Of all the instrumentalists, I have to admit being partial to the virtuosos of the keyboard. I guess I was influenced by a teenage recollection of a classmate’s piano rendition of “Deep Purple” at a school assembly. I was impressed to hear popular music in that setting, but I still resisted my mother’s valid efforts for me to learn how to play the instrument with any degree of proficiency. Instead I became addicted to listening to the Big Band remotes on radio and writing about the music and those who perform it so well.
I caught Fats Waller in a solo performance while in high school. LPs by the incomparable Teddy Wilson along with Peter Nero and Joe Bushkin were integral parts of my record collection. My time as publicist at the Berkshire Music Barn introduced me to Ellington, Basie, Kenton, Brubeck, and Garner. I rarely missed hearing the likes of Ralph Sutton, Johnny Varro, and John Sheridan when traveling the festival and jazz party circuit, not to overlook Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi. And I commissioned Rossano Sportiello to compose original songs in memory of two of our children.
Bobbe “Beegie” Adair
A name that may not be familiar to many jazz fans and with whom I just became acquainted in recent years, mainly through YouTube, is pianist Bobbe “Beegie” Long Adair, a revered figure in Nashville’s jazz scene for 60 years, who recently passed away at
