Beegie Adair

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. She is a Board & Faculty member of the Nashville Jazz Workshop and performs regularly in Nashville.

Discography

(Chronological)

1999

1. Escape To New York'# Sax & Swing (featuring Denis Solee)
2. Jazz Piano Christmas (original cover)

2000

1. Love, Elvis
2. Sax and Candlelight (featuring Denis Solee)

2001

1. Dream Dancing: Songs of Cole Porter

2002

1. I'll Take Romance (featuring the Jeff Steinberg Orchestra)
2. Centennial Composers Collection 6-CD Box Set
3. Embraceable You: Romantic Songs of George Gershwin
4. The Way You Look Tonight: Romantic Songs of Jerome Kern
5. The Nearness of You: Romantic Songs of Hoagy Carmichael
6. Cheek To Cheek: Romantic Songs of Irving Berlin
7. My Romance: Romantic Songs of Richard Rodgers
8. In A Sentimental Mood: Romantic Songs of Duke Ellington

2003

1. This is Always (guest of Rebecca Sayre)
2. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Duke Ellington
3. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Richard Rodgers
4. Romance In Rio (guest of Jack Jezzro)
5. Playground (guest of Liz Johnson)
6. Essence (guest of Marion James)
7. Days of Wine and Roses: Songs of Johnny Mercer
8. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of George Gershwin
9. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Hoagy Carmichael
10. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Irving Berin
11. Beegie Adair Plays the Songs of Jerome Kern

2004

1. Escape To New York (reissue)
2. Jazz and Cocktails
3. Quiet Christmas
4. Christmas Jazz

2005

1. Jazz On Broadway (featuring Jack Jezzro)
2. An Affair To Remember (featuring the Jeff Steinberg Orchestra)
3. Bon Appetit
4. Christmas Cocktail Party

2006

1. Gershwin On Guitar (guest of Jack Jezzro)
2. Sinatra On Sax (featuring Denis Solee)
3. Sentimental Journey
4. Quiet Romance

2007

1. Martini Lounge
2. As Time Goes By
3. Trav'lin' Light (featuring Denis Solee)

2008

1. Western Swing
2. Yesterday
3. At Last (guest of Jaimee Paul)
4. Bossa Nova Christmas
5. The Best of Beegie Adair: 18 Love Songs, Standards & Classics
6. Best of Beegie Adair

2009

1. Christmas By Candlelight (guest of Denis Solee)
2. Dancing in the Dark: A Tribute to Fred Astaire
3. Jazz Piano Christmas (reissue)
4. Moments To Remember
5. Great American Songbook 6-CD Box Set
6. Winter Romance (CD)
7. Parisian Cafe (with David Davidson)
8. Winter Romance (DVD)
9. Home for the Holidays

2010

1. Into Somethin'
2. Rio Nights (guest of Jack Jezzro)
3. Blues in the Night (guest of Denis Solee)
4. Swingin' With Sinatra
5. Christmas Jazz 2
6. I Love Being Here With You: A Jazz Tribute to Peggy Lee
7. Make Someone Happy (guest of Monica Ramey)
8. Christmas Time Is Here
9. My Piano Journey (Japan)
10. My Piano Romance (Japan)
11. Solo Sessions (EP)
12. The Many Moods of Romance
13. This Time The Dream's On Me

2011

1. Melancholy Baby (guest of Jaimee Paul)
2. Love Letters 2-CD Box Set
3. Cocktail Party Jazz
4. Piano Music for Quiet Moments
5. Christmas and Cocktails
6. My Piano Christmas (Japan)
7. My Piano Memories (Japan)
8. The Best of Beegie Adair - My Piano Romance (Korea)

2012

1. Save the Last Dance for Me
2. Piano Music for Weddings
3. Piano Music for Moms
4. After the Ball (with Jaimee Paul)
5. Cocktail Party Piano
6. Jazz for the Road
7. The Real Thing [Live]
8. Jazz & the Movies
9. Christmas Elegance
10. My Jazz Standard (Japan)
11. My Piano Sings (featuring Jaimee Paul) (Japan)
12. Yesterday (Korea)