Fight J. Todd Adams

Pepper Adams - Encounter! (1968) {Prestige OJCCD-892-2 rel 1996}
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© 1968, 1996 Prestige / Fantasy | OJCCD-892-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone

Baritonist Pepper Adams and tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims (who rarely performed together) make a surprisingly compatible team on this CD reissue of a 1968 Prestige session. With pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Elvin Jones forming a fairly adventurous rhythm section, Pepper and Sims sound inspired on material that includes obscurities by Flanagan, Thad Jones and Adams in addition to the Ellington-Strayhorn ballad "Star-Crossed Lovers" and a pair of Joe Henderson songs. The setting is more advanced than usual for Sims, who rises to the challenge.

Pepper Adams was one of the greatest jazz baritone saxophonists of all time. During a time when Gerry Mulligan's cool-toned baritone was very influential, Adams rose to prominence with a harder and bigger sound, much more hard bop than cool. This relatively obscure release, originally an LP for the World Pacific label, finds the baritonist in Los Angeles matching his hard-driving style with several players identified with West Coast cool jazz. Trumpeter Lee Katzman, who is on every selection but "Blackout Blues" and "Four Funky People," has a tone closer to Chet Baker than to Donald Byrd, but fits in well with Adams. The rhythm section is mostly laid-back and quiet but swinging…

John Adams’ 2005 opera explores the personal and moral issues surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb. Captured live in concert, it has colossal power and conviction. At its center is Gerald Finley’s commanding performance as Robert Oppenheimer, a scientist wracked by doubts. Having sung it at the premiere and many times since, he produces a magnificently characterized creation. Julia Bullock, Brindley Sherratt, Samuel Sakker, and Andrew Staples are all superb in supporting roles and Adams himself draws virtuoso playing from a truly galvanized BBC Symphony Orchestra. A major recording of a modern operatic classic.

Canadian rock singer, guitarist and photographer, born November 5th, 1959, in Ontario. His recording debut was at the age of fifteen, with the glam rock band Sweeney Todd. After a third version of Roxy Roller and one album called IF WISHES WERE HORSES, he went solo - releasing one disco single before striking out on a pop career.

John Adams’ 2005 opera explores the personal and moral issues surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb. Captured live in concert, it has colossal power and conviction. At its center is Gerald Finley’s commanding performance as Robert Oppenheimer, a scientist wracked by doubts. Having sung it at the premiere and many times since, he produces a magnificently characterized creation. Julia Bullock, Brindley Sherratt, Samuel Sakker, and Andrew Staples are all superb in supporting roles and Adams himself draws virtuoso playing from a truly galvanized BBC Symphony Orchestra. A major recording of a modern operatic classic.

A brilliant and affectingly different collection of transcriptions of favourite Bach movements, at times uniquely exhilarating, at others showing Bach at his most expressively touching… Adams's recorder playing is musically dazzling…but the other players complete an ensemble which is delightfully fresh and alive.

Pepper Adams ranked among modern jazz's finest baritone saxophonists. His mastery of the middle and lower registers and technical acumen enabled him to play the cumbersome baritone with a speed, facility, and style usually restricted to smaller horns. This '57 quintet date featured him in a more relaxed context with West Coast jazz types like trumpeter Stu Williamson and pianist Carl Perkins. Bassist Leroy Vinnegar added his famous "walking" lines and drummer Mel Lewis provided a steady, smooth rhythmic pace, while Adams contributed two originals and did three standards in his usual impeccable fashion.

The three Leçons de Ténèbres pour le mercredy (Tenebrae for Wednesday) are the only ones by François Couperin to have survived: 'recitations' destined to accompany the Office of the Tenebrae during one of the nights of Holy Week. Couperin is one of the uncontested masters in this exercise fusing vocal virtuosity and deep religious feeling.

Robert Shaw and Telarc have released another disk of not-too-often performed choral/orchestral works, but they are ones that are important: John Adams' Harmonium and Rachmaninoff's The Bells, two works featuring texts by important authors.