Friday, October 25, 2013
Toronto radio interview
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Meeting Tony Faulkner
© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.
I built an ambitious, four month, 40-city tour throughout the US and Canada (including one week at major clubs in New York), lecturing at colleges and book stores, and overseeing concerts of Pepper's music. It was really a fantastic time--one of my life's highlights! Most of the bands were small groups, but some were large aggregations that played big band arrangements of Pepper tunes that I had commissioned. The commissions were started the preceding year in anticipation of the tour, and with an eye towards a big-band CD as Volume 6 of my Motema series.
One of the arrangers that provided big band charts is the esteemed Frank Griffith, an old friend who now lives in London. Griffith was only able to do two charts, but knew that I needed at least enough material to do a CD. He recommended that I contact a colleague, Tony Faulkner, who lives in Leeds, England. He thought Faulkner would enjoy participating in my project. Griffith said, "I can not recommend him highly enough," and that was enough praise for me.
I emailed Faulkner, and he wrote back saying that he was delighted to get involved. Little did I know that he was retired and one of Thad Jones' greatest disciples. In the ensuing 18 months, Faulkner would throw himself heart and soul into the project, doing 21 big band arrangements of Pepper's compositions; an original 20-minute suite (Park Frederick III) dedicated to Adams, built on themes from Pepper's tunes; as well as 11 tentet charts on Pepper's tunes. For some, this is the output of an entire lifetime! Faulkner's dedication and brilliant work was so inspiring that I produced Volume 6 entirely of his arrangements, then joined with drummer Tim Horner to produce a second CD of Faulkner's work for tentet, that will be recorded in a few weeks, live in New York and New Jersey.
This Saturday I'll go into more specifics about tunes, concerts, and the details of the upcoming tour. Please see my post "Tony and Ernie" from 8/24/13, an amusing two-day travelogue about the recording of Volume 6.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Pepper Adams Archive?
© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
2013 Best Jazz Discography
© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Pepper Adams' 83rd Birthday
© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.
October 8: Highland Park MI: Park Frederick Adams III is born at 8am at Highland Park General Hospital to Park Adams II and Cleo Marie Coyle of 4695 Courville Road, Grosse Pointe Village, Michigan in suburban Detroit.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Altsys Tentet
© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.
On Friday, November 6, 2013 at 8pm the Altsys Tentet will be performing at L'espace 64, 64 Rue Prince, Montreal. The ensemble will be performing the Canadian premiere of Tony Faulkner's new tentet charts of Pepper Adams compositions. Author Gary Carner will be signing copies of his book Pepper Adams' Joy Road.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Toronto Art Orchestra
© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.
On Wednesday, November 6, 2013 at 9pm the Toronto Art Orchestra, featuring guest soloist Pat LaBarbera, will be performing at Array Music, 155 Walnut Avenue, Toronto. General admission tickets are $25. Only 70 tickets will be sold. Doors open at 8:00. At 8:30 Pepper Adams author Gary Carner will interview arranger Tony Faulkner about his pioneering Pepper Adams work. The band will be performing the Canadian premiere of Tony Faulkner's 20-minute suite dedicated to Pepper Adams, "Park Frederick III." Rare video will be shown of Pepper Adams with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra during intermission. The author will sign copies of his book, Pepper Adams' Joy Road, after the conclusion of the concert.
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