Frank Adams on Banjo Bill and Sammy Mayo

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 two interview excerpts -- recorded on May 2, 2010 and July 7, 2010 -- Adams recalls Banjo Bill's rustic homemade amplifier and describes performances by Sammy Mayo at the Parker High School variety shows. Also mentioned are Thedoris Carr, who hired the young Adams for his very first working jobs, playing a carnival tent show, and William Wise (W. W. ) Handy, nephew of W. C. Handy and band director at Lincoln School. In 1950, Adams would replace Handy as the Lincoln band director.

Researcher Matt Baker has identified Banjo Bill as James Howard "Banjo Bill" Reese. As Adams indicates in these excerpts, Reese migrated from Birmingham to Cleveland; there he became house bandleader for the Sterling record label. He would also write "Down South in Birmingham," a tribute to his hometown's Fourth Avenue scene, recorded for the Excello label in 1952 by singer Del Thorne and her Trio (led by Reese). From Cleveland Bill relocated to Chicago, where he reconnected with another old friend from Birmingham: Sun Ra, who unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the guitarist to join his own developing band, the Arkestra. According to Reese's daughter, Bill respected Sun Ra but did not feel at home performing his "outer space music."

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