By Jim Reed
Aug. 19, 2024 – This article was written on Friday and is due to appear online around noon on Monday. By the time that occurs, District Live — the musical performance space located in the privately owned, downtown “entertainment zone” known as Savannah’s Plant Riverside District — will likely be quiet, with nary an echo of the jubilant noise which will have been bouncing off its interior walls the night before.
On Sunday night, Savannah Jazz (a local non-profit arts organization previously known as the Coastal Jazz Association) celebrated the 83rd birthday of its co-founder Dr. Teddy Adams with a ticketed concert in that location. The popular event was the latest in a series of annual birthday themed shows staged in the trombonist’s and musical educator’s honor for an untold number of years now. Even those involved with mounting this 2024 installment can’t seem to pinpoint the exact year when this tradition began.
One thing everyone seems to be able to agree upon, however, is that Adams more than deserves the accolades and spotlight. Especially given the immense and lasting impact his half-century of tirelessly documenting our area’s jazz history and promoting its jazz future have had on the city’s cultural literacy and heritage.
“Teddy has been a prime mover in the revival of jazz music in Savannah since the early 1980’s,” says Paula S. Fogarty, Savannah Jazz’s executive director. “He has served on our board of directors on and off since 1982. With Dr. Randall Reese he serves as co-director of the Savannah Jazz Orchestra and is a founding member of that orchestra — the greatest jazz big band in the region.”
Born in 1941 at the corner of East Broad Street and Gordon Lane, Adams came of age in the 1950s, when Savannah was a notable Southern hub of the burgeoning American jazz scene. In that era, West Broad Street (now known as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) was the focal point of our area’s black culture, with several thriving nightclubs and bars, most of which featured live jazz. Small combos and big bands alike played both day and night, with local musicians and vocalists often opening for — or being allowed to jam alongside — nationally renowned acts touring through our fair city.
Adams was a talented, ambitious and driven horn player who found himself exposed to — and encouraged by — inspiring, acclaimed artists.
“Teddy was a standout trombonist when he was growing up in Savannah’s vibrant African American jazz music culture of that time,” says renowned jazz guitarist (and former Savannah Jazz/CJA President) Howard Paul.
Though offered a four-year music scholarship to Florida A&M University, Adams instead enlisted in the Air Force, where he played in respected military bands while stationed in Charleston, S.C., Washington, D.C., and, ultimately, Saigon, Vietnam.
“Teddy found a home with the US Air Force bands program,” explains Paul. “Through those groups he performed with jazz royalty, and then went off to Japan and Thailand where many black musicians found a far more receptive audience and fewer racial barriers.”
“He played throughout Asia,” says Fogarty. “Mostly in Bangkok and Tokyo. That’s where he honed his craft.”
While living in Japan, Adams studied music theory and performance, eventually earning a degree from the esteemed conservatory owned and run by famed Japanese saxophonist (and bossa nova legend) Sadao Watanabe. However, upon returning to his hometown in the mid-1970s, Adams learned that Savannah’s jazz scene had become a hollowed-out shell of its former self. Gone were the nightclubs, bars and music venues which specialized in that most American of genres — and with them, the breeding ground for new, local talent.
Determined to reinvigorate that dormant and disheveled scene, he convinced his newfound friend and fellow Savannahian Ben Tucker — a celebrated jazz bassist and composer who’d by that point already appeared on albums and tours by such luminaries as Quincy Jones, Dexter Gordon, Grant Green, Hank Crawford, Art Blakey and Herbie Mann — to jointly found with him the city’s first society dedicated to the preservation and promotion of jazz.
By 1983, the two men had also launched the annual Savannah Jazz Festival, which has steadily grown each year since, and is reliably held every fall to great attendance and acclaim. Skip Jennings is a local attorney, musician, radio host and lifelong jazz enthusiast who has been a visible part of countless Savannah Jazz Festivals as an onstage announcer. He says that among the various hats Adams has worn in the area’s jazz world over the past 40 years (including a two-decade stint teaching a continuing education course in jazz history at Savannah State University), starting and subsequently guiding the direction of the festival for most of that time may arguably be his most lasting accomplishment.
“Teddy has always been the one with the vision for our festival,” Jennings opines. “I think of him as ‘the essential man.’ In an era in which jazz festivals everywhere presented a lot of acts that didn’t come close to being any jazz fan’s idea of jazz, Teddy was the one who always kept the majority of Savannah’s festival pointed in the direction of ‘straight ahead’ jazz. Because of that, our annual celebration developed a great reputation for dedicated jazz fans.”
Adams was also one of the very first artists inducted into the Savannah Jazz Hall of Fame, which now features 52 other members, including Johnny Mercer, James Moody, Joe “King” Oliver, and the aforementioned Ben Tucker, to name but a few. Yet, at the age of 83, the trombonist is still going strong, forging ahead and continuing to make his marks in the music and literary worlds (he is said to soon be publishing the second volume of his memoirs). This birthday concert finds Adams appearing with his Teddy Adams Sextet, accompanied by guest vocalist Cynthia Utterbach. Their program prominently features two of his original compositions, which are dedicated to two of Savannah’s civic leaders: former Mayor Otis Johnson and present Mayor Van Johnson.
Fogarty says all 320 tickets for the show sold out completely in 60 days. Two dozen folks then joined a standby list in case any of those seats become unexpectedly available at the last minute. That level of appreciation doesn’t surprise Jennings, who says it’s a testament to his friend’s dogged, relentless approach to perpetuating jazz, and to giving his all to continuously pushing the improvisational art form forward.
“Teddy has always been out there performing, night after night,” he muses. “That’s really what’s needed to keep jazz alive. He also knew everyone in jazz within 500 miles or more. Teddy is a great trombonist. But his influence is far greater as a teacher and a promoter. He is the patriarch of the Savannah jazz scene.”
Howard Paul agrees.
“He’s never stopped playing, composing, directing, teaching and coaching the next generation of players,” says the guitarist, who thinks extremely highly of Adams’ numerous accomplishments as well as his tenacity and vigor.
And what would these associates and admirers of Adams wish the man for his 83rd trip around the sun?
“I wish Teddy many more good years above ground filled with joy, laughter and great music,” says Fogarty.
“I’d like for Sonny Rollins to show up and play him ‘Happy Birthday,’” Jennings says, with a laugh.
“I wish Teddy continued health, happiness and musical longevity,” says Paul. “Playing jazz at the top levels requires intellectual and physical strength. Equally important is the continuous live interaction of a musical community. Teddy has all these things, plus the blessings of an adoring family and student alumni who have kept him young beyond his years. I want to grow up to be just like Teddy!”
Jim Reed moved to Savannah in 1986 and immediately became an active participant on the area music and cinema scenes. He has performed and recorded with bands such as City of Lindas, Superhorse, The Magic Rocks and the Knocked Out Loaded Ensemble. He also founded and ran the Psychotronic Film Society of Savannah from 2003 through 2022, making it the longest-running and most award-winning community cinema organization in the history of the city. He currently runs Fake Fangs Records (fakefangsrecords.bandcamp.com), and writes on all matter of topics (as well as creates private streaming radio shows)
Read Vanessa Lantos Daly’s account of the concert
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