Oregon
Senate Joint Resolution 31 (2005)
Honoring
Jim Pepper
Sponsored
by Senator Avel Louise Gordly (at the request of Suzie Pepper Henry):
"Whereas
the 2005 Portland Jazz Festival paid tribute to the musical legacy of Jim Pepper, a true son of Oregon, with a concert dedicated
to the late Native American saxophonist and jazz legend; and
"Whereas
workshops, panel discussions, performers and audiences at the festival recalled how Jim Pepper, born to Gilbert and Floy Pepper
in Salem on June 18, 1941, blazed a unique trail across the musical horizon with his innovative synthesis of Native American
song, the harmonic structures of modern jazz and the rhythms of Africa, South America and the Caribbean; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper performed throughout the United States, Europe and Africa, played with such jazz giants as Ornette Coleman, Don
Cherry, Colin Wolcott, Larry Coryell and Mal Waldron; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper also collaborated with many Oregon musicians, including Gordon Lee, Tom Grant, Leroy Vinnegar, Nancy King, Caren
Knight-Pepper, Obo Addy, David Friesen, Dan Balmer, Glenn Moore, Ron Steen, Sonny King, Dennis Springer, Mel Brown, Nick Gefroh,
Marianne Mayfield, Ralph Black, Lee Reinoehl, Carlton Jackson and many others; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper's 1971 crossover hit 'Witchi Tai To, ' based on a Native American Church peyote chant taught to him by his grandfather,
earned him a spot on both the jazz and Top 40 radio charts and continues to be widely popular among national and international
performers and recording artists to this day; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper's remarkable career was marked by more than 50 recordings as bandleader, featured artist and composer, including
'Pepper's Pow Wow,' 'Comin' and Goin'' and ' Remembrance'; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper's symphony 'Four Winds' was performed by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra in New York
and by the Cologne Symphony Orchestra in Germany;
and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper served as musical director for 'Night of the First Americans,' a Native American self-awareness benefit concert
at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in 1980; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper toured Africa with Don Cherry as part of a United States-Africa cultural exchange
program; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper succumbed to lymphoid cancer in February 1992 in Portland,
Oregon, at age 50; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper was honored posthumously in 1999 with the Lifetime Musical Achievement Award by the First Americans in the Arts
and was inducted into the Indian Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2000; and
"Whereas
'Pepper's Pow Wow,' the 1996 award-winning documentary of his life produced and directed by Sandra Osawa and Yasu Osawa, premiered
at the Sundance Film Festival, was broadcast on PBS in 1997 and 1999 and has since been presented to enthusiastic audiences
at the Amiens Film Festival, the Margaret Mead Film Festival, the Native American Film and Video Festival, the Red Earth Film
and Video Festival and the Portland Jazz Festival; and
"Whereas
the Leroy Vinnegar Jazz Institute and the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission named Jim Pepper 'Jazz Artist of the Year' and
presented the Bill McClendon Award for Excellence in Jazz to his mother at the 2005 Portland Jazz Festival; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper's music continues to be performed and recorded in countries throughout the world, including Germany, where a performance
of 'Witchi Tai To' by the WDR Radio Orchestra and the Remembrance Band, arranged and conducted by Gunther Schuller, was recorded;
and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper's life and music harmonized distinct cultures and served as a poetic example for all indigenous people, ' walking
in three worlds with one spirit'; and
"Whereas
Jim Pepper is survived by his mother, Floy Pepper, his sister, Suzanne Henry of Portland, his nephews, Jim Pepper Henry and
Jesse Laird Henry, and his grandnephew, Jackson Laird Henry; and
"Whereas
Floy Pepper said during her acceptance of her son's First Americans in the Arts award in 1999, 'Jim Pepper was a member of
the Kaw Indian Nation known as 'The Wind People' from his father. From me, his mother, he was a member of the Creek Indian
Nation known as 'The People of the Waters.' It's no wonder his music was so strong and powerful--with the wind to carry his
music to the four directions of the Earth. And as long as the grass shall grow and the waters flow--which is forever--may
his spirit remain alive for time immemorial'; now, therefore,
"Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
"(1)
The members of the Seventy-third Legislative Assembly honor the extraordinary accomplishments and musical legacy of Oregon
native son Jim Pepper and direct that a copy of this resolution be delivered to the Oregon Historical Society for inclusion
in its permanent collection.
"(2)
The members of the Seventy-third Legislative Assembly direct that a copy of this resolution be delivered to the National Museum
of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., for inclusion in its permanent collection.
"(3)
The members of the Seventy-third Legislative Assembly direct that a copy of this resolution be delivered to the Leroy Vinnegar
Jazz Institute at Portland State University for inclusion in its permanent collection and encourage the creation and endowment
of a Jim Pepper (hUnga-che-eda 'Flying Eagle') Chair at the university to further the study of Native American music and its
relationship to jazz."
Adopted
by Senate May 19, 2005
Adopted
by House June 7, 2005