Pepper Adams

Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III (October 8, 1930 – September 10, 1986) was a jazz baritone saxophonist and composer. He composed 43 pieces, was the leader on eighteen albums spanning 28 years, and participated in 600 sessions as a sideman.

Biography
Pepper Adams was born in Highland Park, Michigan. His family moved to Rochester, New York, when he was young, and in that city he began his musical efforts on tenor sax and clarinet. At age 16, Adams moved to Detroit and switched to baritone sax; this proved to be successful, as by 1947 he was playing in Lucky Thompson's band. In Detroit, Adams also met several jazz musicians who would become future partners, including trumpeter Donald Byrd. Adams now became interested in Wardell Gray's approach to the saxophone, later naming Gray and Harry Carney as his influences. He also spent time in a United States Army band, and briefly had a tour of duty in Korea.

He later moved to New York City, where he played on the album Dakar with John Coltrane, played with Lee Morgan on The Cooker, and briefly worked with Benny Goodman's band in 1958. During this time, Adams also began working with Charles Mingus, performing on one of Mingus's most acclaimed albums from the period, Blues & Roots. Thereafter, he recorded with Mingus sporadically until the latter's death in 1979. He later became a founding member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, with whom he played from 1965 to 1976, and thereafter continued to record Jones's compositions on many of his own albums. Adams also co-led a quintet with Donald Byrd from 1958 to 1962, with whom he recorded a live date, 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot, featuring Elvin Jones, and a sequence of albums for Blue Note.

In later years, Adams toured England and continental Europe several times, performing there with local rhythm sections, and he performed with a Count Basie tribute band at the Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice. He died of lung cancer in Brooklyn, New York, on September 10, 1986.

Style
Pepper Adams was in many ways the antithesis of giants of the baritone saxophone Gerry Mulligan and Serge Chaloff. Adams managed to bring the cumbersome baritone into the blisteringly fast speeds of hard bop like no others had before. Gary Carner, Adams's biographer, described his style as having "very long, tumbling, double-time melodic lines.  And that raw, piercing, bark-like timbre."

Awards and honors
Adams was nominated three times for a Grammy Award. In the 1975 Playboy Magazine annual music poll, he was named an All Star's All-Star. He won Down Beat's New Star award in 1957 and was named baritone soloist of the year for 1980.

As leader

 * Pepper Adams Quintet (Mode, 1957)
 * Critic's Choice (Pacific Jazz, 1957)
 * The Cool Sound of Pepper Adams (Savoy, 1957)
 * Pepper-Knepper Quintet, (MetroJazz, 1958)
 * 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot (Riverside, 1958)
 * Motor City Scene - with Donald Byrd (Bethlehem, 1960)
 * Out of This World - with Donald Byrd (Warwick, 1961)
 * Pepper Adams plays Charlie Mingus (Workshop, 1963)
 * Mean What You Say - with Thad Jones (Milestone, 1966)
 * Encounter! (Prestige, 1968)
 * Ephemera (Spotlite, 1973)
 * Julian (Enja, 1975)
 * Twelfth and Pingree (Enja, 1975)
 * Live in Europe (1977) with the Georges Arvanitas Trio
 * Reflectory (Muse, 1978)
 * The Master (Muse, 1980)
 * Urban Dreams (Palo Alto, 1981), quartet with pianist Jimmy Rowles
 * Live at Fat Tuesday's (Uptown, 1983), live with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler
 * The Adams Effect (Uptown, 1989, posthumously)

As sideman
With Gene Ammons With Barry Altschul With Chet Baker With Donald Byrd With Kenny Clarke With John Coltrane With Red Garland With Johnny Hammond With Barry Harris With Elvin Jones With Philly Joe Jones With The Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra With Charles Mingus With Blue Mitchell With Hank Mobley With Lee Morgan With Oliver Nelson With Duke Pearson With Houston Person With Lalo Schifrin With Toots Thielmans With Jimmy Witherspoon
 * The Big Sound (Prestige, 1958)
 * Groove Blues (Prestige, 1958)
 * Blue Gene (Prestige, 1958)
 * Be-bop? (1979)
 * Chet (Riverside, 1959)
 * Byrd in Hand (1959)
 * At the Half Note Cafe (1960)
 * Chant (Blue Note, 1961)
 * Royal Flush (Blue Note, 1961)
 * The Cat Walk (Blue Note, 1961)
 * The Creeper (Blue Note, 1967)
 * Electric Byrd (1970)
 * Jazzmen: Detroit (1956)
 * Baritones and French Horns (Prestige, 1957)
 * Red's Good Groove (Jazzland, 1962)
 * Wild Horses Rock Steady (Kudu, 1971)
 * The Prophet
 * Luminescence! (Prestige, 1967)
 * Bull's Eye! (Prestige, 1968)
 * Poly-Currents (Blue Note, 1969)
 * Merry-Go-Round (Blue Note, 1971)
 * Showcase (Riverside, 1959)
 * Opening Night (1966)
 * Presenting Thad Jones / Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra (1966)
 * Presenting Joe Williams and Thad Jones / Mel Lewis, The Jazz Orchestra (1966)
 * Live at the Village Vanguard (1967)
 * The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Featuring Miss Ruth Brown (1968)
 * Monday Night (1968)
 * Basle, 1969 (1969)
 * Consummation (1970)
 * Suite for Pops (1972)
 * Live in Tokyo (1974)
 * Potpourri (1974)
 * Thad Jones / Mel Lewis and Manuel De Sica (1974)
 * New Life (1976)
 * Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra With Rhoda Scott (1976)
 * Live in Munich (1976)
 * It Only Happens Every Time (1977)
 * Blues & Roots (Atlantic, 1959)
 * The Complete Town Hall Concert (Blue Note, 1962 [1994])
 * A Sure Thing (Blue Note, 1962)
 * Boss Horn (Blue Note, 1966)
 * Poppin' (Blue Note, 1957)
 * The Cooker (Blue Note, 1957)
 * Standards (Blue Note, 1967)
 * More Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse!, 1964)
 * Honeybuns (Atlantic, 1965)
 * Introducing Duke Pearson's Big Band (1967)
 * Now Hear This (1968)
 * Blue Odyssey (Prestige, 1968)
 * Black Widow (CTI, 1976)
 * Man Bites Harmonica! (Riverside, 1957)
 * Blues for Easy Livers (Prestige, 1965)

Live Dates Released Posthumously

 * Live in Europe (1977) - Disques Futura et Marge - Impro 02 -
 * Pepper Adams Live (aka, Live Jazz By the Sea) (1977), live in California
 * California Cookin' (1983), live in California