Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III, born October 8, 1930, in Highland Park, Michigan, was an American jazz baritone saxophonist and composer. After early lessons on piano, trumpet, and clarinet, Adams switched to tenor saxophone in 1943 and adopted the baritone saxophone in 1948, joining Detroit's jazz scene and collaborating with Willie Wells, Donald Byrd, and later the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. A debut album as leader, Baritones and French Horns, was released in 1957, followed by releases including The Cool Sound of Pepper Adams (1957), Mean What You Say (1966) with Thad Jones, and Urban Dreams (1981). Adams earned DownBeat's New Star award in 1957, won the DownBeat International Jazz Critics' Poll for best baritone saxophonist from 1979 to 1982, and earned three Grammy Award nominations. Adams composed 42 pieces, recorded 18 albums as a leader, and performed on 600 sessions as a sideman before dying of lung cancer in Brooklyn, New York, on September 10, 1986.
