I have a confession to make. I have the TV on and tuned to the cable music channels a lot, especially if I’m reading. But that’s not what my confession is about. My guilty secret is that by doing so, I often discover – or rediscover – performers who make perfect subjects for write-ups on the GMC. (What, you thought I came up with all my ideas from thin air?)
A good example is polished jazz pianist Beegie Adair, who somehow escaped my notice for a lot of years until I began to perk up and listen more closely whenever one of her records played on the music channel. I began to dig deeper and found that apparently I’m the only one who was in the dark. The talented artist has been a favorite of fans for many years, and has generated dozens of albums filled with sounds reminiscent of Roger Williams at his best.
A native of Kentucky, Beegie was a busy session pianist in Nashville as early as the 1960s, showing up in the recording studio and also providing musical accompaniment on various TV shows. She eventually worked with a staggering number of star performers, but she also began to make records under her own name in the 1980s. She has continued to do so, sometimes as part of a small group and other times backed by an orchestra, and is still performing even now.
Beegie Adair – “Skylark”
My guilty secret is that I read your column and occasionally get ideas for my own.
Good one, Peter!
(Folks, remember that you can go to Peter’s site by clicking on ‘Time Goes By’ in the left column.)