The Students' Union Building at the University of Alberta in Edmonton was designed by the firm of Richards, Berretti and Jelinek and completed in June 1967 during Canada's Brutalist architectural revolution. That same year, Expo 67 opened in Montreal with the Brutalist Habitat 67. The firm also designed the Brutalist Edmonton Public School Board Building. The future was bright. [Photo above of the Students' Union Building]
The Students' Union Building—known as SUB—included a pub on the seventh floor called Room at the Top, which provided a spectacular view of the city. Now known as University Hall, the building over the years has been expanded and renovated. Room at the Top still stands, as does the view, along with a wide range of recreational rooms and a state-of-the-art theater. Early on, the university understood the importance of a place where students could hang out and socialize and enjoy the arts, a coffee or beer, and conversation. [Photo above of Room at the Top]
In September 1972, baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams played the 75-person-capacity campus pub backed by the Tommy Banks Trio, with Banks on piano, Bobby Cairns on electric bass and Tom Doran on drums. Fortunately for us, producer Marc Vasey, a jazz musician and event promoter at the time, not only brought Adams to Room at the Top from New York's Village Vanguard but also recorded and broadcast Adams's live performance on local CKUA radio. Recently, Vasey made the tapes of the previously unreleased performance available to saxophonist Cory Weeds of Reel to Real Records.
The music on the new album, Pepper Adams: Live at Room at the Top, is Adams in his prime. I'd be hard-pressed to come up with too many other jazz musicians who had Adams's long-distance stamina, especially on the baritone saxophone. Listening multiple times to this extraordinary recording of Adams in the wild, I can't immediately recall him taking a break at all on the album, though he obviously did. His playing is an avalanche of growling, overheated notes rushing forward without any chance of slowing. In this regard, Adams reminds me of rock's best lead guitarists who unleashed ferocious solos. He raises the hairs on the back of the neck or forearm. There was nothing coy or mannered about his playing, whether he was leading a recording session, recording with trumpeter Donald Byrd or playing live. Adams only knew one way, roll all 1,000 barrels down the ramp at the same time. His solos are positively thrilling, occasional clams and all. [Photo above of Pepper Adams]
There are just seven songs on this two-CD set: Thad Jones's Three and One, Adams's Civilization and Its Discontents, Adams's Patrice, Sonny Rollins's Oleo, Thad Jones's 'Tis and, finally, two standards—Time on My Hands and Stella by Starlight. The standards were dropped for the two-LP vinyl set.
The Tommy Banks Trio was a Canadian group. Banks, himself, was rather remarkable. Over the course of his career, he was an Edmonton pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and senator. His solo on Oleo is staggering and matches Adams's robust attack. As you can hear from the audience response, Adams's ruthless, all-in approach was deeply appreciated. The good news is Vasey has additional tapes that will be released by Reel to Real in the coming months. Hats off to Reel to Real's founder-producer Cory Weeds and Marc Vasey. [Photo above of Tommy Banks]
Pepper Adams died in 1986; Tommy Banks died in 2018.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Pepper Adams's Live at Room at the Top here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Oleo...
And here's Time on My Hands...
