro, Frank. Jazz.
Carner, Gary. Miles Davis Companion (2nd copy)
Thomas, JC. Chasin’ the Trane.
Stearns, Marshall. Story of Jazz.
Lotz, Rainer. AFRS Jubilee I HARD
Lotz, Rainer. AFRS Jubilee II HARD
Condon, Eddie; Hank O’Neal. Eddie Codon Scrapbook. HARD
Copeland, Keith. Creative Coordination.
Schlouch, Claude. Wardell Gray.
Schlouch, Claude. Kenny Dorham.
Anon. Yu-Jazz.
Mehegan. John. Tonal and Rhythmic Principles.
Gridley, Mark. How to Teach Jazz History.
Abersold, Jamey. II-V-I Progression.
Anon. The Real Book.
Erwin, Pee Wee. Teaches You to Play the Trumpet.
Collins, Lee; Mary Collins. Oh, Didn’t He Ramble. HARD.
Vann, Kimberly. Black Music in Ebony.
De Lerma, Dominique-Rene. Black Music and Musicians.
Turi, Gabor. Jazz from Hungary.
Chambers, Jack. Milestones. HARD
Carner, Gary. Pepper Adams’ Joy Road
Carr, Ian. Miles Davis.
Simpkins, C.O. Coltrane.
Clayton, Buck. Clayton’s Jazz World. HARD
Kravetz, Sallie. The Reluctant Jazz Star.
Lateef, Yusef; et al. Writings.
Wattiau, George. Book’s Book.
Monti, Pierre Andre. Booker Little.
Starr, S. Frederick. Red and Hot. HARD
Johnson, Grady. The Five Pennies.
Barker, Danny. A Life in Jazz.
Klinkowitz, Jerome. Listen. HARD
Slovo, Gillian. Morbid Symptoms. HARD
Locke, David. Drum Gahu.
Calling, Patrick. Jazz, Jazz, Jazz.
Guralnick, Peter. Feel Like Going Home.
Charters, Samuel. Legacy of the Blues.
Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues. HARD
Albertson, Chris. Bessie.
Sawyer, Charles. Arrival of B.B. King. HARD
Breton, Marcela. Hot and Cool.
Kroeze, Hans. International Jazz Festival.
Bernstein, Leonard. The Unanswered Question.
Hinton, Milt. Bass Line. HARD
Litwak, Howard. Goin’ to Kansa City.
Mazur, Mladen. 10th Zagreb Jazz Fair.
Walrath, Jack. Book 1.
Lerner, Edward. Study Scores.
Holoman, D. Kern. Writing About Music.
Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven.
Sollors, Werner. Beyond Ethnicity.
Marshall, Robert. Mozart Speaks.
Barlow and Morgenstern. Dictionary of Musical Themes.
Cowell, Henry. Charles Ives.
Robertson, Alec. Pelican History if Music.
Poling, James. Squire World of Jazz. HARD
Anon. Mozart: Later Symphonies.
Brahms, Johannes. Schubert: Four Symphonies.
Simandl, F. New Method for Double Bass.
Piston, Walter. Harmony. HARD
Reid, Rufus. Evolving Bassist.
Duckles, Vincent. Music Reference and Research Materials. HARD
Persicjetti, Vincent. Twentieth Century Harmony. HARD
Titon, Jeff. Worlds of Music. HARD
Shostakovich, Dimitri. Testimony. HARD
Crofton, Ian; Donald Fraser. Dictionary of Musical Quotations.
Kamien, Roger. Norton Scores.
Thomson, Elizabeth; David Gutman. Lennon Companion.
Gillies, Malcolm. Bartok Remembered.
Lipsitz, George. Time Passages.
Lambert, Constant. Music Ho!
Feinstein, Elaine. Bessie Smith.
Morris, Edmund. Beethoven. HARD.
Nettl, Bruno. Theory and Method in Ethnomusicology. HARD
Baker, Houston. Blues.
Feld, Steven. Sound and Sentiment.
Cage, John. Silence.
Stevens, Halsey. Life and Music of Bella Bartok.
Kennedy, Michael. Mahler.
Anon, Index to Negro Spirituals.
Wild, David. Recordings of John Coltrane.
Schiff. Ronnie. Jazz, Blues, Boogie & Swing for Piano.
Silverman, Jerry. Chords and Tunings.
Glover, Tony. Blues Harp.
Ake, David. Jazz Cultures.
Ake, David; et al. Jazz/Not Jazz. HARD
Ake, David. Jazz Matters. HARD
Duckles, Vincent. Music Reference and Research Materials. HARD
Amram, David. Vibrations. HARD
Gilmore, John. Swinging in Paradise.
Dance, Stanley. The World of Count Basie
Segall, Michael. The Devil’s Horn.
Wilber, Bob. Music Was Never Enough. HARD
Gordon, Max. Live at the Lvilkage Vanguard. HARD
Balliett,Whitney. Barney, Bradley and Max. HARD
Floyd, Samuel. Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance.
Rosenthal, David. Hard Bop. HARD.
Leitch, Peter. Off the Books.
Holladay, Doc. Life, on the Fence.
LaPorta, John. Developing the Stage Band.
Smith, Chris. The View From the Back of the Band. HARD

Return of the Pepper Bio

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.





I've begun writing Part II of Pepper Adams' biography (1930-1986). In the last two weeks I've written about forty pages, starting with Pepper's death at home on September 10, 1986 and working my way back in time. My plan is to write in reverse chronological order until I reach the end of Part I, when Pepper packed his bags and moved to New York. Then, having come full circle, I'll conclude by assessing whether what he set out to do in music was actually achieved.

I've finished listening again to the interview I did with Tommy and Diana Flanagan. They had a lot to say about how Pepper approached death, how and why his marriage collapsed, and what really took place versus what the New York jazz community thought was going on. I quote a few very poignant letters to give a sense of what Pepper was enduring at that time. The one below was written as a kind of confessional and published in the July, 1986 issue of JazzTimes. By the time of its publication, he would only have about six more weeks before he passed away:


I’d like to thank you for the kind words in the current JazzTimes, and thank you particularly for stressing the fact that I’m continuing to work. People have been exceedingly kind, and their contributions have been quite helpful, but opposed to the cost of the treatments that are, to put it bluntly, keeping me alive, private charity can only go so far. The bulk of the costs have been offset by my own efforts in being able to work, and work effectively. And, if I may say so myself, I’ve done remarkably well for fourteen months, and the next three months appear quite secure.

And this despite the efforts of a few unscrupulous agents, who have used my name to secure work and then, when the job was secure, informed the purchaser that I was too ill to perform and substituted someone else. I’ve learned about these incidents when the purchaser (club owner, festival executive, etc.) would call to commiserate about my health when I was sitting home, feeling fine but out of work. I wonder if these agents considered that by eroding my reputation for reliability they were diminishing my chances for survival; if they did think about it, they were obviously not deterred. Which is why I consider it important that people be reminded occasionally that I’m still a credible working musician. . . .

I must report, though, that my string of playing every job I had contracted for has finally come to an end. It happened on my last trip to Europe, in April, which ended in near-disaster. It started at the Dublin Festival, where they drove me into the ground like a tent peg. I had five concerts with five different bands (four of them requiring lengthy rehearsals), a 2 1/2 hour master class, and a live television show, all within three days. I was already in a lot of pain when I arrived in Paris to work seven straight nights at Le Petit Opportun; after five nights the pain became so overwhelming that I had to sit out the last two nights.

When I got home it was discovered that I had a severe case of pleurisy, which was raging out of control since it had been there, untreated, for ten days or so. My oncologist held off the chemotherapy while I was in such rotten shape, but finally the point was reached when it had to be administered, ready or not. I could tell that the doctor was worried and, frankly, so was I, but it’s worked out well. I’m recovering nicely. I’ve felt nearly myself for several days, and still have a couple of weeks to recoup my strength before I resume work. My itinerary through the middle of September is sprinkled with nice paydays, and at no point so burdensome as to tempt a return bout of the pleurisy, nor of the pneumonia I went through twice last winter. Things are definitely looking up.



Since I'm donating my large book and periodical collection to Georgia State University, I have in front of me access to this huge jazz library that for fourteen years was packed up in boxes in my basement. I've spent this month skimming through many articles from Wire, Cadence, JazzTimes, Down Beat, Jazz Journal and many others to locate interesting tidbits I can use for color in the narrative. So far, I've found these:

ABOUT KENTON:
“He was terrified when the band started to swing, he didn’t understand it,” said the bassist Red Kelly.

ABOUT ELVIN JONES:
“If Elvin was anything drum-wise, it’s about fullness of sound . . . the absolute fullness of the tonal palette,” said the saxophonist Dave Liebman.

ON THE ROAD WITH WOODY HERMAN:
“It was very grueling," said Joe Temperley. "There used to be some awful bus journeys. It was a hard life, you know: ten-hour bus ride and you’d get to the job twenty minutes before you had to hit, then change your clothes in the toilet downstairs and play all night. And then, maybe sleep that night and then the next night you would hit and run; but you play the gig. You sleep all night and travel all day to the gig, and play the gig -- this is the second night -- play the gig and then travel all night to save a night’s rent. Those were the days. That happened all the time.”

ABOUT NEW YORK AROUND 1965:
“New York was vibrant then," said Joe Temperley. "You could go and hear Al and Zoot; go one night and Phil would be sitting in with them and another night Richie Kamuca would be sitting in with them. You could go hear John Coltrane and sit all night -- buy a bottle of beer, two bottles of beer -- and sit all night and listen to the music.”

 ABOUT NEW YORK IN 1968:
“When I left in ‘68," said Art Farmer, "the United States was in a very bad situation. There were assassinations, social unrest, people afraid to go out at night, and with so many jazz clubs in the so-called ‘ghetto areas,’ people felt that they were taking their lives in their hands if they went out to hear jazz. That had a bad effect on a person who tried to play for a live public.”

ABOUT MEL LEWIS:
Mel Lewis’ greatest influence was the drummer Tiny Kahn, said the bassist Red Kelly.

ABOUT PEPPER AND THAD:
“I heard Pepper say a couple of things that made me know that he and Thad had been very close in their lives," said Seldon Powell. "And I think they were still close, but there maybe was a rub or two here and there. Pepper told Thad one time, when he figured that he wasn’t getting his share of solos and whatnot. But I remember Pepper saying one time -- somebody said something about that to Pepper, and he turned and said to him, ‘When I was in the army and they sent me to Japan during the Korean War,’ he said, ‘I received two letters the entire time I was over there. One of them was from Thad Jones.’ And the inflection that was in his voice told me something about how he felt about [Thad]. They might have had a conflict here or there but I’m sure they felt very close to each other as human beings and as musicians, and they were the giants of their time.”

See you next month,
GC

July's Pepper Activities

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.






I'm very proud to report that just last night I put the finishing touches on Part I of my Pepper Adams biography. Called "Ascent," it loosely covers the first half of Pepper's life, from birth until his move to New York City in early 1956. Although this may imply that the book is a chronologically arranged narrative, that's definitely not the case. Instead, my approach is thematic in nature. I zig-zag across his life where appropriate. For example, I open the book with his epiphany in Detroit, when, as a teenage, he heard Charlie Parker at the Mirror Ballroom. Then I trace how Pepper got back to Detroit from Rochester, New York, after which I discuss his time in Detroit until he enlists in the U.S Army. In sum, the first part of the book covers Pepper from age seventeen until twenty or so before I even get to his Army experience. In Chapter Two I discuss his paternal lineage and his time as a child in Rochester. His Army experience opens Chapter Three, Ascent's final section, followed by quite a long discussion of his Detroit experience in the 1950s, his maternal background, and why Detroit was such an extraordinary place for jazz.

One reason it took another month to wrap up Part I is that I was waiting for my last reader to critique my final draft of Chapter Three and the Prologue. On Friday I finished incorporating my reader's various suggestions to both. Yesterday and today I improved the Prologue's content and added a new paragraph, describing how Pepper Adams has become a spiritual calling for me. Finally, I can truly say that it's time to move on to Part II ("Dominion"), after sixteen months of work. That, of course, won't keep me from peeking at the Prologue a few more times to make sure that I'm totally happy with it.

Also, this past month I was able to finish the very tedious job of transforming what was formerly my set of footnotes into a section retitled "Sources." Now my quotes are more properly placed in the back of the book. This is the modern way of listing attributions, so as to not disturb the reading experience. I've found that this approach also prevents me from submerging somewhat arcane information that didn't quite fit into the text somewhere else in the book. Oh, well.

I'm also pleased to tell you that quite a few upgrades were made in July to pepperadams.com. First, an update to my Byrd-Adams Quintet piece was posted. It includes new information on when the two first played together in Detroit. It was with the Charles Johnson band, by the way, and only for a short period of time. See http://www.pepperadams.com/ByrdAdamsHistory.pdf

I've also added part of the analysis section from my Tufts University masters thesis in Articles: http://www.pepperadams.com/Articles/Scan_0012.pdf. You'll see how I attempted to qualify a bunch of Pepper solos. It was my thesis director, T.J. Anderson's, idea to do it in this manner.

The biography/musical study in progress now has its own book icon. You'll see it at at pepperadams.com directly under Pepper Adams' Joy Road. If you click through, you can access music examples that I'm discussing in Part I of the book. Listed already in boldface are Pepper's earliest recorded baritone solos (Hugh Jackson) and his very first recorded clarinet solo (Oliver Shearer) from 1947 when he was sixteen! New material will continue to be added so please check it out!

Three other additions have been made to the site in July. The first Disco Update in over a year has been posted: http://www.pepperadams.com/JoyRoad/DiscoUpdates.pdf

The Dedications page is almost complete: http://www.pepperadams.com/Dedications/index.html

And my extensive history of Detroit, formerly written for the Pepper biography, has been posted:
http://www.pepperadams.com/Detroit.pdf 

Have a great rest of the summer!
GC