Donald Byrd-Pepper Adams

Sid Gribetz presented this program in 2020 exploring the collaborations of Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams.  

Donald Byrd was one of the all-time greats of modern jazz trumpet, possessed of a fresh, crackling sound and a virtuosity that contributed to a long and successful career in various jazz styles.  Pepper Adams, while not as famous as Byrd, was a leading practitioner of the baritone saxophone, playing the otherwise cumbersome instrument with facility, speed, and grace that supported a prolific and varied career in many bands.

Since they each had long, individual, histories in our jazz lore, the groups organized in their partnership are often overlooked.  The unorthodox trumpet/baritone combination coalesced into an atypical but charming musical blend.  Also, both artists were sophisticated composers and arrangers who provided their ensembles with a lush musical palette beyond just the standard repertoire.

The partnership lasted between 1958 and 1962, and they would get together to tour and perform around the country in a quintet when not otherwise engaged.  Byrd was under contract to Blue Note Records during this period, and under Byrd’s name he and Adams recorded several classic albums, some fleshed out with additional horns.  Then, on Adams’s dates with other labels, he, Byrd and their quintet would lay down some great sides.  Herbie Hancock got his start as their pianist, and Duke Pearson, Wynton Kelly and Walter Davis, Jr. also worked with them.

Byrd and Adams both were products of the vibrant Detroit jazz community.  Byrd, born in 1932, attended the legendary Cass Tech High School, and also Wayne State University.  He burst on the national scene immediately after his schooling, playing with Yusef Lateef, George Wallington, Horace Silver, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and Gigi Gryce, just to name a few in his initial years of fame.  By 1958, he began a legendary career with Blue Note and star individual appearances, but had time for the group with Adams.  Byrd died in 2013 at the age of 80.

Park Adams III was born in Detroit in 1930, but his family moved to Rochester, New York when he was a toddler.  In grade school, Adams was already a precocious music talent and played professionally.  He obtained the nickname Pepper from an affinity for the baseball star Pepper Martin who managed the minor league Rochester team.  Adams’s family returned to Detroit in 1946, and as a teenager, he, too, was a participant in the vital Detroit post war jazz scene.   By his early 20's, Adams established himself as a leading jazz professional baritone sax player.  He had a long career beyond the work with Byrd, such as later combos with Thad Jones, and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, among other credits.  Adams suffered a debilitating leg injury in a car accident in 1983, but persevered until he died of cancer in 1986.

The music they made had a certain spark and magic.  Byrd, while a brash and bravura trumpeter, also had a side that was gentle and melodic.  While the modern jazz baritone sax in the 1950's was thought of as a cool, slippery instrument, Adams instead had a slashing, knife-like attack that brought excitement.  But he too also had lyrical and sensitive aspects to his musicality.  The Byrd/Adams partnership combined all these simpatico elements, and also a successful blend of the African American Byrd and Caucasian Adams co-leading a group on the bandstand.

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