Frank "Doc" Adams, Oral History
Title
Frank "Doc" Adams, Oral History
Description
Dr. Frank “Doc” Adams (b. Feb 2, 1928, d. Oct. 29, 2014), Director of Education at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and The Carver Theatre. Well known for his proficiency as a sax and clarinet player, and for his stints with Duke Ellington and Sun Ra’s bands, Dr. Adams taught music in the Birmingham school system for nearly 40 years. On this interview, he takes calls from 12 Birmingham radio listeners and he and Bob reflect on his career and teaching philosophy. They play a lightning round to get Doc’s reflections on his contemporaries in jazz. No bumper music. Doc does all the breaks.
Creator
Frank Adams
Bob Friedman
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
October 25, 2002
Contributor
Mark Usry
Emily Bibb
Format
JPG
MP3
PDF
Language
English
Identifier
DocAdamsOH
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Interviewee
Frank Adams
Transcription
Transcript from audio snippet:
Frank Adams: I started off in elementary school and of course, uh, we started then early. I started around the third grade on the Mr. William Wise Handy, who was the nephew of W.C. Handy.
Bob Friedman: Wow
FA: …who wrote “The St. Louis Blues” and what I did I, I learned how to play, uh, the little marches and things. And when during the, uh, the Second World War, uh, I was drafted into the Maker Musicians Band, Professor..Whatley, Fess Whatley.
BF: 'Fess Whatley
FA: And my job, now of course is, I’m the director of the education division of the Jazz Hall of Fame. And we have a wonderful person there. Uh, Mr. Ricardo Morris, who is the executive director and it, it goes to say that, uh, history, uh sorta comes together when, you know, that in, in, in Birmingham. Uh, they, uh, so many music teachers involved in fact.
BF: Uh huh
FA: Birmingham has many...music, more music teachers teaching choral and band music than, anybody, any other system.
BF: Is that right?
FA: And they've always had that. That's because the people of Birmingham have always put their interest in music.
BF: Mhm
FA: More so than New Orleans and any other system.
BF: Mhm
FA: So I grew up in, uh, in an environment that was conducive to jazz. And of course as I, I said during that Second World War, Mister Whatley recruited me to his band because all the good musicians were off in the service and...
BF: uh huh
FA: And, and that's the thing I can tell ya about at the Hall of Fame. But it was a terrific experience, uh, playing at, at Mr. Whatley's band.
BF: What year was that?
FA: This was in the ‘40s. This was, … I finished high school.
BF: You're not, you're not 20 years old yet and you're...
FA: Oh, well. I mean, yeah. I was. This, in Whatley’s band.. I must've been 14, 15 years old.
BF: Oh my goodness.
FA: Yeah.
Frank Adams: I started off in elementary school and of course, uh, we started then early. I started around the third grade on the Mr. William Wise Handy, who was the nephew of W.C. Handy.
Bob Friedman: Wow
FA: …who wrote “The St. Louis Blues” and what I did I, I learned how to play, uh, the little marches and things. And when during the, uh, the Second World War, uh, I was drafted into the Maker Musicians Band, Professor..Whatley, Fess Whatley.
BF: 'Fess Whatley
FA: And my job, now of course is, I’m the director of the education division of the Jazz Hall of Fame. And we have a wonderful person there. Uh, Mr. Ricardo Morris, who is the executive director and it, it goes to say that, uh, history, uh sorta comes together when, you know, that in, in, in Birmingham. Uh, they, uh, so many music teachers involved in fact.
BF: Uh huh
FA: Birmingham has many...music, more music teachers teaching choral and band music than, anybody, any other system.
BF: Is that right?
FA: And they've always had that. That's because the people of Birmingham have always put their interest in music.
BF: Mhm
FA: More so than New Orleans and any other system.
BF: Mhm
FA: So I grew up in, uh, in an environment that was conducive to jazz. And of course as I, I said during that Second World War, Mister Whatley recruited me to his band because all the good musicians were off in the service and...
BF: uh huh
FA: And, and that's the thing I can tell ya about at the Hall of Fame. But it was a terrific experience, uh, playing at, at Mr. Whatley's band.
BF: What year was that?
FA: This was in the ‘40s. This was, … I finished high school.
BF: You're not, you're not 20 years old yet and you're...
FA: Oh, well. I mean, yeah. I was. This, in Whatley’s band.. I must've been 14, 15 years old.
BF: Oh my goodness.
FA: Yeah.
Duration
Full Interview: 76 minutes
Audio Snippet: 2 minutes
Audio Snippet: 2 minutes
Files
Collection
Citation
Frank Adams and Bob Friedman, “Frank "Doc" Adams, Oral History,” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed October 5, 2024, https://www.thebbrm.org/item/91.
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