Celebrating Pepper Adams

I had the great fortune to end 2021 celebrating the music of Pepper Adams with baritone saxophonists across North America. In December, I participated in a Zoom roundtable to promote the new Pepper Adams biography by Gary Carner. I was honoured to be a part of this esteemed panel, including my colleagues Gary Smulyan, Frank Basile, Jason Marshall, Adam Schroeder, Aaron Lington and many others.

For my portion of the discussion, I transcribed a solo from one of the final albums recorded by Pepper: Suite Mingus from the Denny Christianson Big Band. I thought it appropriate to pay tribute to Denny, as he recently passed away. Miss you, Denny! (For those unfamiliar with Denny's work, see this Toronto Star article written in collaboration with Denny's wife Rose.)