Pepper Adams

<p><b>A compelling biography of virtuoso baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams and how his life intersected with some of the greatest poets writers painters and musicians of his time.</b></p><p><i>Pepper Adams</i> is more than a definitive biography of Park Pepper Adams (1930-1986). The culmination of thirty-seven years of research it's a fascinating account of Adams's life and times thanks to colorful vignettes drawn from the author's 250 unpublished conversations with Adams and other esteemed musicians. These candid observations about Adams and his colleagues reveal previously confidential aspects of Adams's complex personality his many outstanding achievements and little-known facts about musicians with whom he worked such as Thad Jones Miles Davis Charlie Parker John Coltrane Elvin Jones Charles Mingus Stan Kenton Duke Ellington Bobby Timmons Wardell Gray Dizzy Gillespie Thelonious Monk and others. Musicians jazz fans and collectors and readers who enjoy a hero's journey will be intrigued by Adams's extraordinary intelligence the extent of his influence the reverence he commanded and his struggle to be rewarded as the unique stylist that he was throughout his career. Moreover readers will be enlivened by the author's unique approach to biography in which storytelling moves thematically sometimes in reverse chronological order.</p>