Pepper Adams

Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III (October 8, 1930 – September 10, 1986) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist and composer.

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

He worked with an array of musicians, and had especially fruitful collaborations with trumpeter Donald Byrd and as a member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band.

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.

Both of his parents were college graduates, with each spending some time at the University of Michigan.

Due to the onset of the Great Depression, Adams' parents separated to allow his father to find work without geographic dependence.

In the fall of 1931, Adams moved with his mother to his extended family's farm near Columbia City, Indiana, where food and support were more readily available.

In 1933, Adams began playing piano.

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

He was also 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.

Adams would later describe "[his] time up until the age of eight or so [as] really just traveling from one place to another".

As early as fourth grade, Adams sold cigarettes and candy door-to-door in order to contribute to his family's income for essential items.

Adams' interest in performing further grew in sixth grade when the public school system offered a loaned musical instrument to any student who was interested, and further musical instruction if he could get into the school band.

Initially Adams chose the trumpet, then the trombone, but eventually settled on the clarinet, which he played in the school band.

The following year Adams attained his lifelong nickname of "Pepper" due to former St. Louis Cardinals star Pepper Martin signing on to manage and play for the hometown minor league team, the Rochester Red Wings.

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

Later in his career, Adams also attained the nickname "the Knife" for "his 'slashing and chopping technique', which had a humbling effect upon musicians fortunate enough to gig with him".

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

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

This led to Adams being able to take lessons from Skippy Williams, who was the tenor saxophonist in Ellington's band.

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.

His job at the jazz store also allowed him to listen to all of the newest available jazz records and led to his emulation of Coleman Hawkins, who he had heard play locally in 1945, and interest in the music of Don Byas.

His first steady gig came in 1946 with a six-piece group led by Ben Smith, which then caused him to drop out of school in the 11th grade due to working six nights a week.

At age 16, Adams and his mother moved to Detroit, where he soon began playing with Willie Wells, who he had heard play for Fletcher Henderson, Fats Navarro, Tommy Flanagan, and Willie Anderson.

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

Through the employee discount from his job at Grinnell's, a music store in Detroit, Adams purchased what would become his main instrument: the baritone saxophone.

He 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.

This switch proved to be successful, as he was soon playing in Lucky Thompson's band.

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

He attended Wayne State University.

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

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

Upon returning from Korea, Adams began playing at the Blue Bird Inn in Detroit where he played with Thad Jones.

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

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

Following the recommendation of friend Oscar Pettiford, Adams joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1956, where he played for a majority of the year until leaving the group to form a new ensemble with Lee Katzman and Mel Lewis in Los Angeles.

Before moving to California, he recorded with Kenny Clarke, Curtis Fuller, and Quincy Jones.

In April 1957, Adams joined Chet Baker's group, where he played for about a year.

He later moved to New York City, where he performed on the album Baritones and French Horns with Cecil Payne (later re-issued as Dakar as by John Coltrane, who also played on the album), worked with Lee Morgan on The Cooker, and briefly worked with Benny Goodman's band in 1958.