Browse Items (17 total)
- Collection: Frank "Doc" Adams: Oral History Collection
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Frank Adams on his Early Life: Family and First Musical Experiences
In the first of more than 100 interviews with Burgin Mathews, Frank Adams shares some of his earliest memories. Topics include the influence of his father, Oscar W. Adams, Sr., and of his maternal grandmother, Ella Eaton; his first public…
Frank Adams on his Father, Oscar Adams, Sr.
Frank Adams shares memories of his father, Oscar Adams, Sr. An influential and sometimes controversial figure in Birmingham's Black community, the senior Adams was editor and publisher of the Birmingham Reporter newspaper (1906 - 1934); Grand…
Frank Adams on Music Education in Birmingham's Black Schools (1)
In this excerpt, Adams reflects on his early training in music, including his first informal lessons from his older brother Oscar and his experience in the elementary and high school bands of William Wise Handy and John T. “Fess” Whatley.…
Frank Adams on Music Education in Birmingham's Black Schools (2)
Frank Adams describes the musical culture of Birmingham’s segregated Black schools. In the opening portion of this excerpt, Adams reads from a lecture he was preparing for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, exploring the history of jazz and…
Frank Adams on Banjo Bill and Sammy Mayo
Frank Adams recalls early gigs performing in elementary and high school with the guitarist Banjo Bill Reese. Adams was introduced to Banjo Bill by a high school student and singer named Sammy Mayo, who also performed with the older musician. In these…
Frank Adams on "Sammy Green From New Orleans" and Playing Small Towns
Frank Adams describes his experiences performing with the "Sammy Green From New Orleans" road show and outlines the "rules" for Black bands touring small towns the South.Sammy Green produced a touring Black vaudeville show based, despite its name, in…
Frank Adams on Leaving Fess Whatley's Band and Joining Sun Ra's
In this interview excerpt, Frank Adams describes a conflict with high school bandleader (and legendary disciplinarian) John T. “Fess” Whatley – and an unexpected invitation from Sun Ra, the otherworldly bandleader then known as Sonny…
Frank Adams Compares the Bands of Fess Whatley and Sun Ra
As a high school student in the 1940s, Frank Adams played in both the bands of Fess Whatley, Birmingham's celebrated "Maker of Musicians," and Herman "Sonny" Blount, later famous as Sun Ra. In this interview excerpt, Adams compares the experience of…
Frank Adams Describes the Culture of Sun Ra's Birmingham Band
Frank Adams elaborates on his early experiences with Sun Ra. Adams joined Sonny Blount’s band as a teenager in the 1940s, before Blount left Birmingham for Chicago and became famous as Sun Ra. When this interview was recorded in 2012, Adams was the…
Frank Adams on Sun Ra's Induction to The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
Adams recalls an encounter with Sun Ra at Ra's induction, in 1979, to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham, Alabama. Born in Birmingham in 1914, Herman Poole "Sonny" Blount would become famous as the iconoclastic, visionary jazz bandleader and…
Frank Adams on Birmingham Night Clubs, 1940s
Frank Adams describes two of Birmingham's most popular Black night clubs in the 1940s -- the Grand Terrace and Monroe's Tavern -- along with stories of their owners. Adams played at both venues as a teenager and college student during this era. Also…
Frank Adams on Trumpeter Joe Guy
In this excerpt, Frank Adams shares memories of trumpeter Joe Guy. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Birmingham-born Guy performed in the bands of Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder, Coleman Hawkins, Cootie Williams, and others—as well as in the…
Frank Adams on Becoming a Teacher
In 1950, Frank Adams had recently graduated from Howard University and was working as a supplier (subbing for a regular player) in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. When Ellington took his band to Europe that year, Adams returned to Birmingham and began…
Frank Adams on the Titles of Erskine Hawkins Tunes
In 1939, Erskine Hawkins and his Orchestra recorded their signature hit, “Tuxedo Junction,” a tune whose title paid tribute to the Ensley, Alabama, neighborhood where members of the band had played some of their first professional gigs. The Hawkins…
Frank Adams on Ingenuity
In this short excerpt, Frank Adams recalls, from his years as a school band director, one parent’s resourceful innovation in the face of limited resources. Recorded by Burgin Mathews on September 9, 2009, in Frank Adams’s office at the Alabama Jazz…
Frank Adams on Returning Home to Birmingham
In 1949, Frank Adams graduated from Howard University. A founding member of the Howard Swingmasters, Adams was active in Washington, D. C.’s music scene and found regular work subbing in a variety of bands, including that of Duke Ellington. In this…
Frank "Doc" Adams
Dr. Frank E. Adams, Sr. ("Doc") in his office at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, 2013.
Photo by Ashley Cleek, courtesy Ashley Cleek.
Photo by Ashley Cleek, courtesy Ashley Cleek.