41 Facts About Pepper Adams

Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III was an American jazz baritone saxophonist and composer.

Pepper Adams composed 42 pieces, was the leader on eighteen albums spanning 28 years, and participated in 600 sessions as a sideman.

Pepper Adams was born in Highland Park, Michigan, to father Park Adams II, who worked as the manager of a furniture store, and mother, Cleo Marie Coyle.

Pepper Adams's father having reunited with the family, they moved to Rochester, New York, in 1935 and in that city he began his musical efforts on tenor sax and clarinet.

Two years later, Pepper Adams began deepening his developing passion for music by listening to Fats Waller's daily radio show.

Pepper Adams was influenced at a young age by listening to Fletcher Henderson's big band radio broadcasts out of Nashville, Jimmie Lunceford, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway.

Pepper Adams' classmates saw a resemblance between the two, and the nickname stuck.

In 1943, Pepper Adams skipped school for a week in order to see Ellington play local gigs.

Pepper Adams eventually met Rex Stewart, who further introduced him to Harry Carney and other band members.

Pepper Adams switched to tenor saxophone in the fall of 1943, which was made possible due to his jobs as a box cutter in the mail order room of a jazz store and an usher at a movie theater, allowing him to make enough money to buy the instrument.

Pepper Adams had received casual instruction from Wardell Gray and Billy Mitchell, and played with a group led by Little John Wilson as well.

Pepper Adams initially purchased a used Bundy baritone saxophone, but later traded it in for a new Selmer 'Balanced Action' E-flat baritone in 1948, which he used until 1978.

In Detroit, Pepper Adams met several jazz musicians who would become future performing partners, including trumpeter Donald Byrd.

Pepper Adams became interested in Wardell Gray's approach to the saxophone, later naming Gray and Harry Carney as his influences.

Pepper Adams spent time in a United States Army band, and briefly had a tour of duty in Korea.

When Jones left to play with Count Basie, Pepper Adams then became the music director at the Blue Bird.

In late 1954, Pepper Adams left the Blue Bird to join Kenny Burrell's group at Klein's Show Bar, in Detroit, where he would later become musical director following Burrell's departure.

Pepper Adams later moved to New York City, where he performed on the album Baritones and French Horns with Cecil Payne, worked with Lee Morgan on The Cooker, and briefly worked with Benny Goodman's band in 1958.

Pepper Adams formed a quintet with Donald Byrd in 1958 that lasted until 1961.

In September 1963, Pepper Adams made an agreement with Motown Records for an exclusive recording contract and an exclusive management contract with International Talent Management, a Motown affiliate.

Pepper Adams 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.

Pepper Adams soon played gigs with Mingus, Baker, and Hampton, with whom he went on a two-month European tour in 1978.

On March 18,1978, Pepper Adams purchased a new Selmer baritone saxophone that served as his interim back-up instrument for his original saxophone that he had been using since 1948.

In 1979, Pepper Adams played several gigs with Per Husby across Norway.

On June 5,1980, the Berg Larsen mouthpiece Pepper Adams had been using for 32 years finally broke, which led him to replace it with a Dukoff D-5 mouthpiece and a Bari plastic reed.

Pepper Adams began composing "Urban Dreams" on July 29,1980, on a flight to London for a short European tour.

Pepper Adams finally replaced his original Selmer E-flat 'Balanced Action' baritone saxophone in December 1980 after 31 years of use.

In 1981, Pepper Adams performed with Rein de Graaff's trio, Per Husby's trio, and the Franco D'Andrea trio for three short European tours.

When in New York City, Pepper Adams performed at Fat Tuesday's several times during this period of his career, one of which, Conjuration: Fat Tuesday's Session, earned him a Grammy nomination in 1984 for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance as a Soloist.

In later years, Pepper 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.

Pepper Adams' life was severely altered by the leg injury he sustained in December 1983, which was caused by his car's parking brake becoming disengaged on his slanted driveway.

Pepper Adams eventually regained the strength in his leg to move without the use of a wheelchair or cane in January 1985, after more than a year of recovery.

Pepper Adams was hospitalized for testing later that month in New York, then was forced to take a break from performing or traveling for two months that summer in order to undergo radiation treatments.

Pepper Adams was diagnosed with pleurisy in April 1986 and died of lung cancer in Brooklyn, New York, on September 10,1986.

Pepper Adams was in many ways the antithesis of near-contemporary baritone players Gerry Mulligan and Serge Chaloff, who favored melodic cool jazz.

In contrast, Pepper Adams managed to bring the cumbersome baritone into the blisteringly fast speeds of hard bop.

Pepper Adams won DownBeats New Star award in 1957 and was named baritone soloist of the year for 1980.

Pepper Adams was nominated three times for a Grammy Award, including nominations for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance as a Soloist for Reflectory in 1979 and Best Jazz Soloist for The Master.

In 1967 Pepper Adams received the Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition award from DownBeat.

From 1979 to 1982, Pepper Adams won the award for best baritone saxophonist from DownBeats International Jazz Critics' Poll on four consecutive occasions, something Pepper Adams attributed to his frequent touring of Europe throughout his career.

In December 1982, Pepper Adams won the DownBeat Readers' Poll award for the best baritone saxophonist in the world, unseating Gerry Mulligan, who had held that distinction since 1953.