Tensions

Jackie McLean and John Handy (alto sax), Booker Ervin (tenor sax), Pepper Adams (baritone sax), Jimmy Knepper and Willie Dennis (trombone), Horace Parlan (piano), Charles Mingus (bass) and Dannie Richmond (drums). From the album Blues & Roots (1960).

In 1958 Pepper Adams worked briefly with Bennie Goodman’s big band, appeared on Charles Mingus’s Blues & Roots album, played with Johnny Griffin and Gene Ammons, and formed a quintet with Donald Byrd that lasted until 1961. Over the next few years he continued to collaborate with numerous musicians until 1965 when he became a founding member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, an orchestra of 18 musicians that remained for twelve years and whose performances were held at the New York’s Village Vanguard, although they also toured the United States, Europe and Asia.

During the late 1960s and the 1970s he continued to play and record with other musicians. In 1981 he recorded his album Urban Dreams and continued working on different projects until he recorded his last album The Adams Effect. He died of lung cancer from smoking in 1986 at 55 years of age.

Mingus appears doing a brief solo accompanied by Richmond, they are joined by McClean first and then by the rest of the group with the wind section repeating a phrase over and over again. The first one to make his solo is Mingus playing fast and witty phrases. McLean follows by making a colorful speech and then Handy with a simpler melodic line. Next comes Adams performing a magnificent solo. Afterwards, Parlan enters playing rhythmic phrases with the right hand and surprising chords with the left. Then it’s Richmond’s turn, who arrives like a torrent of energy and then focuses on the cymbals. Finally, the group re-exposes the theme by making a big fuss.