Browse Items (28 total)
- Subject is exactly "Adams, Frank, 1928-2014"
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Birmingham Jazz Vocalists, Undated Recording
This undated reel-to-reel recording from the Frank Adams collection includes performances by the following vocalists:
Doris “Dot” Adams, “I’ll Be Around” Avery Richardson, “After the Party” Fletcher “Hootie” Myatt, “Poor Butterfly” (partial)…
Frank Adams
Frank Adams, 1978
Birmingham Heritage Band at Oscar Adams victory celebration, 1988
Victory celebration for Alabama Supreme Court Justice Oscar Adams, Birmingham, 1988. Original press caption: “Oscar Adams dances with wife Anne-Marie to ‘Happy Days Are Here Again.’” Taking a solo behind the couple is Adams’s brother, saxophonist…
Dot Adams, "Stars Fell On Alabama"
“Stars Fell On Alabama”: Dot Adams with the Frank Adams band at the Woodland Club, 1960s. For fourteen years in the 1950s and ’60s, the Frank Adams band performed nearly every weekend at the Woodland Club, a “honkytonk” on the edge of Birmingham, in…
Frank Adams and Band, Undated Recording
This undated reel-to-reel recording from the Frank Adams collection includes Adams on clarinet and alto saxophone, drummer Herbie Bryant, bassist Ivory “Pops” Williams, and other unidentified performers. Performances include two upbeat instrumentals,…
Frank Adams and Female Impersonator
Frank Adams, saxophone, backs a female impersonator at Birmingham’s 2728 Club, 1950s.
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 "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…
Lincoln School Band, 1930s
Lincoln School Band, 1930s. Band director William Wise Handy, nephew of W. C. Handy, is at far left, in black. Frank Adams is in the front row, third student from left, with clarinet.
Frank "Mr. Sax" Adams Promo Card
Frank "Mr. Sax" Adams Promo Card, 1960s
Frank Adams Band, 1950s
Frank Adams Band at a Birmingham Nightclub, 1950s. Left to right are Ivory "Pops" Williams. Selena Mealings, Frank Adams, and Martin Barnett.
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, First Inductees, 1978
Inaugural inductees to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, Birmingham, Alabama, 1978. From left to right: Sammy Lowe (trumpeter, arranger), Erskine Hawkins (trumpeter, bandleader), Frank Adams (reeds, educator), Amos Gordon (reeds, educator), Haywood…
Dee Clarke & Frank Adams, Eutaw, Alabama
Frank Adams performs with the Dee Clarke band at a Eutaw, Alabama, juke joint, 1970s.
“She doesn’t have to be Lena HorneShe can be from Eutaw, Alabama, and even country born.” -- Dee Clarke in Eutaw, 1970s
“What was it called? The Eutaw club,…
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 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 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 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 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 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…