Terry Adams (musician)

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Terry Adams is an American pianist/composer and a founding member of the highly eclectic musical group NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quintet/Quartet), known for its prolific and highly-energized live appearances, its charming sense of humor, and an ability to cover vast stylistic territories including rock, blues, country, pop, and jazz. Adams was born (August 14, 1948) in Louisville, Kentucky where he met fellow resident Steve Ferguson, a singer and virtuoso guitarist who would also become a charter member of NRBQ. His older brother Donn Adams has served in various support roles with the band, including playing the trombone (as part of the "Whole Wheat Horn" section) and writing liner notes.

Contents 1 Brief Musical History 2 Stage Presence 3 Musical Technique and Approach 4 Composing and Songwriting

[edit] Brief Musical History

While Adams would spend his early musical years playing in various rock and R&B groups, it took relatively little time for him and Ferguson to end up in Florida, meet up with three other talented musicians (singer/bassist Joey Spampinato, drummer Tom Staley, and singer Frank Gadler) and launch NRBQ in 1967. The group relocated to the northeast, and a recording contract with Columbia Records followed soon thereafter. However, most of NRBQ's subsequent recorded works have been released on smaller, independent labels. The group has taken some short hiatuses and made some significant personnel changes over the years, but it remains a working band, with Adams and Spampinato continuing as long-standing members.

Adams has focused much of his career on playing, writing, and singing with NRBQ, but he has found time to devote to other projects, including the discovery and production of the musically untrained sisters comprising "The Shaggs," live and recorded work with jazz composer Carla Bley's band in the 70's, collaborations with spoken word artist David Greenberger, solo recordings and performances, a duet recording with alto saxophonist Marshall Allen (known for his long career with the Sun Ra Arkestra), and recent performances and recordings with original bandmate Steve Ferguson.

[edit] Stage Presence

Adams' live performances with NRBQ are brimming with energy, technique, wild humor, and showmanship that ultimately veer towards a kind of highly entertaining self-parody. Any given NRBQ performance has been propelled in great part by Adams' exhilarating technique, his artful musicality and his magnetic stage presence. He is known to appear onstage in colorful shirts and with various elastic bands tied in his long blond hair.

[edit] Musical Technique and Approach

Adams is an idiosyncratic pianist/keyboardist, composer, and singer. His early years were spent absorbing American vernacular piano styles, and in particular he drew influences from a number of country, blues and rock artists, both famous and obscure. Comparisons to Jerry Lee Lewis's aggressive approach have been common, but the range of Adams' vocabulary and skills reaches far beyond such a narrow categorization. For example, another distinct influence on Adams' playing and composing is Thelonius Monk.

Adams' technique on the piano can be extremely powerful and percussive at times, and elliptical and introspective at other times. He has stated that during the 1970's he invested time in the further development of his understanding of jazz harmony, forms and techniques. His live and recorded work clearly reflect his ability to incorporate the latter studies with the variety of other styles he had earlier assimilated.

In addition to being a virtuoso on the piano, Adams is a master of and pioneer on the Clavinet, an instrument manufactured by Hohner company (from 1968 to 1982). The sound of this instrument -- essentially an electronic version of the clavichord -- is most commonly associated with Stevie Wonder's music and other well-known pop artists, but Adams' typically unique approach has pushed the instrument into new territory. He expertly utilizes the instrument's various built-in settings, effects pedals such as chorus or phase shifters, and the natural overdrive of a tube amplifier to derive a huge variety of tone and color. Adams creates melodic lines and solos, chordal structures, and low-range bass lines on the Clavinet. He has exploited its guitar-like timbre to create a thick mesh with NRBQ's guitar players (notably effective in duet with the now departed Al Anderson). Adams is certainly one of, if not the most, significant champions of the instrument.

Although Adams is capable of approaching any keyboard instrument, whether a toy piano or an organ, with his unique artistry, in recent years he has spent most of his live and studio performances either behind the piano or the Clavinet. Occasionally he utilizes basic synthesizer patches to add additional color, or to veer into Sun Ra-inspired "space-outs." He is also a proficient harmonica player, and a passable trumpeter. His vocal capabilities are not strong in the traditional sense, but he uses his voice and its often croakish tonality to great effect, whether in harmony with his bandmates or in a lead capacity. His lead vocals range in emotion from looney and excited to a kind of world-weariness.

[edit] Composing and Songwriting

Adams writes songs and instrumental compositions in a variety of styles, including skewed blues forms and clever pop and country songs. He skillfully embeds odd chord changes and unexpected turns into accessible pop forms. His lyrics can be extremely humorous (or downright silly at times), and he is also capable of being oddly poetic. He has collaborated on a number of songs with bandmate Spampinato, who is known for his ability to craft beautiful, sometimes Beatlesque tunes. A number of Adams' songs have been covered by other pop artists, including Dave Edmunds and Bonnie Raitt.

Adams, like his bandmates, has a fondness for a variety of musical styles and for unusual or historically notable artists. These interests have led to an interesting set of other artists' material being covered by NRBQ, including Thelonius Monk, Sun Ra, Tin Pan Alley songs, and various theme songs from television and cartoons ("Batman," "The Chipmunks," etc.).