Doc
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A01=Burgin Mathews
A01=Frank Adams
african american culture
african american music
African American musicians in the South
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alabama
alabama culture
alabama history
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
Author_Burgin Mathews
Author_Frank Adams
autobiography
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biography
Birmingham Alabama
Birmingham jazz history
black culture
Black middle class Birmingham
black music
Burgin Mathews jazz book
Category1=Non-Fiction
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Category=AVN
Category=AVP
Category=BGFA
Category=DNBF1
Category=HBJK
Category=NHK
COP=United States
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eq_biography-true-stories
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Fess Whatley jazz education
Frank Doc Adams biography
jazz
Jazz apprenticeship in segregated schools
jazz music
jazz musicians
Language_English
memoir
music
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Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
softlaunch
south
southern culture
southern history
southern jazz
southern music
Sun Ra and Duke Ellington
University of Alabama Press jazz books
Product details
- ISBN 9780817359591
- Weight: 436g
- Dimensions: 137 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 18 Dec 2018
- Publisher: The University of Alabama Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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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.
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.
Dr. Frank ""Doc"" Adams (1928–2014) served Birmingham City Schools for more than forty years, both as a band director and as the district's supervisor of music. For his contributions to Alabama jazz, he was a charter inductee, in 1978, to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
Burgin Mathews is a writer and teacher who has written on the music of the American South. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
Burgin Mathews is a writer and teacher who has written on the music of the American South. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
