Outside-Inside-Out

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to find a Pepper Adams LP for a buck at my local record store. It’s pretty solid.

After I put it on the felt I read the liner notes, written by Fred Goodman, who wrote for Cash Box magazine, which I had never heard of. Then in the middle of explaining how Adams came to play the bari sax, Goodman drops this little nugget:

Ah yes, comparing the bari sax to the fat girl in the corner that nobody wanted to dance with. Now, to a certain extent, I understand the logic. The only reason I started playing bari in the 7th grade was because that was the only way I could get a spot in the jazz band. Nobody wanted to play it, so I jumped at the spot to play loud, rumbling low notes. But damn Goodman, “the fat girl in the corner” who turns out to be awesome? And people wonder why jazz is such a boys club.