Pepper Adams

Pepper Adams (actually Park Adams, born October 8, 1930 in Highland Park, Michigan, † September 10, 1986 in New York) was an American baritone saxophonist of the hard bop. He used a hard, vigorous and purposeful style of play as opposed to Gerry Mulligan and was therefore called by his colleagues in the Stan Kenton Orchestra " The Knife ". Other important stations were working with Charles Mingus, his quintet with co-leader Donald Byrd and the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Big Band.

Life and work

Pepper Adams grew up in Rochester, New York and had there first appearances as a tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. When his family moved to Detroit, learned of fünfzehnjähige Pepper African-American musicians to know and played in 1947 as a baritone saxophonist with Lucky Thompson. After his studies and two years of military service in Korea, he played from 1953 among other things, Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, Elvin Jones and Kenny Burrell, with whom he went to New York in 1956. After a brief stint in the big band of Stan Kenton, he worked with Maynard Ferguson. After a tour to the West Coast with Mel Lewis Adams works primarily in New York with his own groups, such as with Donald Byrd, Jimmy Knepper and Bobby Timmons, with whom he also appeared in the jazz club the Five Spot, played freelance inter alia, with Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus, with whom he 1959 albums Blues and Roots and Mingus Ah Um grossed. In the 1960s his collaboration began with the Orchestra by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, to whom he should belong since 1965 with interruptions, until 1978. In addition, Adams was working on their own albums, as with Zoot Sims, Walter Norris and Roland Hanna. In 1981 he was a member of Dizzy Gillespie Dream Band. Shortly before his death, he contributed to the suite Mingus by Denny Christianson as a guest soloist.

His style on the baritone saxophone influenced, inter alia, Scott Robinson and Gary Smulyan.

Disco Graphical Notes

→ Main article: Pepper Adams / Discography