Doc: The Story of a Birmingham Jazz Man
By Frank Adams and Burgin Mathews
()
About this ebook
Autobiography of jazz elder statesman Frank “Doc” Adams, highlighting his role in Birmingham, Alabama’s, historic jazz scene and tracing his personal adventure that parallels, in many ways, the story and spirit of jazz itself.
Doc tells the story of an accomplished jazz master, from his musical apprenticeship under John T. “Fess” Whatley and his time touring with Sun Ra and Duke Ellington to his own inspiring work as an educator and bandleader.
Central to this narrative is the often-overlooked story of Birmingham’s unique jazz tradition and community. From the very beginnings of jazz, Birmingham was home to an active network of jazz practitioners and a remarkable system of jazz apprenticeship rooted in the city’s segregated schools. Birmingham musicians spread across the country to populate the sidelines of the nation’s bestknown bands. Local musicians, like Erskine Hawkins and members of his celebrated orchestra, returned home heroes. Frank “Doc” Adams explores, through first-hand experience, the history of this community, introducing readers to a large and colorful cast of characters—including “Fess” Whatley, the legendary “maker of musicians” who trained legions of Birmingham players and made a significant mark on the larger history of jazz. Adams’s interactions with the young Sun Ra, meanwhile, reveal life-changing lessons from one of American music’s most innovative personalities.
Along the way, Adams reflects on his notable family, including his father, Oscar, editor of the Birmingham Reporter and an outspoken civic leader in the African American community, and Adams’s brother, Oscar Jr., who would become Alabama’s first black supreme court justice. Adams’s story offers a valuable window into the world of Birmingham’s black middle class in the days before the civil rights movement and integration. Throughout, Adams demonstrates the ways in which jazz professionalism became a source of pride within this community, and he offers his thoughts on the continued relevance of jazz education in the twenty-first century.
Read more from Frank Adams
Alice in Wonderland - Illustrated by Frank Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Children's Stories from the Poets - Illustrated by Frank Adams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarbara in Brittany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Doc
Related ebooks
Seneca: Fifty Letters of a Roman Stoic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Living: The Classical Mannual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated & Explained Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enchiridion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moral Discourses of Epictetus (Annotated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeditations: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Stoic Philosophers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDialogues Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeneca's Letters from a Stoic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Golden Sayings of Epictetus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters on Ethics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Enchiridion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Die at the End: Meditations On Mortality And The Human Condition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStoicism: A Practical Guide to the Select Works of Seneca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On the Shortness of Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Of Consolation to Helvia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Grow Old: Ancient Wisdom for the Second Half of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters from a Stoic: Volume I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Works: Handbook, Discourses, and Fragments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnger, Mercy, Revenge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peace of Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seneca (Illustrated): Six Essential Texts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: A Primer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Discourses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters from a Stoic (The Epistles of Seneca) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Philosophy of Epictetus: Golden Sayings and Fragments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biography & Memoir For You
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher Reading Order: The Complete Lee Child’s Reading List Of Jack Reacher Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Education of a Coroner: Lessons in Investigating Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Crack In Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Doc
0 ratings0 reviews