Beegie Adair

Beegie Adair
Birth name Bobbe Gorin Long
Born (1937-12-11) December 11, 1937
Barren County, Kentucky, United States
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Piano
Labels Adair Music Group, Green Hill, Village Square Music
Website www.beegieadair.com

Bobbe Gorin "Beegie" Adair, née Long[1] (born December 11, 1937, Barren County, Kentucky, United States) is an American jazz pianist. She studied piano at Western Kentucky University. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she did graduate work at Peabody College. She later went on to form the Beegie Adair Trio.[2]

Biography

Beegie Adair began taking piano lessons at age five. She continued to study piano throughout college, earning a B.S. in Music Education at Western Kentucky State College (later to become Western Kentucky University) in Bowling Green, Kentucky. During and after college, she played in jazz bands, and spent three years teaching music to children before moving to Nashville, where she became a session musician, working at WSM-TV and Radio. After nine years at the station, she began freelancing studio work, in addition to TV orchestra work. She was rehearsal pianist and utility keyboard on the Johnny Cash Show on ABC from 1969 to 1971. She has many album credits with musicians all around the world, including John Loudermilk, J. J. Cale, Ronnie Milsap and Mickey Newbury. shows with Peggy Lee, Cass Elliot, Dinah Shore, Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball. She has accompanied such artists as Urbie Green, Nat Adderley, Lew Tabackin, Perry Como, Wayne Newton, Steve Allen and Henry Mancini in concerts.

She and her husband also started a jingle company to write music for commercials. In 1982, she and saxophonist Denis Solee formed the Adair-Solee Quartet, which evolved into the Be-Bop Co-Op, a jazz sextet. She made her first album under her own name, Escape to New York, with a rhythm section consisting of Bob Cranshaw and Gregory Hutchinson.

Adair has recorded and appeared in over 90 recordings (34 of which are recorded with her trio, the Beegie Adair Trio, which consists of bassist Roger Spencer and percussionist Chris Brown), ranging from Cole Porter standards to Frank Sinatra classics to romantic World War II ballads. She has released a six-CD Centennial Composers Collection of tunes by Rodgers, Gershwin, Kern, Ellington, Carmichael and Berlin. Adair cites George Shearing, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner among her influences.

In the late 1980s, Adair hosted Improvised Thoughts, a radio talk/music show on the local NPR affiliate, featuring local and international jazz artists including such musicians as Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Marian McPartland, Benny Golson and Helen Merrill. She has guested on McPartland's Piano Jazz show twice. In 2002, Adair became a Steinway Artist.

She and her trio continue to play in jazz clubs and festivals around the world and was the top-selling jazz artist in Japan in 2010. Adair made her debut appearance at Birdland, with Monica Ramey in January 2011. They made a second appearance at the jazz venue one year later.

She lives in Franklin, Tennessee. Her late husband, Billy, was an associate professor of jazz studies at the Blair School in Vanderbilt University until his death in February 2014.[3] She is a Board & Faculty member of the Nashville Jazz Workshop and performs regularly in Nashville.

Discography

(Chronological)

  1. Escape To New York'# Sax & Swing (featuring Denis Solee) 1999
  2. Jazz Piano Christmas (original cover) 1999
  3. Love, Elvis 2000
  4. Sax and Candlelight (featuring Denis Solee) 2000
  5. Dream Dancing: Songs of Cole Porter 2001
  6. I'll Take Romance (featuring the Jeff Steinberg Orchestra) 2002
  7. Centennial Composers Collection 6-CD Box Set 2002
  8. Embraceable You: Romantic Songs of George Gershwin 2002
  9. The Way You Look Tonight: Romantic Songs of Jerome Kern 2002
  10. The Nearness of You: Romantic Songs of Hoagy Carmichael 2002
  11. Cheek To Cheek: Romantic Songs of Irving Berlin 2002
  12. My Romance: Romantic Songs of Richard Rodgers 2002
  13. In A Sentimental Mood: Romantic Songs of Duke Ellington 2002
  14. This is Always (guest of Rebecca Sayre) 2003
  15. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Duke Ellington 2003
  16. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Richard Rodgers 2003
  17. Romance In Rio (guest of Jack Jezzro) 2003
  18. Playground (guest of Liz Johnson) 2003
  19. Essence (guest of Marion James) 2003
  20. Days of Wine and Roses: Songs of Johnny Mercer 2003
  21. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of George Gershwin 2003
  22. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Hoagy Carmichael 2003
  23. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Irving Berin 2003
  24. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Jerome Kern 2003
  25. Escape To New York (reissue) 2004
  26. Jazz and Cocktails 2004
  27. Quiet Christmas 2004
  28. Christmas Jazz 2004
  29. Jazz On Broadway (featuring Jack Jezzro) 2005
  30. An Affair To Remember (featuring the Jeff Steinberg Orchestra) 2005
  31. Bon Appetit 2005
  32. Christmas Cocktail Party 2005
  33. Gershwin On Guitar (guest of Jack Jezzro) 2006
  34. Sinatra On Sax (featuring Denis Solee) 2006
  35. Sentimental Journey 2006
  36. Quiet Romance 2006
  37. Martini Lounge 2007
  38. As Time Goes By 2007
  39. Trav'lin' Light (featuring Denis Solee) 2007
  40. Western Swing 2008
  41. Yesterday 2008
  42. At Last (guest of Jaimee Paul) 2008
  43. Bossa Nova Christmas 2008
  44. The Best of Beegie Adair: 18 Love Songs, Standards & Classics 2008
  45. Best of Beegie Adair 2008
  46. Christmas By Candlelight (guest of Denis Solee) 2009
  47. Dancing in the Dark: A Tribute to Fred Astaire 2009
  48. Jazz Piano Christmas (reissue) 2009
  49. Moments To Remember 2009
  50. Great American Songbook 6-CD Box Set 2009
  51. Winter Romance (CD) 2009
  52. Parisian Cafe (with David Davidson) 2009
  53. Winter Romance (DVD) 2009
  54. Home for the Holidays 2009
  55. Into Somethin' 2010
  56. Rio Nights (guest of Jack Jezzro) 2010
  57. Blues in the Night (guest of Denis Solee) 2010
  58. Swingin' With Sinatra 2010
  59. Christmas Jazz 2 2010
  60. I Love Being Here With You: A Jazz Tribute to Peggy Lee 2010
  61. Make Someone Happy (guest of Monica Ramey) 2010
  62. Christmas Time Is Here 2010
  63. My Piano Journey (Japan) 2010
  64. My Piano Romance (Japan) 2010
  65. Solo Sessions (EP) 2010
  66. The Many Moods of Romance 2010
  67. This Time The Dream's On Me 2010
  68. Melancholy Baby (guest of Jaimee Paul) 2011
  69. Love Letters 2-CD Box Set 2011
  70. Cocktail Party Jazz 2011
  71. Piano Music for Quiet Moments 2011
  72. Christmas and Cocktails 2011
  73. My Piano Christmas (Japan) 2011
  74. My Piano Memories (Japan) 2011
  75. The Best of Beegie Adair - My Piano Romance (Korea) 2011
  76. Save the Last Dance for Me 2012
  77. Piano Music for Weddings 2012
  78. Piano Music for Moms 2012
  79. After the Ball (with Jaimee Paul) 2012
  80. Cocktail Party Piano 2012
  81. Jazz for the Road 2012
  82. The Real Thing [Live] 2012
  83. Jazz & the Movies 2012
  84. Christmas Elegance 2012
  85. My Jazz Standard (Japan) 2012
  86. My Piano Sings (featuring Jaimee Paul) (Japan) 2012
  87. Yesterday (Korea) 2012

References

  1. "Hall of Distinguished Alumni – Ms. Beegie Adair (Inducted in 2006)". Western Kentucky University Alumni Association. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-10-06. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  3. "The Tennessean". Blogs.tennessean.com. Retrieved 2016-09-27.

External links

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