Pepper Adams
baritone saxophone
Pepper Adams was a baritone saxophonist from the Detroit scene, one of the musicians Barry grew up with there and later recorded with; in 2010 Barry was due to play at a Detroit festival dedicated to him.
- mentions
- 7
- recordings
- 6
- Barry speaking
- 3
What Barry says
Barry names Pepper Adams among the Detroit musicians he grew up with. He stresses that they were all connected, with no divide between black and white players.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle6:48The last train to Monk: an interview7:09
When musicians from out of town came to Detroit looking for Barry, they became friends, and Pepper Adams was part of it too. Barry describes them as a whole big colony, with Joe Henderson, Yusef Lateef and Kirk Lightsey later coming to learn from him.
Barry rates Frank Foster’s arrival in Detroit among the best things that happened to the local players: Pepper Adams, Bess Bonnier, Barry himself and the rest all learned a great deal from him, because Foster was a fine player who knew a lot.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶67Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶263
Barry prefers live recording and does not plan record dates much, but he says he enjoyed recording with Pepper, Slide Hampton and Junior Cook.
In the 2010 oral history Barry says he must bring in Pepper’s name because a special event for Pepper Adams was happening that year; later he lists going back to Detroit to perform at a festival dedicated to him between teaching trips to London and Rome.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶125Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶327
Barry kept a 1958 DownBeat yearbook to show people who doubt his stories. He reads it aloud: it calls him the major jazz influence in Detroit and quotes Pepper Adams on how many young players Barry had influenced, in their playing and in right living.
The Spirit of Bebop23:3024:02Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶125
In his own words
It wasn’t no white or black. It wasn’t none of that stuff. We were all, Pepper Adams, all of us, we were all connected.
And we all grew up together, man. You know, Pepper Adams, Bess [Bonnier], you know Bess is the blind pianist.
And then – Pepper Adams was in this too. I gotta bring in his name, ‘cause we’re doing this special thing for Pepper Adams this year.
Pepper Adams, Bess, myself, all of the Detroit musicians, we learned a lot from Frank Foster, because Frank Foster could really play.
My preference is the live recording. But I also had a good time recording with Pepper and Slide Hampton, Junior Cook…
Every mention
7 moments in the recordings, 3 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 6:48
Names Pepper Adams (‘Peppa Adams’) among Detroit musicians who were all connected, black and white.
The last train to Monk: an interview
- 7:09
Pepper Adams is among the Detroit musicians Barry grew up with.
The Spirit of Bebop
- 24:02
Reads aloud a 1958 DownBeat piece quoting Pepper Adams on Barry’s influence on young players.
Ep. 20 | Charles McPherson: Meeting Charlie Parker, Studying with Barry Harris, and the Art of Bebop
Barry Harris Funeral
- 41:24
Someone else
Gene Gee, at the funeral, saw Barry at Diggs’ Den in Harlem with Pepper Adams, around 1968.
In the interviews and notes
Out-of-town musicians came to Detroit looking for Barry and became his friends; Pepper Adams was part of this too, and Barry mentions a special event for Pepper that year. He calls them a whole big colony.
Barry says the first person to influence his Detroit circle was Frank Foster, a college graduate from Ohio. The transcript has Foster turning them ‘onto Pepper’, apparently meaning he turned Pepper and all of them on.
Describing his travels as an international teacher, Barry mentions going home to Detroit to perform at a festival dedicated to Pepper Adams.
Barry names Pepper Adams with Bess Bonnier and himself among the Detroit musicians who learned a great deal from Frank Foster.
Barry prefers live recordings, but says he also enjoyed recording with Pepper, Slide Hampton and Junior Cook.
Panken lists Pepper Adams among the saxophonists in Barry’s Detroit peer group, players who became leading improvisers of the 1950s and 1960s.
Charles McPherson, at 14, hung around outside the Bluebird to hear Barry with players such as Pepper Adams, Thad Jones and Elvin Jones.
unknown (JazzTimes; the byline is missing on the current site), Barry Harris: Teacher Man ¶8
Flanagan recalls that Pepper Adams played a lot at Klein’s Show Bar, near midtown Detroit, though everyone played all over the city.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶46
Citing Paul Berliner, de Lima lists Pepper Adams among the many jazz masters, Joe Henderson, John Coltrane and Yusef Lateef among them, who came to Detroit and studied with Barry to look into his method.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶337Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶340
Schermer’s introduction names Pepper Adams among the greats of the lively Detroit scene Barry came up in during the 1940s and 1950s.
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
- Barry Harris Sextet 6/4/1968 “Bulls-Eye!” | Billy Higgins, Kenny Dorham, Pepper Adams, Paul Chambers2023, 7 min YouTube
- 04/06/1968 - Pepper Adams & Barry Harris2022, 33 min YouTube
- 20/04/1967 - Pepper Adams & Barry Harris2021, 33 min YouTube
- Even Steven - Barry Harris Sextet2020, 7 min YouTube
- My Ideal - Barry Harris Sextet2020, 3 min YouTube
- Webb City - Barry Harris Sextet2020, 6 min YouTube
- Like This! - Barry Harris Sextet2020, 3 min YouTube
- Luminescence - Barry Harris Sextet2020, 6 min YouTube
- Bossa Nouveau2019, 6 min YouTube
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.