Pepper Adams, saxophoniste baryton

Un peu de l'histoire et de la nostalgie avec le saxophoniste baryton PEPPER ADAMS à  redécouvrir

Pepper Adams Tribute Band plays ‘Binary’

Jeff Suzda (baritone saxophone), Fred Couderc (baritone saxophone), Patrick Villanueva (piano), Fabien Marcoz (bass), and Jeff Boudreaux (drums) play the compositions of Pepper Adams. Studio: Bopcity, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais. Recorded on February 20, 2011. Mixing and mastering by Didier Moutou.

September 19, 2012

Complete Works of Pepper Adams

If Gerry Mulligan's mannered, contrapuntal baritone saxophone style can be likened to a badminton player, then Pepper Adams' approach can be compared to a street brawler. Born in Michigan, Adams moved as a child with his family to upstate New York and then to Detroit, where at age 16 he took up the baritone sax. His relocation back to New York in the mid-1950s put him in play on the recording scene, particularly with hard bop players.

Adams had the remarkable ability to blow low with enormous power and swing, becoming a hefty addition to big band reed sections. He also was an equally dominant voice in small groups, adding ferocious excitement and stamina. As a songwriter, Adams was lyrical and prolific, composing 43 pieces. 

We know this because jazz historian and album producer GaryCarner [pictured] has long been diligently obsessed with the Adams legacy. While a graduate English student at the City College of New York in 1984, Carner befriended Adams and spent months interviewing him for a paper and biography. Then Adams grew ill with cancer in 1985. Shortly before Adams died in September 1986, Carner ran into pianist Tommy Flanagan, who was Adams' closest friend.

As Carner relates:

"Flanagan told me that Adams was very frail, lapsing in and out of a coma. But once, when he came to, Pepper tried feebly to nudge with his fingers [my manuscript] in Tommy's direction, as if to draw attention to it and give it weight. Adams wanted this material to survive him after his death, and Flanagan made sure that I was aware of it."

Following Adams' death, Carner focused on preserving Adams' work. Twenty-six years later, Carner has collated Adams' papers, lead sheets, photographs and the remains of his estate, establishing an extensive tribute website (go here) along the way. He also painstakingly has assembled Adams' discography. In the process, Carner has compiled the music to all of Adams' compositions.

Article écrit par Marc Myers sur JAZZWAX!

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JazzWax clip: Here's Pepper Adams in London in 1981 playingBossa Nouveau...