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acknowledgments Though it is Frank Adams’s voice you hear throughout this book, several individuals have contributed, behind the scenes, in valuable ways—confirming or clarifying historical details, offering photographs and clippings from their own collections, suggesting new areas for discussion, and offering various other forms of support and encouragement. First, I am grateful to composer Benny Golson for sharing his thoughtful, eloquent reminiscences of his early days with the Howard Swingmasters. Dr. Tolton Rosser, director of the Birmingham Heritage Band, has also shared his own valuable perspective on the city’s jazz legacy. For me, one of the most profound experiences in this process has been an afternoon spent with Dr. Adams and Mrs. Anne-Marie Adams, widow of Oscar Adams Jr. To hear these two great souls swap stories about the late Justice Adams was a gift, at some moments hilarious and at others deeply moving, that I will not forget. Early on, Dr. Adams encouraged me to contact Tommy Stewart, a trumpeter, arranger, and longtime friend of Adams, whose interest in jazz history—particularly local jazz history—is inexhaustible. My trips to Stewart’s home revealed a wealth of information on Birmingham jazz, compiled in scrapbook after scrapbook. Similarly, the home of Mrs. Roberta Lowe—wife of the late J. L. Lowe, founder of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame—is in itself something of a jazz museum. As Adams emphasizes in the pages of this book, jazz in Birmingham would not be what it is without J. L. Lowe’s passionate dedication to the preservation of the city’s musical heritage. Mrs. Lowe sparks with her own passion and has maintained her husband’s archive of jazzrelated materials, which she has so graciously shared. Deepest thanks are due to Patrick Cather, to whose firsthand recollection and enthusiastic support I have often turned in this project. Sifting with Patrick through old records, files, photos, and memories has been an unforgettable experience and an invaluable ingredient in the making of this book. I have been entertained heartily by his latenight boogie-woogie piano and spellbound by his own stories of Pops Williams, Fess Whatley, and the Woodland Club; I am truly grateful xii acknowleDgmenTS for his generosity and for the friendship that has resulted from these conversations. Thanks are also due here to Garrison Lee, for his outstanding photography ; Carol Ealons, for her own work in documenting Birmingham jazz, and for her assistance with archival prints; Jerry Whitworth, for the portrait of Oscar Adams Sr.; and Dr. Leah Tucker, for her important , ongoing leadership at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. We are also grateful to the editors and staff at The University of Alabama Press, including Dan Waterman and Jon Berry, and to copyeditor Joan Matthews, for their assistance, input, and encouragement. A constant theme in this book is the power of family. For their many forms of support, friendship, and inspiration, I would like to recognize my own family, with gratitude and love: George and Betty Mathews; Jud Mathews and Kim Mowery; and, of course, Henry and Elliott, who are already great lovers of music. In so many ways, this book is tribute to the many individuals who have helped shape the life of Frank Adams; regrettably, it would be impossible to name in the pages of any book all those who have contributed in some way to that life. However, Dr. Adams would like to acknowledge a handful of individuals who deserve particular mention . First and foremost, family: Dr. Adams’s wife, Doris; son, Frank Eaton Adams Jr.; daughter-in-law, Patrice Adams; and grandson, William. Dr. Adams expresses gratitude to and for the family of his brother, Oscar Adams Jr., including the late Willa Ingersoll Adams and her three children with Oscar: Frank Theodore Adams Jr., Oscar W. Adams III, and Gail Adams Harding. Thank you, also, to the many teachers and administrators at Lincoln Elementary School, Parker High School, and Howard University , and to those professors who contributed to Dr. Adams’s ongoing education since Howard: to Raymond King at Samford University; Nathan Essex at The University of Alabama; Donald Henderson at UAB; and Hugh Thomas at Birmingham-Southern College. Thank you to Dr. G. Ray Coleman, Reverend Joshua U. Johnson, and the entire Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion family, past and present. Thanks go also to friends and colleagues John Cottrell, John Springer, George Pruitt, John McAphee, Cathy Crenshaw, Jesse Lewis, Peggy Sparks, Joel Boy- [3.145.60.29] Project MUSE (2024...

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