Pianist and bandleader Beegie Adair’s lengthy list of accomplishments and awards ranges from being rehearsal and orchestra pianist for ABC’s The Johnny Cash Show to contributing to various TV specials and film soundtracks, hosting a radio show and having extensive experience as a jazz educator. She’s appeared on more than 100 LPs (35 studio recordings with her trio) and was praised as an “International Jazz Hero” by the Jazz Journalists’ Association in 2013.
But Adair and her band, which includes bassist Roger Spencer and drummer Chris Brown, did something Oct. 7 that no other Music City jazz trio has ever done. They were the featured attraction at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, where they played a 76-minute show before a sold-out crowd. Adair says the gig was a certainly a career highlight, and something quite unique.
Of course, this wasn’t the first time in New York for either Adair or her trio. The group and vocalist Monica Ramey have had multiple acclaimed performances at Birdland. Plus, the Adair-and-Ramey duo performances were hailed in Jazz Times as a 21st century equivalent of the George Shearing and Nancy Wilson collaboration, and they’ve played together at Feinstein’s/54 Below. Even so, Carnegie Hall is another level. Adair says it was an incredible honor to see the trio’s name on the theater’s marquee, and to make the walk down the hall to a stage where legends of classical, jazz, folk, pop and rock have performed.
“It’s a gorgeous room,” Adair tells the Scene. “And it is acoustically perfect. There were no microphones, no amplification at all. But you could hear everything so clearly. There were people there from many places, including some international guests. However, what we were really pleased about was we had quite a few people from Nashville who came up for the show. It was such a great experience, because they are very particular about who plays in that room and that space.
“We were really on a very tight time schedule, in large part due to union restrictions,” Adair continues. “They wanted to know what the set list was, and they definitely didn’t want you going beyond your allotted time. But it is such a delight and thrill to be performing there, and they do everything to make you comfortable, even as they also want you to keep their schedule.”
Adair cites program highlights as renditions of Duke Ellington’s “Caravan,” Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud” and other standards and selections from such artists as Earl “Fatha” Hines. “Chris got to really stand out on ‘Caravan,’ ” Adair continues, “and Roger had a beautiful bow solo that opened one of our ballads. Another thing that was such a treat was hearing some of the experiences from the stagehands. There was one woman who had been working there over 30 years and had so many incredible stories.”
Another of Adair’s many honors includes being one of only 1,600 pianists in the world who is a Steinway artist, an august roster she joined in 2002. It’s one whose ranks range from classical artists like Lang Lang to jazz, pop and rock stars such as Diana Krall, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Legrand and Billy Joel, and past Steinway luminaries have included Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Arthur Rubinstein. So the Carnegie Hall date offered yet another special treat for Adair: “I got to play on a 9-foot Steinway. It’s only tuned 30 minutes before the show. The sound is incomparable. There’s just no way to describe that thrill.
“But the best thing of all for us was that there were a lot of our fans from Nashville in attendance,” Adair concludes. “I think our appearance there is another indicator that people all over the country recognize that there are great jazz musicians here, and that there is an audience for the music. We were so thrilled and blessed to take Nashville to Carnegie Hall, and it was even more special to be the first Music City jazz trio to do it.”
