Pepper Adams Week (New York) Update

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

The schedule is starting to take shape:

Sunday, 9/23: Peter Leitch Duo, Walker's, 7-12am
Mon, 9/24: Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, 9-12am.

On Friday, 9/28 I'm taping an interview with Lewis Porter at Rutgers University for posting on YouTube, then doing a radio show in Princeton NJ with radio host/record producer Jerry Gordon.

Pepper Adams Week in New York City

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

Starting the week of September 24 "Pepper Adams Week" will take place in New York City clubs, with concerts of Pepper Adams tunes being performed Monday-Saturday, 9/24-9/29.  The plan so far is for a wine reception/photo opp to take place for the press on Sunday night, 9/23, followed by a Monday night big band concert and live recording, then a series of small group gigs.  Various book signings, record release parties, lectures, and special events are also in the works.  Stay tuned for a complete itinerary of events.

International Celebration of Pepper Adams

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

Starting in August 2012, and lasting for three months, a series of concerts in cities around North America and Europe will take place in which bands will perform the compositions of Pepper Adams.  This is the greatest celebration of Pepper Adams that has ever taken place, and likely one of the most ambitious series of jazz concerts about one musician ever produced.  So far, performances are being scheduled in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Washington DC, Champaign/Urbana IL, Chicago, New York, Tarrytown NY, Toronto, and Montreal.  Other cities under discussion are Milwaukee, Rochester NY, Kansas City, Boston, Hartford, Amherst, Philadelphia, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Oslo.  These gigs will coincide with the release of Gary Carner's book Pepper Adams' Joy Road: An Annotated Discography and the 6-CD box set Pepper Adams: Complete Compositions.  Radio/print interviews, wine receptions, and readings are also being set up in many of these locations.

Musicians performing Adams tunes:

Los Angeles: Dale Fielder
San Francisco: Ron Marabuto
Minneapolis/St. Paul: Phil Hey
New York: Frank Basile
Tarrytown NY: Alexis Cole
Washington: Brad Linde
Champaign/Urbana: Glenn Wilson
Chicago: Jeremy Kahn
London: Pete Lukas and Gary Smulyan
Toronto: Pat LaBarbera
Montreal: Andre White and Cameron Wallis

Stay tuned for the full schedule.

Dale Fielder to Perform the Entire Adams Songbook

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

Saxophonist Dale Fielder will be the first musician to ever play the entire oeuvre of Pepper Adams--all 43 compositions--in four concerts, tentatively scheduled for October 18-21 in Los Angeles.  Much like hearing the cycle of Shostakovich's string quartets over a few days, Fielder will perform, with a local rhythm section, Adams' challenging tunes, likely at three different clubs, though  probably not in chronological order.  These performances will give listeners a chance to hear the totality of Adams' compositional output and to buy the 6-CD box set Pepper Adams: Complete Compositions.  Signed copies of my newly published Pepper Adams' Joy Road: An Annotated Discography, at 40% off retail, will also for sale.  Stay tuned for more details on this historic event and on my North American and European book/CD tour.

The Incomparable Pepper Adams

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

As part of my 6-CD box set project, here are the tunes I've proposed for a "Best of Pepper Adams" anthology.  My apologies to any triskaidekephobics out there, but it does fill up 80 full minutes  What do you think? 

1. Lotus Blossom   (Jimmy Witherspoon)
2. Chant   Donald Byrd (studio version, with Herbie and Doug Watkins)
3. Bossa Nova Ova  (Thad Jones-Pepper Adams)
4. East of the Sun  (Toots Thielemans)
5. Day Dream  (Pepper Adams-Donald Byrd)
6. Baptismal  (Stanley Turrentine)
7. Three and One  (Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra)
8. I've Just Seen Her  (Pepper Adams)
9. Gone With the Wind  (unreleased: Pepper Adams with strings)
10. Salt Peanuts  (Pony Poindexter)
11. Moanin'  (Charles Mingus)
12. Sophisticated Lady  (Donald Byrd)
13. That's All   (Pepper Adams)

Pepper Adams discography update

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

After 27 years, I've finally finished my discography of Pepper Adams. The manuscript, Pepper Adams' Joy Road: An Annotated Discography, has been submitted to Scarecrow Press for publication this summer.  Dan Morgenstern is writing the foreword, and I've asked Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Sonny Rollins, Phil Woods, and Quincy Jones to write endorsements.  The work, dedicated to Lewis Porter, is approximately 600 pages, covering the period 1947-1986.  Transcribed interview material is appended to many entries, and a centerfold of various media will be included.

Pepper Adams Blog: Dale Fielder Record Byrd-Adams Songbook

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.

Pepper Adams Blog: Dale Fielder Records Byrd-Adams Songbook: Coming up in January, 2012 will be the release of Dale Fielder Quintet's new CD, "Each Time I Think Of You," including highlights from his D...