It’s often forgotten that, as well as an iconic baritone player, Adams was a creator of memorable tunes. This project’s producer Gary Carner has already written a biodiscography and is planning a full biography, meanwhile conducting the sessions for this collection of 43 Adams compositions, performed by musicians in Brooklyn, Chicago and Tallahassee. Few of these are standards as yet – a partial exception is ‘Julian’, dedicated to the deceased Adderley, which appears on both the quartet session featuring Adams disciple Gary Smulyan (Vol.4) and the vocal album with newly-created lyrics by Barry Wallenstein (Vol.5, subtitled I Carry Your Heart: Alexis Cole Sings Pepper Adams). If you have several albums including Adams, you might recognise one great melody after another among this collection, but one doesn’t need prior familiarity to recognise their qualities. It seems only the vocal album and a compilation sampler from the other four sets are available as physical CDs, but let that not discourage you from exploring this creative cornucopia, inspired and originated by Adams.