Pepper Adams on his decision to play baritone saxophone.

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Pepper Adams discusses working as a session musician.

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Pepper Adams discusses his circle of friends in the New York music scene.

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Q: “As opposed to any other instrument, it’s not a popular one – I mean, everybody picks up on tenor to you know, seduce the women and that – why do you get a baritone? It’s flashier to be a trumpeter and you know, everybody plays piano. How is it that you play baritone sax?”

A: “Well, when I was young for one … one reason was an availability of getting an instrument inexpensively. When I was about sixteen, I was able to a decent baritone that I played for about a year and traded in on the Selmer that I have now. But that, of course, is only a part of it. I love the sound of the instrument. I had been a friend of Carney's since I was eleven or twelve and also just the fact that when I started playing baritone, let's say, 1946, I guess, I was fifteen or well, just turned sixteen. It seemed like such a wide, open field that I saw the possibility of a totally different approach to playing the instrument. So it was as if ... well, I don't know how to explain this exactly. It's as if there were latent possibilities in the instrument that were still unrealized as opposed to tenor. There have been some tremendous tenor players around with some great soloists on alto. But I was very dissatisfied with most of the baritone soloists whom I heard. So it seems to me like this is like a nice, wide, open field. I mean, you have a shot at this.”