Pepper Adams: Pepper Adams Quintet

Formed in 2025, the Gammaut label has upped the ante on deluxe audiophile reissues of classic jazz with their debut release, Pepper Adams Quintet (Mode Records, 1957). Original master tapes used? Check. Careful lacquer cutting at 45 RPM by Bernie Grundman? Check. Top-notch heavy vinyl pressing by Gotta Groove Records housed in a sturdy Stoughton gatefold? Check. To all these specs that routinely make audiophiles whip out their credit cards, Gammaut adds a gorgeous 40-page booklet with photos, newly-commissioned drawings, and essays on the musicians, the original record label, and details of the reissue process. The result is a package that is truly above-and-beyond, but none of that would matter if the music was not outstanding. It is.

Born Park Frederick Adams III in 1930, Detroit musician Pepper Adams was one of the key early proponents, with Harry Carney and Gerry Mulligan, of the baritone saxophone in jazz. His life was changed when he saw Duke Ellington and his orchestra at age 13 while living in Rochester, New York for a spell. Though he met Carney backstage, he was most taken with cornetist Rex Stewart, whose harmonic and rhythmic approach he tried to adapt to, initially, the clarinet, then the tenor sax and finally the baritone, which he helped develop as a solo instrument. Adams began his four-decade professional career at 16, and by the time of his debut LP as a leader on Mode, he had played with Donald Byrd, Thad Jones, Kenny Burrell, Stan Kenton and Chet Baker. He subsequently played and recorded with John Coltrane, Charles Mingus (that is his solo on "Moanin'" from 1960's classic Blues & Roots on Atlantic Records), and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band before his untimely death in 1986 at the age of 55.

Mode Records, formed in the same Los Angeles environment that birthed Pacific Jazz and Contemporary Records, existed for a mere six months in 1957. With an ambitious release schedule, the label managed to issue a flurry of LPs during its brief operation, including recordings by Herbie Mann, Victor Feldman, Terry Gibbs, Richie Kamuca and others. For Adams' July session, he assembled a stellar quintet featuring the cream of the West Coast crop: Mel Lewis on drums, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, Carl Perkins on piano, and trumpeter Stu Williamson. The sessions were recorded in both mono and astonishingly good stereo for the time, the latter tape being used for this reissue. Three standards join two boppish Adams originals on this 31-minute program, which easily fits on one disc even at 45 RPM.

"Unforgettable," made famous by Nat King Cole, is given a relaxed, swinging treatment. Lewis' impeccable ride cymbal and Vinnegar's famously agile walking bass lay down the foundation while Adams and Williamson play the melody in unison. Adams solos first, tracing the harmony without ever repeating the melody and engaging in some impressively fast runs on the big horn that, in other hands, could sound a bit unwieldy. Williamson's trumpet solo is similarly inventive, with some bluesy piano from Perkins before the quintet returns to the head and takes the tune out with an elegant tag. "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" is from the musical Kismet, but its tune is taken from a Borodin string quartet. One can only wonder what old Alexander would have made of his tune being given this eight-minute bebop treatment, lightning fast and full of Lewis' typically skilled rhythmic accents. Adams' long solo is smoking, and Perkins and Williamson take effective choruses, but the excitement is really ramped up by a series of traded eights between baritone, trumpet and drums that ends side one. Flip the album over and Adams' "Freddie Froo," a very Charlie Parker-like riff, leaps from the grooves. Vinnegar's rapid walking (more like jogging?) is the star here, and fittingly he gets a solo lap followed by Lewis' lickety-split drum feature. Adams caresses the beautiful melody of familiar standard "My One and Only Love," his dark, chewy tone perfectly captured by engineer Dayton Howe, who deserves special praise for the quality of this recording, so early into the period of commercial stereo. Adams' gorgeous unaccompanied cadenza is a highlight of the album. The all-too-brief program closes with the Latin-tinged and punningly-titled original "Muezzin.'" This would not be out of place on a Blue Note LP from the early '60s, its cool melody and adventurous ensemble playing sounding rather ahead of its time.

This is a most welcome reissue of an outstanding straight-ahead jazz album, one that deserves to be heard, and a wonderful time to enjoy jazz on vinyl, given the growing number of labels, such as Gammaut, that treat history, the music and its fans with such great respect.

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