George Adams
When I first started becoming aware of “jazz” it was the funky fusion of Miles, Grant Green, Eddie Harris, John Klemmer, etc.
In this genre, I was more attracted to the solos of the saxophonists like Claude Bartee, Gary Bartz. One of the greatest, yet obscure, LPs of this new school was Roy Haynes 1971 “Hip Ensemble”. On this project Roy used two bassists one acoustic, one electric. The sax player was George Adams. In high school I transcribed two of his solos on this recording. This LP doesn’t even show up on George’s discography! He joined Mingus in the mid-1970's; then went on to be Mcoy Tyner’s sax man for years. I got to see him with Mcoy at the Village Vanguard, or the Village Gate; I cant remember which.
The way I met him was because he was a Fatback Band alumnus. Like all great fusion players, you had to come from a rock/funk background. A lot of Jazz guys bypassed this phase and can’t really play R&B/Rock authentically. You can’t learn that music in college. The joke amongst us was to really play funk or blues you had to play in a club where someone got stabbed.
George Adams came up in funk and played on the seminal Fatback Band LPs. He even played with Sam Cook! Although he had left. By the time I played with them he would drop by the Fatback HQ in St Albans in Queens. He was highly amused that I, a guitarist, had transcribed his solos from an obscure LP. We got to jam a few times after the band practice was over. Bill Curtis hated to practice. We would run over Giant Steps since we were both working on it at this time. We stayed in touch by phone until he died in 1992 at the young age of 52.
George had hung out with Pharoah Sanders. I told him that I was puzzled by the long
interludes of total dissonant chaos placed in the middle of some of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. I even used to make tapes where I edited out these
disturbing parts so I could enjoy the beauty uninterrupted. George told me that Pharaoh told him that he wanted his music to represent the totality of life. He wanted to
always remind his listeners of the ugly and chaotic side of our lives in the earthly realm.
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