Beegie Adair

Beegie Adair – born Bobbe Gorin Long in Cave City, Kentucky on December 11, 1937 - was an award-winning jazz pianist and arranger. At the age of five, she began taking piano lessons and continued her piano studies through school and college at Western Kentucky University. During and after college, she played in various jazz bands. After a few years teaching, Adair began working as a session musician at WSM-TV. She did a stint on The Johnny Cash Show from 1969 to '71, playing with Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton, Steve Allen, Lucille Ball, Dinah Shore, Mama Cass Elliott and Peggy Lee. In 1982, Beegie Adair joined up with Denis Solee to form the Adair-Solee Quartet, later morphing into jazz sextette Be-Bop Co-Op. She went on to form the Beegie Adair Trio with bassist Roger Spencer and percussionist Chris Brown, releasing their first album, Escape to New York, in 1998. In 2001, Beegie Adair began issuing a series of Centennial Composers albums focused on particular ‘Great American Songbook’ composers, starting with Dream Dancing: The Songs of Cole Porter. Further albums in the series included The Way You Look Tonight: The Romantic Songs of Jerome Kern (2002), The Nearness of You: Romantic Songs of Hoagy Carmichael (2005), and In a Sentimental Mood: Romantic Songs of Duke Ellington (2008). The Centennial Composers series was a success, which prompted her label to issue a six CD box called Centennial Composers Collection containing her albums dedicated to the music of Richard Rodgers, Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern. Beegie Adair also recorded several solo piano albums as well as releases featuring The Jeff Stenberg Orchestra. An extremely prolific artist, she appeared on close to 100 albums, 37 of which were with the Beegie Adair Trio. Beegie Adair died on January 23, 2022, at the age of 84.